Tortoise are a group of Chicago experimentalists who in recent years have impressed critics with a series of avant-garde electronic pop albums. Standards is a collection of 10 instrumentals composed around guitar, drums and keyboard movements, and apparently the result of much preparation and careful rehearsal. Tortoise clearly had fun making it but it's a lot less entertaining for the listener; this is shapeless, lifeless stuff and it makes for an extremely boring listen. They call it post-rock, most people will feel that 'ridiculously self-indulgent' is a more accurate description.
