Anyway, to the music. The eight-and-a-half minute “High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In” opens “Beacons of Ancestorship” and sets the tone for what might very well be Tortoise’s best album. There’s a lot of synthesizer sounds, and along with the percussion, they create a vibe that’s more of a strut than a float, and for the first couple minutes you can just about sing the title along to the music, before everything takes a turn for the stacatto and stumbling, the song breaking itself into different, often overlapping pieces, then quieting down, then building back up into something altogether more guitar-bass-drum, straight-up rock, with a couple different keyboard sounds cycling back into the mix as the rock drives forward, then dissipates, and the waves of synthesizers collect on shore, and retreat.

From here on out, Tortoise spend the entire album doing what you’ve come to like them doing, which is to say, being Tortoise, and firing on all cylinders. “Prepare Your Coffin” could soundtrack a copshow from the 1970s, bright guitar lines and a medium-fast pace. Rock, soul, funk, marching band drumline, rattling bucketboy percussion, flamenco, electronica, hip-hop, and on and on: musical styles float in and out, play around in the sandbox with one another, but always building coherently structured songs, and a cohesive sound that develops over the course of the whole album.

I know that in response to the “may very well be Tortoise’s best album” Tortoise fans are going to say “What about Millions Now Living Will Never Die,” and I’ll respond and say, yeah, I know, I know, but this album gives it a run for its money.

Alexisonfire – Old Crows/Young Cardinals
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


The Antlers – Hospice
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Birds of Avalon – Uncanny Valley
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Christina Courtin – Christina Courtin
Listen: “Foreign Country” (stream)
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


The Cliks – Dirty King
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


The Dear Hunter – Act III: Life and Death
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Deastro – Moondagger
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Deer Tick- Born on Flag Day
Listen: “Easy” (mp3)
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Donny Hue and the Colors – A Letter to New Virginia
Listen: “I Speak of the Hayseed Cousins” (mp3)
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Foreign Born – Person To Person
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Future of the Left – Travels With Myself And Another
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


God Help The Girl – God Help The Girl
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


The Gossip – Music for Men
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Hermit Thrushes – Slight Fountain
Listen: “Snowflake Heart” (mp3) | “Push” (mp3)
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Patterson Hood – Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs)
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Phenomenal Handclap Band – Phenomenal Handclap Band
Listen: “You’ll Disappear (feat. Carol C)” (mp3) | “15 to 20 (feat. Lady Tigra)” (mp3)
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Regina Spektor – Far
Listen: Full Album Stream (via NPR)
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Royal City – Royal City
Listen: “A Belly Was Made For Wine” (mp3)
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Tom Brosseau – Posthumous Success
Listen: “You Don’t Know My Friends” (mp3)
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Tortoise – Beacons Of Ancestorship
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes


Various Artists – Away We Go (soundtrack)
Listen: Full Album Stream
Buy It: Amazon | iTunes

Tortoise – Prepare Your Coffin from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.