*Announcing* TORTOISE - "Oganesson" // digital single out NOW, band performs at Big Ears Festival TONIGHT
(( photo by Todd Weaver ))
Tortoise - "Oganesson"
Today, the iconic and influential Tortoise share their first new music since 2016: the digital single “Oganesson,” in anticipation of a larger body of work to be released soon via International Anthem & Nonesuch Records (details TBA).
The track – which also comes with animated video by Rob Shaw – is out just hours before the group perform at the adventurous and esteemed Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, playing several new pieces of music in addition to classics from their more than three decades-deep catalog of boundary-defying, vanguard-defining music.
(( photo by Todd Weaver ))
…about Tortoise…
"Post-rock was one of the most active threads of 90s indie, and Tortoise not only set the bar for it, they leaped right over it… they hybridized completely novel forms. Their music was informed not only by Chicago's energetic out-jazz scene, but also drum'n'bass, electro, lounge music, techno, hip-hop, dub, and modernist innovations."
Tortoise is widely considered one of the most influential music groups of the last 40 years, with a wide-reaching impact on the contemporary music scene. Pitchfork says: “Imagine a graphic showing all the bands the five members of Tortoise were in before they came together and then all the bands they went on to play with after. At the top of the funnel you have groups ranging from dreamy psych-rock to earthy post-punk crunch, including Eleventh Dream Day, Bastro, Slint, and the Poster Children; on the 'post-Tortoise' end are groups focusing on electro-jazz and twangy instrumental rock like Isotope 217, Chicago Underground, and Brokeback. In this graphic, Tortoise is the choke point, the one project that has elements of all these sounds but is never defined by nor committed to any of them. Instead, Tortoise floats free, a planchette moving over a Ouija board guided by 10 sets of fingers, where everyone watches the arrow float in one direction but no one is quite sure how it gets there or who is doing the pushing.”
The band, which originally formed in Chicago, comprises Jeff Parker, Dan Bitney, Douglas McCombs, John Herndon, and John McEntire.
More.
A Whole Bunch Of Iarc Artists @Big Ears Festival, Knoxville This Weekend
Tortoise
Thursday March 27, 9:00pm @ Mill & Mine
Carlos Niño & Friends
Thursday March 27, 10:45pm @ Jackson Terminal
Friday March 28, 9:00pm @ Knoxville Museum of Art
Saturday March 29, 9:00pm @ Knoxville Museum of Art
Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly
Friday March 28, 2:15pm @ Regas Square
Jeff Parker ETA IVtet
Friday March 28, 2:45pm @ Bijou Theatre
Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer
Friday March 28, 3:45pm @ First Presbyterian Church
Alabaster DePlume
Friday March 28, 4:00pm @ Mill & Mine
SML
Saturday March 29, 7:30pm @ The Standard
Macie Stewart
Sunday March 30, 4:30pm @ Regas Square
Chrysanthemum Tea
with International Anthem
March 28th-30th, 2025
11:11am to 1:11pm
Boyd's Jig & Reel
101 S Central St, Knoxville, TN
Please join us for a series of gatherings, good vibes and general fellowship on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings over Big Ears weekend at the Jig & Reel in Downtown Knoxville. The events will include intimate performances by new, unique combinations of musicians from the label's extensive family of musicians, plus exclusive listens to upcoming albums (some of which are still TBA), and more.
Across 2025, International Anthem is celebrating our 11th year with a series of events and special releases underneath the #IA11 banner, which features a vibrating chrysanthemum flower as its central image. So, in that spirit and symbology, these events at the Jig & Reel will begin at 11:11am every morning, and the label will be pouring free cups of hot chrysanthemum tea from the merch table. Details on performers below:
Friday March 28, 11:11am - 1:11pm
Macie Stewart, Lia Kohl, Whitney Johnson trio
Saturday March 29, 11:11am - 1:11pm
Gregory Uhlmann, Jeremiah Chiu, Alabaster DePlume trio
Sunday March 30, 11:11am - 1:11pm
Ben LaMar Gay, Adam Rudolph, Carlos Niño trio
