156: Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996)

“I wanted to be in a band that was really singular and didn’t sound like anything else.”

—Doug McCombs

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Discord & Rhyme continues its slow walk through the world of Post-Rock with an examination of the 1996 album Millions Now Living Will Never Die by the Chicago-based group Tortoise. John has been fascinated by the concept of Post-Rock for many years (even if many of the acts associated with it, Tortoise included, rejected it as a useful descriptor), and a large part of this fascination stems from a love he has had for this album for over 20 years. In this episode, John, Mike, Rich, and Dan try to make sense not only of how one should define one of the most ambiguous genres out there, but also of why an instrumental album in that genre (possibly), mostly lacking clear traditional melodies and traditional song structures (the opening “Djed” is 21 minutes by itself), is clearly one of the best albums any of us have ever heard.  Regardless of whether Tortoise is Post-Rock, Prog, both, or neither, this is an album worth learning about, and Discord & Rhyme is up to the challenge.

Miscellany

• Something we didn’t really touch upon about Tortoise as an instrumental ensemble is that the members are multi-instrumentalists who switch instruments several times during live concerts, and every single one of them can play the vibraphone. Accordingly, the personnel section at the bottom of the show notes is rather simple, with every member credited as “performer.” This is yet another way in which the Gentle Giant connection we mention is pertinent.

• Millions Now Living Will Never Die is the title of a 1920 Jehovah’s Witnesses tract by Joseph Franklin Rutherford. Tortoise have no affiliation with that particular religion but know a good title when they see one.

• The teaser begins with an excerpt from the “Tortoises” (or “Tortues” in the original French) movement of The Carnival of the Animals (including a parody of an Ogden Nash poem accompanying the movement) by Camille Saint-Saëns, which John covered back in episode 101 and which you should absolutely listen to if you haven’t already. 

Other links 

• The official Tortoise website (trts.com)

• Sound on Sound interviews John McEntire (Sound on Sound)

• Tortoise live at the Fillmore, 6/6/2001 (the one Mike went to) (Internet Archive)

• Tortoise live at the Great American Music Hall, 6/11/2010 (the one Mike and Rich went to) (Internet Archive)

• “Would ya like to take a survey?” (YouTube)

• Discord & Rhyme’s Millions Now Living Will Never Die playlist (Spotify)

• Discord & Rhyme’s merch store (TeePublic)

• Discord & Rhyme’s Patreon

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call 

• John McFerrin (host)

• Mike DeFabio (moderator)

• Rich Bunnell

• Dan Watkins 

Millions Now Living Will Never Die tracklist 

1. Djed

2. Glass Museum

3. A Survey

4. The Taut and Tame

5. Dear Grandma and Grandpa

6. Along the Banks of Rivers 

Other clips used 

Tortoise:

• Ry Cooder

• Magnet Pulls Through

• TNT

• Restless Waters

• I Set My Face to the Hillside

• Swung from the Gutters

• Seneca

• Night Air

• Prepare Your Coffin

• Grazing in the Grass (Live at Bimbo's 365 Club) 

Others:

• Camille Saint-Saëns - Tortues

• The Velvet Underground - Venus in Furs

• This Heat - 24 Track Loop

• David Bowie - Weeping Wall

• Wire - A Touching Display

• Public Image Ltd. - Albatross

• Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - My Pal the Tortoise

• Neu! - Hallogallo

• Philip Glass - Einstein on the Beach, Act III: Trial, Prison, "Prematurely Air-Conditioned Supermarket"

• Steve Reich - Music for 18 Musicians: Section I

• King Crimson - Waiting Man

• The Mothers of Invention - Little House I Used to Live In

• The Mothers of Invention - Mother People

• Mitski - Geyser

• Butthole Surfers - Creep in the Cellar

• Kraftwerk - Numbers

• The Flaming Lips - The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine

• Kraftwerk - Autobahn

• Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus

• Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Jeremy Bender

• Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

• Brian Eno - In Dark Trees

• Ween - Woman and Man

• Dom - Silence

• The Advisory Circle - Mind How You Go

• Boards of Canada - Aquarius

• The Shadows - Theme For Young Lovers

• Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother (Live in Montreux)

• Lalo Schifrin - Danube Incident

• Gentle Giant - Pantagruel's Nativity

• Stereolab - Les Yper-Sound

Band/album personnel 

• Dan Bitney – performer

• John Herndon – performer

• Douglas McCombs – performer

• John McEntire – performer, mixing, recording

• David Pajo – performer

• Roger Seibel – mastering

Credits 

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of: 

• Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

• Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

• The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

• Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

• Herbie Hancock - Hornets

• Kraftwerk - Autobahn

• Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen

• Tortoise - Djed (this episode only) 

You can buy or stream Millions Now Living Will Never Die and other albums by Tortoise at your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.