There are electric pianos, wheezing keyboards, layered percussion, and, for a bit, that nasty guitar burbles up again. The thing that makes Standards work is that is has a living, breathing quality that has been lacking in Tortoise's previous releases. In the past, what has set Tortoise apart has been an incredibly high level of musicianship, across the board, coupled with tremendous creativity. Despite the talent and innovation which permeated their earlier records, there was always the sterile taste of an exercise. Particularly on TNT , well known for being comprised of songs assembled through editing, one had the sense that Tortoise's music was an expertly crafted puppet, made to dance gracefully, but had not yet become a real boy.
Standards seems to have been approached with the intent of rectifying that situation.
This is the sound of those same musicians playing from their guts. If the opening track means anything, it is not a move towards noise or rock, but the primal sound of coming to life. Like no other Tortoise record, this one infects you physically, as guttural as it is intellectual. Tone-wise, the record mixes it up. However, that does not mean that Tortoise is not pushing their music forward like they have in the past.