4 Tortoise A Lazarus Taxon THRILL JOCKEY, 2006

You say: “Gamera is pretty much perfect.” Stuart Braithwaite, via Facebook

For a survey of Tortoise’s awesome range, this 3-CD+DVD box set of singles, remixes, rarities and assorted critical ephemera is pretty much essential. Pride of place goes to Gamera/Cliff Dweller Society, two epic tracks (11:53 and 15:23) first released on a 1995 12-inch for Stereolab’s Duophonic label. A propulsive collage of folk, motorik, jazz, dub, musique concrète et al that significantly expanded the concept of post-rock, MOJO readers overwhelmingly named Gamera as their favourite Tortoise track in this survey. Worth sticking around for the other 33 pieces, of course, not least covers of Duke Ellington and Joy Division (Didjeridoo and As You Said) and two Autechre remixes that cement Tortoise’s bond with the ’90s electronic avant-garde.