The Octopus Project liven up the Horseshoe Monday (September 19). Rating: NNNN
Tortoise have a lot to answer for. But happily, Austin’s Octopus Project aren’t contributing to the post-rock problem, they’re part of the digitally enhanced solution. Their largely instrumental One Ten Hundred Thousand Million recording is proof that a post-rock album doesn’t need to be a dour, gently pulsing affair coldly calculated to accompany home study or gardening. It can also be confrontationally jarring, whimsical and, yes, post-rock can sometimes even rock with boldly banging authority. There’s a reason why The Octopus Project often shares bills with And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, and it has nothing to do with their expertise in furniture repair.
