RadATL New music

RECORD REVIEW: Tortoise sharpens the edges of its hypnotic pulse with new album, ‘Touch’


With Touch (International Anthem/Nonesuch), Tortoise takes a deliberate step forward, refining and reimagining the motoric pulse and Krautrock undercurrents that ran through 2016’s The Catastrophist (Thrill Jockey). The Chicago-Portland-LA-based ensemble has always thrived on subtlety—those interlocking rhythms and textural sleights of hand that reveal new details with every listen. Here, the group hones that language to near perfection. Songs such as “A Title Comes,” “Axial Seamount,” and “Organesson” inhabit familiar terrain, yet each one breathes with renewed clarity and intent. There’s no need for grand reinvention when refinement feels this purposeful.

The album’s cool, monochromatic hue contrasts the warmer analog tones of earlier releases, creating a sense of precision and poise that’s both cerebral and deeply human. The production places every element exactly where it needs to be, crafting an atmosphere that’s minimal yet immersive. “Night Gang,” with its twangy, Morricone-inspired guitar lines, closes the record with an air of cinematic grandeur that is self referential while marking a turn into a brave new world.

Tortoise: From left to right: Jeff Parker, Dan Bitney, Douglas McCombs, John Herndon, and John McEntire. Photo by Heather Cantrell.

With Touch, Tortoise sounds as vital as ever: confident, contemplative, and completely in control of their craft. It’s an album that rewards patience and close listening, unfolding in waves of understated brilliance that reaffirm the band’s quiet mastery of mood and motion.

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Jeff Parker ETA IVtet plays the Garden Club at Wild Heaven West End on Tuesday, April 1

Jeff Parker photo by JIm Newberry

Guitar player and composer Jeff Parker is perhaps best known for his contributions to contemporary jazz, experimental music, and post-rock as a long-standing member of the group Tortoise. Parker has also flourished through countless solo outings and collaborations with acts including the Chicago Underground Quartet, Isotope 217, and the New Breed. His latest endeavor, the ETA IVtet, is a Los Angeles-based outfit featuring drummer Jay Bellerose, double bassist Anna Butterss, and alto saxophonist Josh Johnson.

In November,  Parker and the ETA IVtet unveiled their second album, The Way Out of Easy, on International Anthem Recording Company. The record showcases Parker’s signature blend of adventurous improvisation, harmonic sophistication, and a deep groove, seamlessly bridging tradition and experimentation.

The group takes its name from the L.A. bar where they held a weekly residency from 2016 until it closed in December 2024.

With The Way Out of Easy, Parker and Co. reaffirm their place as formidable players at the forefront of contemporary music, pushing boundaries while remaining rooted in timeless expression via four improvised pieces bearing titles such as “Freakadelic,” “Late Autumn,” the album’s title track, and “Chrome Dome.” Press play below.

Jeff Parker’s ETA IVtet plays the Garden Club at Wild Heaven West End on Tuesday, April 1. $25 (adv). $30 (day of). Doors open at 7 p.m. Music starts at 8 p.m.

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Jeff Parker and Steve Gunn at Terminal West. Wed., Dec. 8.

Jeff Parker (left) and Steve Gunn at Terminal West. Photo by Chad Radford

Jeff Parker walked onto the stage at Terminal West on Wed., Dec. 8, to polite applause followed by silence — the kind of explosive silence that’s felt just seconds before an orchestra strikes up and fills a symphony hall with its opening salvo.

Parker drew out the silence, and communed with the quiet tension before tangling his fingers around the neck of his guitar and slowly unwinding them along the fretboard. The guitarist and co-founder of Chicago’s post-rock luminaries Tortoise, stands atop a body of solo recordings and collaborations that traverse everything from mutant funk and hip-hop beats to skronking free jazz, minimalism, and drones. 

At first, the sounds he created seemed ill-shaped. But loops were being created, and within moments notes percolated and collided into one another as Parker’s singular musical style revealed itself in tones and textures that were instantly familiar, yet guided by wholly new, next-level composition.

Jeff Parker. Photo by Chad Radford

Much (if not all) of the material he played throughout the night comes from his latest solo guitar album, Forfolks (International Anthem Recording Co.). But this was a solid three days before the album was released. As such, Parker offered a preview into one of the most pleasantly challenging chapters of his career. Smoke machines  hissed quietly somewhere in the darkness. The slow rumble of a train rolling along the tracks behind Terminal West almost felt scripted, as Parker created long, sustained tones that rung out for so long they started rattle, revealing the intricacies inside the sounds of his amplified steel strings. When rhythm and melody are taken away — acoustic feedback is a beautiful thing.


In the midst of his deep dive into the avant-garde, Parker subtly weaved in the melody of “Jetty” from Tortoise’s 1996 masterpiece, TNT. This reimagined take on the song appears on Forfolks under the name “La Jetée.” 

Steve Gunn. Photo By Chad Radford

Steve Gunn joined Parker for a short collaboration before closing out the night with a solo set. Gunn offered a cover of British folk singer and guitarist Michael Chapman’s “Among The Trees” before delving into a stripped down rendition of “Way Out Weather,” the title cut from Gunn’s 2014 album, which set the tone for his performance. Gunn leaned into “Fulton,” “Good Wind,” “Morning River,” and “On the Way” from his 2021 release, Other You (Matador).


On record, these songs are the backbone of Gunn’s most ambitious work to date. On stage, they flowed with the cool quietude of the seemingly effortless Zen-like vibe that has come to define his strongest songwriting. It was also a grounding agent that balanced out an evening of acoustic, psychedelic, and forward-thinking music.

This review was first printed by Record Plug Magazine.

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