Pay Attention To: The Octopus Project
I’ve been a fan of The Octopus Project for a while now so I was glad to hear that they released an 7-inch on UK label Too Pure (the label that first brought us Stereolab) earlier this year. The 7-inch features two new songs, “Wet Gold” and “Moon Boil,” recorded by the band and mastered at Abbey Road in London. Sounds pretty cool. But, you can decide for yourself. Have a listen.
MP3- Wet Gold
The group has also kicked off a summer tour that will last for the next month, ending at ACL. Beyond that they released this pretty cool video created by Phillip Niemeyer of the Brooklyn design studio Double Triple and San Francisco-based filmmaker Ryan Junell.
Niemeyer describes the project as a sort of D.I.Y. cell animation. The two designers employed a variety of animation techniques: photocopying images onto office quality transparencies, layering them with a light table and a set of overhead projectors, silk-screening color fields, and adding ink with each print to create motion-gradations. They animated the light fluctuations of the double fluorescent tubes that hang above their main work table and, with the assistance of Double Triple partner Dana McClure, animated blown ink and paint seen through a macro lens. “We used over 5,000 still pictures, often layered over each other at variable rates of speed,” said Niemeyer. “Our frame rates are so quick I’m not sure it still counts as stop motion.”
Busy, busy bees making music that makes my ears happy.