The Octopus Project Releases First Single “Fugefat” Off Hexadecagon, Prepares for Tour

The Octopus Project Releases First Single “Fugefat” Off Hexadecagon, Prepares for Tour

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Austin-based experimentalists The Octopus Project have released the first single, “Fugefat,” for mp3 download off their forthcoming album, Hexadecagon. The strikingly textural opening track off the album is inspired by minimalist composers Terry Riley and Steve Reich.

The band realized when piecing Hexadecagon together that the equipment they needed didn’t exist, so they built it. Using custom electronics and pushing existing software to its limits, they wrote songs for an 8-channel surround sound system and shot video footage with Austin digital artist Wiley Wiggins.

For the live debut, they arranged 8 speakers in a circle around the audience with the band at the center, accompanied by 8 synchronized video projections. Requiring an 8-channel audio and video system (hence the name “Hexadecagon,” – a 16-sided a/v panorama), they performed twice to over-capacity crowds during SXSW 2010. Paste said, “if there’s a such thing as a happiness seizure, be prepared to have one,” while the Austin American Statesman described it as, “the trippiest, most elaborate thing the Octopus Project have ever done, and that’s a very tall order.” USA Today ranked the performance one of its top five shows of SXSW.

The album version, mixed in Dallas with John Congleton (St. Vincent, Explosions In the Sky, The Walkmen) is written to work in layers, but re-orchestrated for anyone with a pair of speakers (or headphones, ideally).

The Octopus Project will be bringing elements of those initial live shows on the road for a fall co-headlining tour w/ Polyvinyl’s newest signing STRFKR. Catch them if you can!

The Octopus Project Tour Dates:
09/29 – Little Rock, AR @ Juanita’s
09/30 – Shreveport, LA @ The Collective
10/01 – Birmingham, AL @ The Bottletree
10/02 – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
10/04 – Knoxville, TN @ Pilot Light
10/05 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
10/06 – Washington DC @ DC9
10/07 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
10/08 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
10/09 – New Haven, CT @ Cafe Nine*#
10/10 – Cambridge, MA @ TT the Bears
10/11 – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
10/12 – Toronto, ON @ Wrongbar
10/13 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Garfield Artworks
10/14 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
10/15 – Chicago, IL @ The Bottom Lounge
10/16 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
10/19 – Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s
10/20 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
10/22 – San Francisco, CA @ Great Am. Music Hall
10/23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
10/24 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
10/25 – Tucson, AZ @ Plush
10/29 – Asheville, NC @ Moogfest *

All shows with Starfucker (except *)
# w/ We Are Scientists, Rewards