To say that post-rock is a pretty vague label is one of music’s great understatements.
Certainly most genre tags are simply there to try and pigeonhole a largely un-pigeonhole-able practice, but perhaps none more so than saying a particular style exists after something, particularly when that something is as evergreen as rock.
Yet here among the cerebral looking bespectacled and bearded alike, in their various headwear, packing the Corner Hotel to see post-rock luminaries Tortoise, you will find what is a more discernible definition of the genre.
They’re a dedicated bunch too, making the early trip to see Sydney’s sleepmakeswaves opening what is an impressive selection of acts.
Fair enough too, playing the imperious instrumentals that make up their stunning debut And So We Destroyed Everything…; the collective mix electronic textures with the assault of live instrumentation with panache.
Melbourne’s own New War follow, and offer a more hypnotic dirge; as droning keys bubble offer snapping drums and muddy bass while their singer prowls the stage barking half-melodies into his microphone. Intriguing, but definitely with a sound still in embyronic state.
Not so much the case with the appearance of Portland, Oregon’s Grails, who are an instant game-changer; and much like the headliners they’re supporting, their shifts in style and tone are difficult to define.
Opening their set with shimmering padded synths, it’s not long before a yawning crescendo that incorporates acoustic guitar and lightly squealing electric meets a brooding embolism of rhythms, dripping from the sharp textures.
Their instrumental jams are characterised by winding passages of building moods, where twanging, dusty melodies and dense grooves punctuate the mix.
At several points, their sonic constructions retreat long enough for a slinky bass groove to surface, only to build from scratch again.
One number has the dual guitar wielding of psychedelically fried rock (and certainly the sprawl) while a central sense of momentum gives it focus and energy.
Another mimics Middle Eastern scales, bringing about visions of blurred sands against rolling toms and the stinging pluck of bouzouki before a metal-laced riff belts through the sweltering heat.
Wordless for their performance, Grails leave just as many in the crowd speechless.
It seems like a hard act to follow, but Tortoise, being the veterans that they are (and arguably invented bands like Grails) has nothing to fear.
The stage set-up that preps the five multi-instrumentalists from Chicago’s presence is the first sign that the venue is in for something unique.
Two full drumkits square off at the front of stage, flanked by xylophone and glockenspiel respectively, with a number of synths – digital and analogue alike – peppering the stage alongside the familiar sight of guitar amps.
A fully decked ensemble that sees all five of the members moving fluidly between instruments, not just between songs, but between sections in some cases.
Delivering a generously broad selection of their two-decade long catalogue, with everything from the cult-making Millions Now Living Will Never Die and TNT, through to 2009’s Beacons Of Ancestorship – of which ‘Prepare Your Coffin’ is an early highlight.
Elsewhere there are squalling guitars, soaring jaggedly over rolling basslines; drum-offs of swelling polyrhythms, and experimental jamborees of glitches and squelches, all played with such synergy that the members barely glance at each other.
You don’t have to understand the amorphous flow of their music to enjoy it. There are jazzy inflections, with sun-kissed marimba and the lazy twang of a fat-bodied six string one moment, then a sharp pattern the next will send it careening into a dense cacophony of competing sounds.
Or simply dust off and strip back to shakers for a rouge-hued Afro-waltz, tinged with Latin percussion.
All while balancing their high-brow musical vernacular with visceral hooks you can cling to – heck, even dance to – as many in the crowd do with great enthusiasm.
It proves that Tortoise are the enemy of musical monotony, and also of music journalists everywhere; wrestling with trying to accurately describe their music, who – giving up on dancing about such architecture – shrug their shoulders and slap the ‘post-rock’ tag on it before pointing you urgently to the location of their next gig.
More’s the pity, given it took fourteen years for Tortoise to follow-up their latest Australian visit (insert joke about the slowness of the animal here), you may just have to make to do with others’ flightless attempts to describe their one-of-a-kind live show.
