My friends Jane, who runs the music blog New Music Matters, and her husband Paul were planning to see The Octopus Project at the Mercury Lounge on April 11th. I hadn’t seen my friends in a long time and I hadn’t seen the band before though another friend had put me onto them a long time ago. So I figured this was the opportune time to see the band. And they did not disappoint.
The Octopus Project are currently touring to support their latest album Memory Mirror (Robot High School), which had come out a few days before the NYC show and hasn’t really gotten much traction in critics’ circles yet. But it is a fun one — my favorite track on first listen was “Mendoza” — and the psychedelic scheme helped cement the audiences’ attention if the otherwise wild and hypnotic rhythms and motions did not already. Each of the members, married couple Yvonne and Josh Lambert, Toto Miranda and Lauren Gurgiolo, could be found alternating instruments throughout the night — guitars, drums (sets were positioned on left and right sides of the stage). At one point the band ran out of musicians and had recruited the sound guy to join them on percussion. Later, near the end of the show, Yvonne literally wielded the alien-sounding theremin, waving it above the front row audience and letting them get in on the action a little.
I was pretty impressed by the opener Brothertiger. I’ll have to check out more of his stuff soon. But I saw his next show is set for next week: April 24th at the Knitting Factory (with Avec Sans and Vacanes). And his forthcoming release is a cover of Tears for Fears entire Songs from the Big Chair album for the label Reimagine Music, a label that gets the “best in indie rock, alt country, and electronic music, cover classic songs.”
Below is a video teaser of Memory Mirror, a stream of Brothertiger’s “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” cover and photos from the show.
Brothertiger:
The Octopus Project:
