This came out in 2000 — or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Sometimes, it’s not what you play or how you play it — it’s who plays it and where.
Case in point: This debut disc from instrumental Yankee four-piece Fontanelle. If this were the work of four German guys with spiky haircuts and black trenchcoats (and it easily could be), these six tracks of jammy post-psychedelia would probably be filed in the prog-rock section of the CD store just down from Can. If, on the other hand, these wandering, improvised progressions and lightly funky grooves were being tossed off by four downtown New York jazzbos (and they just as easily could be), this sucker would be sitting in the jazz rack a little past Miles Davis. Since Fontanelle are actually from Portland, Ore., however, that presumably means this will be in the indie / post-rock bunk along with Tortoise. Frankly, they’d be equally at home in any spot. My advice: Buy it and decide for yourself.
