The Ex – Tortoise – In the Fishtank – Review

The Ex

In the Fishtank (Touch & Go)
by Aaron Lazenby

Amsterdam-based Konkurrent Record’s “In the Fishtank” series is an ongoing experiment in capturing bands’ improvisational impulses when they’re most charged: on the road. Konkurrent has recruited bands as disparate as Guv’ner and Nomeansno to frolic in a state-of-the-art studio for two days while they tour Europe – and allows them to record whatever they like. The results are pressed onto a short CD that offers an interesting look into the band’s creative process.

Tortoise + The Ex is the fifth and most recent addition to “In the Fishtank.” Recorded in 1995, this roughly 23-minute disc features a fantastic collaboration between the US’s reigning kings of dreamy instrumental noodling and Holland’s legendary Socialist punk rock heroes. On the surface, this match-up seems ill-advised at best. However, after a few listenings, the fruits of this collaboration sound quite compelling.

I’m a big fan of Tortoise, and even I can admit that sometimes the boys from Chicago can get a little bit, shall we say, unhinged. Sometimes the pointlessness of their multi-layered and atmospheric musical journeys betray the band’s fantastic sense of timing and rhythm. The addition of The Ex’s aggression and driving guitars keeps Tortoise’s undulating and intricate flow planted in terra firma, while still offering it the respect it deserves. The best of these collaborations are perfect composites of the bands’ styles, balancing The Ex’s tension-producing guitars with Tortoise’s more introspective explorations. “The Lawn of the Limp” is a beautiful mesh of thickness, space, and delicacy, employing synths and a marimba along with your standard rock instrumentation. And the creepy dreaminess of the initially Tortoise-dominated “Pooh Song (Christopher Robin’s Nighbear)” only becomes whole when the mood is fractured by the addition of vocals and a slashing guitar. The only bore on this disc is the Ex-dominated “Central Heating,” with its ponderous fits and starts of noise.

On the whole, Konkurrent’s “In the Fishtank” has fused the best elements of both bands and played them off each other well. It’s great to have such an interesting document to check against these bands’ other recordings for insight into what makes them tick. Disciples of either Tortoise or the Ex will not want to pass up a swim in this fishtank.
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