Tortoise vs. Perfuse 73

Best Record of 2001: Day 56 Good morning! Today we’re taking a quick look at Tortoise’s Standards LP as it faces off against Perfuse 73’s Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives. By the end of this week, I’ll officially be in my 50s (okay, 51, but still), and as we go through these records, I keep telling myself to view them through the lens of 26-year-old Kevin. In other words, do they hold up today? Would they have landed with me back then? And the answer is invariably… it depends. Some sound better than ever. Some have been a goddamn delight. Some weren’t my bag then, but are now. For others, it’s vice versa. And so it goes. Both of today’s records are new to me. I know the name Tortoise, but they’ve always been just outside the periphery of my listening universe. None of my fellow travelers were into them either—at least as far as I know—so I don’t think I would’ve heard them secondhand. Doing a little reading, I found an interview with two of the band members on Drowned in Sound, where…