It's All Around You

After releasing two groundbreaking, mostly unclassifiable records in the mid-'90s, Tortoise settled into a reliable formula of bass-heavy instrumental rock, experimental electronica and jazzy detours. Some of each category is present in "It's All Around You." And although the album doesn't knock the ball out of the park on first listen, ultimately it reveals just enough cool ideas to keep things interesting. On such cuts as "Crest" and "Stretch (You Are All Right)," the group finds a happy medium between a live-recording feel ("Five Too Many," the off-kilter closer "Salt the Skies") and studio-heavy creations ("By Dawn," "The Lithium Stiffs"). The latter, featuring vocals from Kelly Hogan, is the quintet's first cut with singing in a decade. Tortoise isn't pushing the envelope as far as it has on albums past, but "It's All Around You" can still please the adventurous ear.—JC