Thirteen story songs recorded in a six by ten room in Brooklyn. Tortuga mingles hushed acoustic instruments with drum loops and sampled '78s to create its junk store porch-techno vibe.
The cast of characters include lovesick dishwashers, starfuckers, randy invalids, nail-polish pickers, one-armed boxers, guitar-string suicides, punk-rock farm boys, and a foolish tattoo.
WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING
"A perfect late night alone record." - TapeOp 2/1/01
"Too beautiful to be pretty." - Pulse of the Twin Cities 2/1/01
"Tortuga is the best late night companion this side of Tom Waits' Mule Variations." (Three and 1/2 stars out of four)-- Jim Walsh, St. Paul Pioneer Press 11/12/99
"His music suggests some vast new genre of spaghetti-western-techno-gypsy-folk." (Critics Pick) - Zack Dundas, Willamette Week (Portland, OR) 9/20/00
"Griffin's debut Tortuga, puts the singer/songwriter within the ranks of Vic Chesnutt, Elliott Smith and Chris Knox." (Critics Pick) -- Laura Learmonth, Seattle Weekly 9/20/00
"...vivid yarns with a moody, atmospheric intermingling of acoustic guitars and ghostly background noises... a welcome addition to the bedroom [recording] set."
Tad Hendrickson, CMJ 12/20/99
"Stories as vivid as Nick Cave or Tom Waits...This show, and this disc should not be missed. Trust me on this." -David Rangel, Pulse of the Twin Cities, 5/02/99
Check out the artist's website:
http://www.shinylittlerecords.comTrack List:
1. the dishwasher's song
2. starfucker
3. tour shirt blues
4. heart in a hard place
5. sid
6. if you lived here
7. i know about you
8. iowa
9. can't you wait
10. (the winter hash)
11. summer dress
12. nobody knows
13. (the soul flys backwards)
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