Tautologic in the press:

"Hey, Fearless fans, there's a new hip and happenin' place in Chicago for live musical entertainment! Reggie's Music Club is the place to go for good eats and cool music. It was a packed house Saturday night. This evening Southside came out to hear her favorite ambient folk rock band, otherwise known as Tautologic. This band rocked the audience with their unique blend of music genres and their electric violin accompaniment. For this performance they added something new to enhance their opening set. On a backdrop screen behind the band, movie shorts played throughout the set in order to give the audience a deeper feel for the tone of the songs.

Tautologic kicked off their set with The Admiral. SouthSide enjoyed how both the song and video images helped create a very haunting feel. She liked the idea of using video shorts to accompany the songs to convey the songwriter^Òs imagination and mood. For example, during the performance of Loud Shoes the audience was presented with a video of a woman shopping in a store. Other video shorts included images of churches and a cyclist along the bike path for Bike Lock. The movie shorts were rather quirky and at times made the audience wonder at the connection between the images and the lyrics of the songs. Some of Tautologic^Òs songs did have its funny moments that made SouthSide laugh or dance along while the band jammed on stage.

What SouthSide liked best about Tautologic's show was their experimentation with different genres. The band kept Reggie^Òs alive with an interesting mix of Irish folk, Island rhythms, and rock music. During Choirboy, this fast paced song was rich with guitar sounds and keyboard melodies. This song included extended guitar solos at the end. While performing On Your Left, Ethan really got into the funky island beat by dancing a little.

It was Tautologic's newest addition that added the right amount of edge and intensity to their music. Emily on the electric violin was an excellent newcomer to the band. She gave their closing song The Whistler a wee bit of Irish folk sound with her electric violin accompaniment. During this particular song as the three guitars performed a video about the whistler was played on the screen. This combination between visuals and sounds added more dimension to their performance for it completely engaged the audience's senses. For more information about Tautologic, visit them at www.tautologic.com or www.myspace.com/tautologic. Until next time, Fearless fans, support your local indie artists."
-SouthSide from Fearless Radio

"The first band to kick off this caravan show instantly won this reviewer's heart, Fearless fans. It was sweet heavenly acoustic music with a wee bit of rock that you could dance an Irish jig to. Tautologic impressed SouthSide with their mesh of unique sounds that really didn't seem to belong together, but Tautologic proved they could. Their amazing music had her rockin'. Violin and acoustic guitar offset the bass and electric to create one incredible sound that would certainly liven up any pub around town especially an Irish one). This Fearless reviewer totally fell in love with their acoustic/folk rock which has recently exploded once again in the music scene around Chicago. Tautologic's instrumental songs, as well as their lyrical ones, had some in the audience dancing a silly jig while rocking along with the band. Though the sax member of the band wasn't in attendance, this band was scheduled to perform again the night following at the House of Blues, this time with their full ensemble. It was a definitely a welcome change of pace for SouthSide's ears and she enjoyed every minute of their set. During the middle of a couple of songs, there was a taste of the Emerald Isle from the acoustic and violin. Then combine the electric and bass, the audience's ears were blown away by this lively folk performance. Tautologic's music rocked Subterranean down and SouthSide highly recommends that Fearless fans catch their next show. Check out more info about Tautologic and their music at www.tautologic.com or www.myspace.com/tautologic."
-SouthSide from Fearless Radio

"... miraculous progressive pop.... Immortal and visionary."
-Harmonie (from review of Basement Sessions, Volume I)

"Occasionally experimentation with new names reveals a hidden gem. Tautologic is one such case in point, where each and every track has had me completely blown away... music can be best defined as eclectic progressive rock with a healthy dose of folk rock with the group described as a cross between early Genesis, early Fairport Convention and a healthy dose of Stackridge. Basically the group sound very very British though they hail from Chicago, very late sixties stuff.... When considering that this is a debut album, the promise is great. Musically Tautologic have a lot to offer and are an extremely tight professional outfit."
-Nigel Camilleri, The Dutch Progressive Rock Page

"Tautologic brings a new twist to orchestral pop, melding a wide variety of musical styles with classical arrangements. Ethan Sellers sings in a Styx-like, operatic voice about everyday occurrences and topics, while a mini orchestra peppers each song with intriguing and often lovely, violins, cello, and keyboards. For example, on the folksy "Jim's Home Brew," he sings about his friend's beer recipe, while Jen Justice's pretty backing vocals, catchy piano, and charming strings flow throughout. The band also tackles psychedelica ("Hype Dark"), Celtic ("Glasgow Smile"), funk ("Love Bus"), space rock ("Tube Socks"), and classical pop ("Lazy Sundays," my favorite track), while Justice contributes gorgeous lead vocals to "The House Song." It sounds strange on paper, but the results satisfy more often than not. Thanks to Sellers's and Pat Buzby's songwriting talents and string arrangements, this debut is an impressive, if slightly twisted, modern-day "rock" opera."
-Mark Suppanz, The Big Takeover

"There are not many heirs to Gentle Giant. This American band (a duo!) is paradoxically very close to the very British outfit... the music is more pop oriented by the format, often in the way of the Beatles ('Eleanor Rigby') or chamber music influenced... A great debut..."
-RR, Acid Dragon

"With its tightly scripted string arrangements and ambitious intelligence, Tautologic... is among the city's most original acts. This brilliantly sequenced, $15,000 independent album opens playfully and ominously with a complicated instrumental bit of modern orchestral dissonance, which then gives way to Sgt. Pepperesque, psychedelic Beatleism... The melodies have a distinctly traditional folk feeling, shaped by the apt use of classic meters (these guys have obviously been successfully exposed to the Great Books at University of Chicago)."
-Darryl Cater, ChicagoGigs.com

"A 'tautology' is defined as needless repetition of an idea in different words, which points to this very interesting band's wryly self-effacing sense of humor. Consisting of Ethan Sellers on vocals, keyboards, and guitar, and Pat Buzby on drums and keyboards, the duo is assisted by a variety of other musicians, most often a small string section.

As if to illustrate the disorientation of the album's title, they open with a string trio figure that eventually widens and falls apart - classical space music? 'Hype Dark' follows, with a great chorus, plus harmonies and voice processing reminiscent of the United States of America.

The strings expand to a quartet for the charging 'Glasgow Smile,'and viola player Jen Justice vocally backdrops another great set of chord changes on 'Jim's Home Brew.' The Beatles-esque sense of invention on 'Lazy Sundays' extends to the general spirit of this album, which often is redolent of late-1960s underground radio... overall, this is a very auspicious debut."
- Larry Nai, Progression, Summer/Fall 2000

"It's a roaring fire and two glasses of wine type sound, though not limited to such intimacies. Tautologic can hold their own with Chicago's best, as evident at their album debut at Elbo Room in June."
- Centerstage Chicago "Who's Who in Chicago Music"

"Tautologic: On its debut CD, West is North, East is South, the ambitious Chicago trio offers modernist compositions for strings, pastiches of Beatles psychedelia, Celtic rock and the kitchen sink. Friday, May 19, Tasting Room."
- Shepherd Express Metro 5/18/2000 "A List May 18-24

"Serving up a prog-influenced mixture of rock and classical music, with some worldly jazz thrown in for variety, Tautologic has the unusual lyrics to match its unpredictable sound."
- The Onion A.V. Club 18-24 May 2000 "Picks"

"With their eclectic images and down-to-earth metaphors ("Are all humans like white tube socks?"), Hyde Park band Tautologic's music is somewhere between Shakespearean poetry and punk rock."
- Liss Palamkumnel, Chicago Weekly News

"From lyrics about race relations in Hyde Park to a Hyde Park bus where the driver says 'Welcome to the love bus,' there is always a Hyde Park component to this music... While the new compilation of songs from 'Hype Dark' to 'Love Bus' can be quite artsy at times with a pop-music-feel chiming in through cello and violin, any Hyde Parker can easily understand the inspiration to these songs."
- Jennifer Fortney, Hyde Park Herald

"...idiosyncratic..." -The Isthmus 7/21/2000 "Critics' Choice"