See a clip of the band performing with the Austin High School marching band at the Austin City Limits festival and feel the intensity for yourself at this year’s CMJ Music Marathon.“Austin’s The Octopus Project have released what is possibly the best animated video I’ve seen this year.” – Gorilla Vs. Bear
“Sci-fi-flick synthesizer squeals, power-riff guitars, hellbent drumming... an outtake of the Beach Boys' 'Good Vibrations' with Mogwai as the studio band.” – Rolling Stone
Continuing to promote the 2007 release of its third full-length album Hello, Avalanche, The Octopus Project’s recently completed video for the album’s latest single “I Saw The Bright Shinies” debuted exclusively on Pitchfork last week. The clip is the work of Austin illustrator Divya Srinivasan, who previously animated videos for Spoon and They Might Be Giants, worked on Richard Linklater’s Waking Life feature film and won the PLUG Independent Music Awards 2006 “Album Art/Packaging of The Year” nod for Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois.
The new Octopus Project video depicts three sleepy ghost kids following a heterochromic fox through a snowy twilight to an impromptu critter disco in a forest clearing. The spirits and strays dance in harmony until a cranky babushka bemoans the noise and breaks up the party. Thus, the spectral youths return to the astral plane... but not without a final farewell to their new found animal friends. See the “I Saw The Bright Shines Video” on You Tube HERE, Vimeo HERE, Pitchfork HERE or visit the official “Bright Shinies” site at Peek-a-Boo Records HERE.
Additionally, The Octopus Project is heading out on yet another leg of its seemingly endless tour making its way to the east coast with a stop at New York’s CMJ Music Marathon at the Blender Theater on October 25th (buy tickets HERE) and wrapping up at Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest. The enthusiasm for the live Octopus Project experience comes as no surprise. It’s something the band’s fans have known about for a long while and the pictures above don’t lie. The group recently finished up appearances at Lollapalooza and attendees of the band’s performance at the Austin City Limits festival were astounded when 20-plus members of the Austin High School marching band hit the stage with the group. Check out a clip of it HERE.
In other Octopus Project video news, the band’s previous video for the Hello, Avalanche track “An Evening with Rthrtha” (LINK) was recently recognized by two prominent graphics publications: Stash (LINK) and IDN (LINK). The video is the second collaboration between Brooklyn artist Phillip Niemeyer of Double Triple (LINK) and San Francisco-based media artist Ryan Junell following their hand-animated stop-motion video for Spoon’s “You Got Yr Cherry Bomb” (LINK). Niemeyer and Junell were also recently asked to speak at the After Effects Society of New York regarding this particular artistic achievement.
With ragged, furious distorted guitars at one end of the spectrum and the pure, luminescent tones of the Theremin at the other, the members of The Octopus Project mine a staggering variety of sounds in between (via strings, synthesizers, drums, glockenspiel, trombones, etc.), filling their songs with brilliant contrasting colors and cascading waves of sonic bliss. Although Josh Lambert, Yvonne Lambert, Ryan Figg and Toto Miranda each have their instrumental specialties, they spread ideas out on as many instruments as possible, each writing for and performing on any sound-maker they can find. Stay tuned for news of a new EP to be released in early 2009 and the recording of the band’s fourth album!
The Octopus Project Live:
10/20 Knoxville, TN The Pilot Light
10/21 Baltimore, MD Talking Head
10/22 Washington, DC The Black Cat
10/23 Philadelphia, PA The M Room
10/24 New York, NY TBA CMJ Music Marathon
10/25 New York, NY Blender Theater (Fanatic Promotion CMJ Showcase)
10/26 Cambridge, MA TT the Bears
10/27 Montreal, QC, Canada Club Lambi
10/28 Toronto, ON, Canada The Drake Hotel
10/29 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop
10/30 St. Louis, MO The Bluebird
11/08 Austin, TX Fun Fun Fun Festival
Hello, Avalanche Tracklisting:
Stream The Album HERE
Release Date: October 16th, 2007
01. Snow Tip Cap Mountain
02. Truck (MP3 VIDEO)
03. Bees Bein’ Strugglin’ (MP3)
04. An Evening With Rthrtha (MP3 VIDEO)
05. Black Blizzard/Red Umbrella
06. Upmann
07. Mmaj
08. I Saw The Bright Shinies (MP3 VIDEO)
09. Ghost Moves
10. Vanishing Lessons
11. Exploding Snowhorse
12. Loud Murmuring
13. Queen
The Octopus Project In The Press:
“...surprisingly irresistible.” – Nylon
“The result is a combination of electronic and analog acoustic elements that, on paper, should go together as well as a Daft Punk/Godspeed You! Black Emperor cocktail. Sequenced beats stutter alongside pounding drums.” – Magnet
“The songs are better than ever, and it’s exciting to hear the band hitting its stride.” – XLR8R
“…insanely catchy instrumental jam” – SPIN
“The lovely Theremin lead... suggests that technology just might save us after all.” – Pitchfork
“…eschews mathematical arrangement for impish spirit, creating a sound able to please hipsters and kindergarteners alike.” – CMJ
“If one has little to no lingering attachment to song form, The Octopus Project could be one of the best bands in the world. The musicianship is impressive” – Exclaim!
“Their live shows are high voltage affairs- great visual and audio assaults.” – Closer
“For an instrumental record, Hello, Avalanche keeps things impressively interesting the whole way through.” – PopMatters
”… amazing instrumental indie album that keeps your attention without making you work at it.” – Yahoo!
Tools & Hi–Res Photos:
www.fanaticpromotion.com/rosterdetails.php?indexkey=53
On The Web:
www.octopusproject.com
www.myspace.com/theoctopusproject
www.peekaboorecords.com
www.myspace.com/peekaboorecords
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