049 – The Tortoise

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:09:28 — 95.5MB)

(3rd Strike / Dirt Crew / Undertones)

SOUNDCLOUD

Melbourne Deepcast 049: The Tortoise by Melbourne Deepcast

We’re a lucky bunch down here in Melbourne, with so many hot new talents emerging from the tight nit group of producers and DJ’s the city is home to, the bar is continually being raised, and every second week a new amazing record seems to pop up by yet another of the crew. The Tortoise is one of our newer emerging talents, yet he’s already making his own heavy claims, releasing on imprints like 3rd Strike, Dirt Crew and soon to be Undertones from Detroit. With only his second official release, his white coloured vinyl release ‘Gonna Be’ on UK imprint Under The Shade’s sub label 3rd Strike topped the Juno charts, and theres been no time for looking back since for the exciting 24 year old.

The quirky human behind the land dwelling reptile’s hard shell is actually one of the hardest working producers around, and is destined for pretty big things we think. Torquhil Anderson has been infatuated with house music in its many forms since first discovering electronic music too, with an impressive knack for percussion and even singing (which you can hear in the majority of his tracks). He even once had a stint as resident DJ / live act playing tribal house at Amnesia in the Greek Islands, which seems like a lifetime ago now for The Tortoise, who’s now found a comfortable home somewhere in the crossroads of disco and deep house.

Despite having some killer releases under your belt on 3rd Strike, Dirt Crew and soon to be Undertones, you’ve managed to keep a reasonably low profile, has that been an intentional ploy of yours to stay under your Tortoise shell until the time is right?

Well… Tortoises are known to be reclusive, however I think its just a reflection that most of my material is yet to be released. Hopefully with the next few releases The Tortoise will poke his head out of his shell a little bit more!

You’ve only been releasing music for around 2 years yet you’ve already been remixed by three heavyweights of todays house music scene in Hunee, Genius of Time and Iron Curtis. How have you rated those remixes, and when will we see the GOT and Iron Curtis remixes out?

It’s definitely been one of the most exciting parts of the whole experience so far (closely following the excitement of seeing your own creations pressed to vinyl, and of course self indulgently singing over tracks)! I can honestly say that Hunee, Genius Of Time and Iron Curtis are three of my favorite producers, and I reckon I have bought more records recently from them than just about anyone else. So the thought of them putting their unique twist on my tracks is very cool.

You’re currently working on a new 3rd Strike EP as well right? How is that coming along? Will you be laying down a similar vibe to the last one?

This has been the most recent project having only finished up the originals in the last few weeks. Really pleased to be doing another with them, especially to be thrown in the pond with the other 3rd strike regulars; Vakula and Erdbeershcnitzel! It takes a bit of a rawer direction than the last one, with more of a focus on drum programming and modulating synths.

What else do you have coming up that we should know about?

The next one is out on Detroit’s Undertones, this will be my second full EP. It follows the story of The Tortoise (a fictitious sloth like character) on a night out. The sluggish reptile manages to capture the attention of the promiscuous and seductive Nancy (vocals featured on the a-side), who uses her charms to lure the taken Tortoise back to her house. The b-side winds the clock forward a day where the sorry Tortoise wakes up and realizes what a foolish mistake he has made. Having been deserted by Nancy; the one night specialist, The Tortoise slinks off with his head buried deep within his shell, returning home to long time lover Teresa (vocals featured), who expresses her devastation over the night’s proceedings.

Tell us about the mix, what can we be expecting here?

I spent I bit of time trawling through my record collection from the past few years, and managed to get the list down to about 30 tracks. I couldn’t decide what to cull from there, so on a sunny Sunday afternoon and a couple of Bloody Maries down the hatch, I recorded the mix live and the tracks come out in the following order..

Tracklist:

Suzanne Kraft – Green flash // Running Back Germany
Zoo Look – Find the Words // Kolour Ltd
Francis Inferno Orchestra – I need it (Nicholas remix) // Join the dots
MISSING LINKX – Lovin’ Dubbin’ Feelin’ // Philpot
The Tortoise – She Took The Tortoise Home // Undertones US
Mano Le Tough – Let’s Not Talk About Love // Permanent Vacation
System Status – Downtime // Untracked
C-Beams – Thumbling // Uncanny Valley
Voices Of Black – Take Back Soho (Tanner Ross remix) // Double Standard Germany
TJ & DJ Raybone – Gone // Rush Hour
The Tortoise – Lost Forever (Iron Curtis Remix) // Dirt Crew Germany
Erdbeerschnetzel – Same Same // 3rd Strike
Schatrax – Champagne Dancer // Fear of Flying
Funky Chocolate – Deep Moods // Funky Chocolate