Tortoise formed way back in 1990 and have justifiable claims to being one of the fore-runners of the post-rock movement. More specifically, they have made avant jazz and progressive rock an acceptable form of music again. So inevitably this leads to increasing expectation for each new release. Make no mistake about it, there's some terrific moments on 'It's All Around You'. The sampled female harmonies and easy listening vibe of 'The Lithium Stiffs' resemble John McEntire's work with The Sea And Cake but when this track morphs into the barnstorming and highly melodic 'Crest' it's hard to think of a time where Tortoise have been so great let alone so accessible. Yet these tracks aren't entirely representative of a rather patchy album which drifts into the kind of meandering noodling that the group normally avoid. At least the title track and 'On The Chin' sees them return to the more direct jazz rock style which made 2001's 'Standards' so worthwhile. So - to avoid the rather obvious pun - the quality levels have dropped somewhat since the last outing.