Tortoise

If there's one thing a reviewer can say about a band that will cause everyone to buy their record, it's to say they sound like Radiohead.

Tortoise sound like Radiohead.

That's not entirely accurate. Tortoise augment rock with an electronic aesthetic that could send Radiohead back to their precious Oxford flat on their skinny little whiney arses. Their grooves are jazz. Their production is superior to most. And they don't have a singer.

But the members of Tortoise are like a lot of Duke students-they're so smart, they can come across as awkward. Songs like the dismal "Blackjack" make you wonder whether the band spent too much time keeping up with the latest in shareware to take notice of a far more primitive invention called melody.

On other tracks, though, the geeks astound. "Monica" lays a luscious synth over a funky hook, cuts up the drums and captivates with a barrage of beats. On "Six Pack," Tortoise show off their musicianship with a 9/8 time signature that repeatedly pushes the song over a precipice and brings it back.

Like Radiohead, Tortoise can employ stunts like unconventional time signatures to actually enrich a song rather than just to show off. The band should appeal to those fans of Radiohead's more abstract works. The two bands don't sound all that alike, but they're pushing similar boundaries.