The Octopus Project: Hexadecagon (Peek-A-Boo, 10/25/10)
The Octopus Project: “Fuguefat”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/The_Octopus_Project_Fuguefat.mp3|titles=The Octopus Project: “Fuguefat”]Over the past decade, Austin’s The Octopus Project has built a solid portfolio of electronics-infused post- and indie rock, with each of its four multi-instrumentalists (the eight arms of the octopus) contributing in different ways for each song.
Hexadecagon, the band’s fourth full-length, is not an album but rather a multi-sensory audio-visual experience, with eight-channel audio to accompany eight synchronized video projections of kaleidoscopic video montages. The repetitious polyrhythms and dense layers of minimalist composers Terry Riley and Steve Reich were major influences on this material, and those elements mesh excellently with the band’s rock grooves, making something distinct and new that works without the intended visuals.