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Octopus Project

The octopus is an intelligent creature with some amazing abilities. It can squeeze its boneless body through tight spaces. It can crawl along the bottom of the ocean floor or suddenly switch on its built-in jet pack. It can change color rapidly in order to blend in with its surroundings or just because it’s in a weird mood.

Austin oddballs the Octopus Project are similarly slippery, strong, smart, adaptable, and fascinating. The five-piece has been playing since 1999 and has by now established a signature sound that, nonetheless, leaves a lot of room for experimenting. It’s dominated by strange electronic sounds — synths, theremin, samples, drum machines, video-game bleeps and bloops — but also makes room for the occasional guitar, drums, or bass, though only rarely for vocals. Despite the band’s penchant for experimenting, the songs tend to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, with some kind of repeated phrase that functions like the chorus in a pop song. There’s almost always an instrumental hook you can sing along with.

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That said, Hexadecagon, the band’s most recent full-length release (from 2010) found the band at its most avant-garde. The record was borne out of an ambitious project in which the band played through a custom-built eight-channel sound system, accompanied by multiple screens of experimental film, and often sounded like the most challenging work by minimalist composer Steve Reich.

The Octopus Project is currently working on a new record to be released early next year. In the meantime, the band has been touring both as a headliner and as an opener for acts as diverse as Passion Pit, Trail of Dead, and Man or Astroman? Like I said, the octopus is an adaptable creature.

THE OCTOPUS PROJECT: Soda Bar, Wednesday, November 7, 8:30 p.m. 619-255-7224. $10.

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A poem for March by Joseph O’Brien

“March’s Lovely Asymptotes”

The octopus is an intelligent creature with some amazing abilities. It can squeeze its boneless body through tight spaces. It can crawl along the bottom of the ocean floor or suddenly switch on its built-in jet pack. It can change color rapidly in order to blend in with its surroundings or just because it’s in a weird mood.

Austin oddballs the Octopus Project are similarly slippery, strong, smart, adaptable, and fascinating. The five-piece has been playing since 1999 and has by now established a signature sound that, nonetheless, leaves a lot of room for experimenting. It’s dominated by strange electronic sounds — synths, theremin, samples, drum machines, video-game bleeps and bloops — but also makes room for the occasional guitar, drums, or bass, though only rarely for vocals. Despite the band’s penchant for experimenting, the songs tend to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, with some kind of repeated phrase that functions like the chorus in a pop song. There’s almost always an instrumental hook you can sing along with.

Sponsored
Sponsored

That said, Hexadecagon, the band’s most recent full-length release (from 2010) found the band at its most avant-garde. The record was borne out of an ambitious project in which the band played through a custom-built eight-channel sound system, accompanied by multiple screens of experimental film, and often sounded like the most challenging work by minimalist composer Steve Reich.

The Octopus Project is currently working on a new record to be released early next year. In the meantime, the band has been touring both as a headliner and as an opener for acts as diverse as Passion Pit, Trail of Dead, and Man or Astroman? Like I said, the octopus is an adaptable creature.

THE OCTOPUS PROJECT: Soda Bar, Wednesday, November 7, 8:30 p.m. 619-255-7224. $10.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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