by Samantha Scott
Daily Lobo
A quartet of post-rock electronica enthusiasts and a one-man orchestra offer an excursion into the musical avant-garde tonight.
The Launchpad will host the symphonic spectacles of Alaska in Winter and The Octopus Project.
Alaska in Winter is the labor of love of UNM art studio alumnus Brandon Bethancourt. Its debut album, Dance Party in the Balkans, was recently released by English label Regular Beat. And Regular Beat is booking a European tour for Alaska in Winter, Bethancourt said. His expedition to Europe won't be temporary.
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"I am indeed moving to Berlin. After the tour, I'm just going to stay in Europe in an apartment set up in Berlin, so I can continue working on music and play more shows there," Bethancourt said.
Concertgoers can expect an atypical experience, Bethancourt said.
"If I were to do a truly live show, then I probably would need an entire orchestra," he said. "But right now, I'm just doing a sort of concept orchestra, which consists of a large video projection with multiple frames of me playing all the instruments. I've filmed myself playing everything the band would normally be playing on stage, and it's synched with the music that the audience will hear. This forms a virtual band of multiple Brandons that I interact with - all dressed up, costume changes and all."
Headliner The Octopus Project has been touring nonstop since mid-August. Albuquerque is their penultimate stop before returning home to Austin, Texas. Band member Josh Lambert said this has been his longest tour. The best parts of touring are playing for new people every night, experiencing new communities and having people who had never heard of the band before profess their newfound devotion after the show, Lambert said. The worst part of touring is the dietary repercussions, he said.
"It's hard not getting enough good food to eat. Sometimes, Subway is the top of the line," Lambert said.
The Octopus Project prizes their symbiotic relationship with their fans, Lambert said. Earlier this year, one of its MySpace friends nominated the band for a slot at the Coachella festival. Out of more than 1,000 nominations, The Octopus Project scored the slot, Lambert said.
"One day, we got an e-mail asking if we wanted to play this unnamed festival," he said. "We thought, 'This has to be a joke.' But it wasn't. Playing Coachella definitely got people to pay more attention to our music."
The Octopus Project makes a point of letting its fans know they're appreciated. Band member Yvonne Lambert, Josh's wife, usually spends half an hour a day leaving little animated comments for all the MySpace users who add the band, he said.
"Yvonne's mom is doing that while we're on tour," Lambert said. "We only leave comments for people who've added us. So it's not like spam. We go forward as how we would want our favorite band to treat us."
The Octopus Project with Alaska in Winter
Tonight, 8 p.m. (ages 21+)
The Launchpad
$8
