Millions Now Living Will Never Die | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | January 30, 1996 | |||
Recorded | June–September 1995 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 42:56 | |||
Label | Thrill Jockey | |||
Tortoise chronology | ||||
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Singles from Millions Now Living Will Never Die | ||||
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Millions Now Living Will Never Die is the second studio album by American post-rock band Tortoise. The album was released on January 30, 1996, by Thrill Jockey.
The album's title is a reference to a phrase used in the Jehovah's Witness faith in the 1920s. [2] [3] It is, for instance, the title of an essay by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, who was the second president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. [4] By March 1998, the album had sold over 50,000 copies, with 80% as CDs and the remainder as LPs. [5]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2023) |
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [6] |
Alternative Press | 5/5 [7] |
Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [8] |
NME | 8/10 [9] |
Orlando Sentinel | [10] |
Record Collector | [11] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [12] |
Spin | 7/10 [13] |
Uncut | 9/10 [14] |
The Village Voice | B− [15] |
Millions Now Living Will Never Die was released to positive critical reviews, and it has since been renowned as a groundbreaking album for the post-rock genre. [16] Outersound wrote that not long after the album's release, the group was "hailed as godfathers of the American 'post-rock' movement". [16] The Wire named it the record of the year in its annual critics' poll [17] and NME named it the 35th best album of 1996. [18]
In 2006 and 2008, Millions Now Living Will Never Die was performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back concert series. The album also appears in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [19]
All tracks are written by Tortoise (Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire and David Pajo), except where noted
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Djed" | 20:57 | |
2. | "Glass Museum" | 5:27 | |
3. | "A Survey" | 2:52 | |
4. | "The Taut and Tame" |
| 5:01 |
5. | "Dear Grandma and Grandpa" | 2:49 | |
6. | "Along the Banks of Rivers" | 5:50 | |
Total length: | 42:56 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
7. | "Gamera" | 11:55 |
8. | "Goriri" | 6:39 |
9. | "Restless Waters" | 3:41 |
Total length: | 65:11 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
10. | "A Grape Dope" | 4:12 |
Total length: | 69:23 |
Credits for Millions Now Living Will Never Die adapted from album liner notes. [20]
Tortoise
Production
Artwork and design
The song "Dear Grandma and Grandpa" contains a sample of German band Dom's song "Silence", from their 1972 album Edge of Time.
Chart (1996) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Albums (OCC) [21] | 115 |
Post-rock is a music genre characterized by the exploration of textures and timbres as well as non-rock styles, sometimes placing less emphasis on conventional song structures or riffs than on atmosphere, for musically evocative purposes. Post-rock artists can often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings with electronics and digital production as a means of enabling the exploration of textures, timbres and different styles. The genre emerged within the indie and underground music scenes of the 1980s and 1990s, but as it abandoned rock conventions, it began to show less musical resemblance to conventional indie rock at the time, becoming regarded as a form of experimental rock. The first wave of post-rock derives inspiration from diverse sources including ambient, electronica, jazz, krautrock, psychedelia, dub, and minimalist classical, with these influences also being pivotal for the substyle of ambient pop.
Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1990. The band incorporates krautrock, dub, minimal music, electronica and jazz into their music, and their eclectic style has left a great influence on the post-rock genre. Tortoise have been consistently credited for the rise of the post-rock movement in the 1990s.
Trans Am is a three-piece American band from Bethesda, Maryland, that was one of the originators of "post-rock" in the mid-1990s. Their work combines elements of Krautrock, heavy metal, hardcore punk, synthpop, electronic music, and folk music. Since their inception, the group has toured with Tortoise, Pan Sonic, The Fucking Champs, and Tool.
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David Pajo is an American musician. He has played a wide variety of music, loosely fitting into several other genres such as hardcore punk, math rock, post-rock, electronica, folk rock and indie pop. Though a multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his guitar work, most notably with Slint. He is currently a member of Gang of Four.
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TNT is the third studio album by American post-rock band Tortoise, released in 1998 by Thrill Jockey. After Jeff Parker joined the band in 1996, Tortoise recorded TNT over the course of a year with drummer John McEntire acting as producer, editor and mixing. Taking influence from their remix material of the 1990s, the band recorded the album using hard disk technology in a "forward-then-back" approach, with members individually adding parts to tracks at different stages until the tracks were completed. As with previous albums, the band members also shared instrumental roles.
Tortoise is the debut studio album by American post-rock band Tortoise. It was released in 1994 via Thrill Jockey.
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Jeff Parker is an American guitarist and composer based in Los Angeles. Born in Connecticut and raised in Hampton, Virginia, Parker is best known as an experimental musician, working with jazz, electronic, rock, and improvisational groups. Parker studied at Berklee College of Music and then moved to Chicago in 1991.
Bundy Kenneth Brown, also known as Ken Brown or Bundy K. Brown, is an American musician and recording engineer. He is best known for being a founding member of Tortoise and for his production, engineering and remixes in the Chicago post rock scene.
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All that this record represents has basically fallen from grace rather awkwardly, and the few truly great albums of the whole Chicago Instrumental Post Rock Jazz Fusion scene...
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