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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 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. And if the instruments themselves weren't enough, many sounds on the record were manipulated by the band to push them even further - inhuman drum breaks three layers deep piled over the original live drum track, a heavenly four-Theremin choir from a Wizard of Oz soundtrack that never existed, guitar parts mulched into bits and reassembled into a tiny Prince army.

While the band's previous records were mainly self-produced, this time The Octopus Project wanted to achieve the perfect blend between high-end studio trickery and lo-fi home experimentation. Partially tracked to tape and partially to Pro Tools, Hello Avalanche was recorded and co-produced by Ryan Hadlock (Blonde Redhead, The Gossip) at rural Bear Creek Studio outside Seattle in February, 2007, and mixed in Austin by Erik Wofford (Voxtrot, Explosions In The Sky). Many sounds were taken from the band's original demos-- sequenced beats, edited loops, practice space recordings etc. Parts of "Upmann" were recorded on a friend's front porch (listeners will note the sounds of passing cars). As Yvonne has continued to gain notoriety for her expert Theremin skills, the band has developed its multi-tracked Theremin concept to its fullest extent-- something the group first tried on last year's collaborative album with Pittsburgh's Black Moth Super Rainbow, The House of Apples and Eyeballs. These experiments yielded amazing results that can be heard on the album track "I Saw The Bright Shinies."

In several years of nearly non-stop touring with an infectious live show that often incorporates lights, projections, balloons and band members that simply can't stay in one place, The Octopus Project has developed an immense and loyal grassroots following, as evidenced by the band's 30,000+ MySpace friends. Anyone wondering about the band's work ethic need only glance at The Octopus Project's Summer/Fall '07 tour schedule. After headlining Brooklyn's McCarren Park Pool Party in July, the band will kick-off three solid months of touring in August-- first supporting Stereo Total, then Aesop Rock, followed by six weeks on their own headlining tour after the album's release. This round of touring also marks the inauguration of guitarist Ryan Figg-- an addition certain to push the band's live sound to the proverbial Next Level.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

Snow Tip Cap Mountain
Truck
Bees Bein' Strugglin'
An Evening With Rthrtha
Black Blizzard/Red Umbrella
Upmann
Mmaj
I Saw The Bright Shinies
Ghost Moves
Vanishing Lessons
Exploding Snowhorse
Loud Murmuring
Queen

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

go to iTunes to browse downloads for Octopus Project "Hello, Avalanche"

If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks for purchase here.

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service and emusic.com, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.

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 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. And if the instruments themselves weren't enough, many sounds on the record were manipulated by the band to push them even further - inhuman drum breaks three layers deep piled over the original live drum track, a heavenly four-Theremin choir from a Wizard of Oz soundtrack that never existed, guitar parts mulched into bits and reassembled into a tiny Prince army.

While the band's previous records were mainly self-produced, this time The Octopus Project wanted to achieve the perfect blend between high-end studio trickery and lo-fi home experimentation. Partially tracked to tape and partially to Pro Tools, Hello Avalanche was recorded and co-produced by Ryan Hadlock (Blonde Redhead, The Gossip) at rural Bear Creek Studio outside Seattle in February, 2007, and mixed in Austin by Erik Wofford (Voxtrot, Explosions In The Sky). Many sounds were taken from the band's original demos-- sequenced beats, edited loops, practice space recordings etc. Parts of "Upmann" were recorded on a friend's front porch (listeners will note the sounds of passing cars). As Yvonne has continued to gain notoriety for her expert Theremin skills, the band has developed its multi-tracked Theremin concept to its fullest extent-- something the group first tried on last year's collaborative album with Pittsburgh's Black Moth Super Rainbow, The House of Apples and Eyeballs. These experiments yielded amazing results that can be heard on the album track "I Saw The Bright Shinies."

In several years of nearly non-stop touring with an infectious live show that often incorporates lights, projections, balloons and band members that simply can't stay in one place, The Octopus Project has developed an immense and loyal grassroots following, as evidenced by the band's 30,000+ MySpace friends. Anyone wondering about the band's work ethic need only glance at The Octopus Project's Summer/Fall '07 tour schedule. After headlining Brooklyn's McCarren Park Pool Party in July, the band will kick-off three solid months of touring in August-- first supporting Stereo Total, then Aesop Rock, followed by six weeks on their own headlining tour after the album's release. This round of touring also marks the inauguration of guitarist Ryan Figg-- an addition certain to push the band's live sound to the proverbial Next Level.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

Snow Tip Cap Mountain
Truck
Bees Bein' Strugglin'
An Evening With Rthrtha
Black Blizzard/Red Umbrella
Upmann
Mmaj
I Saw The Bright Shinies
Ghost Moves
Vanishing Lessons
Exploding Snowhorse
Loud Murmuring
Queen

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

go to iTunes to browse downloads for Octopus Project "Hello, Avalanche"

If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks for purchase here.

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service and emusic.com, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.

The Octopus Project is the latest development between longtime collaborators Josh Lambert, Yvonne Lambert and Toto Miranda, filling the gap between electronic and rock musics. Having added drum machines, samplers and keyboards to their standard guitar/drums/bass setup, they just turn everything on at once and end up with what has been best described as "ambidextrous equipment failure junk-tronica." Perhaps something like the rock-plus-electronic sounds of IQU, The Flying Lizards, Stereolab or Cornelius, but way more rock (larger, rougher, more collar-grabbing). The recent arrival of Dustin Kilgore and Nik Snell, both of whom play various instruments, adds to the confusion on stage.

Their reputation as the band that "hooks up their half-broken electronic shit all wrong" first attracts the attention, but actually seeing and hearing half-broken electronic shit played way, way too loud seals the deal.

• File under ambidextrous equipment failure junk-tronica 'O'
  
• Half-broken electronic junk played way, way too loud seldom sounds this keen
  
• Three-week East Coast and tour April and May 2002
  

  30-second RealAudio excerpts:

  What They Found
  Rorol
  The Way Things Go
  Righteous Ape and Bird
  Marshall Examines His Carcass
  Its Caption was a Star
  Crying at the Aquarium
  Porno Disaster
  Hypnopaedia

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to that album's iTunes page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Go to iTunes to browse downloads for Octopus Project "Identification Parade"

If you have a subscription account at emusic.com, you can download tracks for purchase here.

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music Service and emusic, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.

In the two years between records, Octopus Project have taken the barely controlled chaos of their live performance from coast to coast, playing hundreds of shows. When it came time to record again, the band had a clear idea of what they wanted-- a full-on, surround sound, 3-D, Technicolor studio amalgamation injected with the wild energy they felt in those noisy, tightly-packed clubs. Parts of One Ten Hundred Thousand Million were recorded in concrete stairwells. Other sounds were captured in nice rooms with padded walls and fancy recording equipment.

Their reputation as the band that "hooked up their half-broken electronic shit all wrong" first attracted the attention of Peek-A-Boo Records in 2001, but actually seeing the band play their halfbroken electronic shit way, way too loud sealed the deal, and by the end of the weekend the label had agreed to release the band's brilliant debut, Identification Parade. To date they hold the honor of being the only band recruited to the label after only one show.

30-second MP3 excerpts:

Exit Counselor
The Adjustor
All of the Champs
Bruise
Responsible Stu
Music is Happiness
Tuxedo Hat
Malaria Codes
Hold the Ladder
Six Feet Up
Lots More Stairs

If you have a recent version of iTunes software on your computer, clicking on the link immediately below should open the iTunes application and take you to the iTunes Music Service page-- where you can listen to samples and buy this album, or individual tracks:

Octopus Project "One Ten Hundred Thousand Million" (Peekaboo)

For a complete listing of Midheaven exclusive albums available for download from the iTunes Music service, please visit the Midheaven Mailorder/Revolver USA Downloadables page.

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