by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

There's plenty to say about the music of Austin, Texas outfit the Octopus Project - a busy instrumental fender-bender of op-art pop, lo-fi garage grit, prog-rock cosmonautica, post-rock mood food and kooky, chaotic kinderphonics. But that's just part of the picture for the band's core trio, Toto Miranda and Josh and Yvonne Lambert. The Mirror put tentacles out and connected with OP via e-mail.

Mirror: Both Josh and Toto have experience in animation. Do you think that language and sensibility informs the creations of the Octopus Project?

Toto Miranda: Maybe so, in the sense that animation shows you something that isn't "real," motion that didn't really happen, and our recordings lots of times are made out of impossible sounds, things that have been manipulated or layered in ways that kind of exceed reality. If a straight live recording is like a documentary, then our records could be like animation.

M: What about your homebase, Austin? It has a longstanding rep as a place where countercultural creativity and characteristically Texan over-the-topness collide.

TM: Texans can be kind of excessive, in positive and negative ways. We - the band - are pretty quiet people most of the time, so we channel all our excesses into the shows. Texas outside of Austin is a pretty conservative state, but it's our home too, so sometimes we kind of feel a duty to reclaim Texas's image from cowboys and Republicans. So for the record, Texas is a wonderful land of exploding, radical art and delicious Mexican food. And we all ride horses to work.

M: I'm curious about the show. What can we expect when you get up here?

TM: We do about anything we can to get people caught up in the show. This usually involves playing quite loudly and dancing like crazy. Masks, mid-song instrument switching, Theremin solos, yes! Seven-foots ghosts, maybe! Past shows have been heavy on the balloons, glitter and Christmas lights, but we're always trying to keep it fresh. The sounds are most important but the more ways we can engage people, the better. We haven't yet branched out into smell, touch or taste, but hopefully someday we'll have a five-sense experience to offer the people.

With Intrecom at Zoobizarre on Sunday, Sept. 18, 9 p.m., $8

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