The Devil is dedicated to unearthing unknown, unheard, unseen, unheralded, unfamiliar or down right unbelievable bands old or new that have not yet hit the radars of the British public. If you are a new band or artist and would like to be considered for inclusion then please contact me via email or twitter.

Friday, January 01, 2010

Eight Sided Groove Machine

The OctagonThe Octagon
Genre: Rock / Indie / Jam Band
From: New York, United States


The Octagon’s Will Glass and Zachary Mexico met as kids in boarding when Glass made fun of Mexico’s Green Day t-shirt. The guys huddled together in dorm rooms, late at night, drinking from warm 40’s of St. Ides and handles of Captain Morgan, listening to Motown, Astral Weeks, Guided by Voices, Dead Kennedys, and The Grateful Dead. Eventually landing in NYC, Glass and Mexico met up with bass player The Bunny, forming The Octagon and touring behind two albums.

Other pursuits came calling and Mexico relocated to China - where he still spends part of the year - to write his first book, China Underground
(Soft Skull Press, 2009) which became a bestseller in Singapore. Glass went on the road as the touring drummer for Dirty Projectors and The Bunny languished in Williamsburg, spending his days begging for money outside the Bedford Avenue L stop to support his gourmet sandwich habit.

And then, in the dark winter days of February 2009, the members of The Octagon found themselves back together and working on a new batch of songs in their dimly lit practice space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Led by the lo-fi recording expertise of Glass, the band spent three days laying down thirty tunes to analog cassette tape on two Tascam four-track recorders. The result is Warm Love and Cool Dreams Forever, an album full of Mexico’s warm Fender Mustang, Bunny’s full bass tones, and the clean and crisp jazz-inflected drumming of Glass.

The songs are concise bursts of energy – short and to the point -- showing off the band’s gift for penning simple, catchy melodies mixed with sonic and structural experimentation. It’s a cool enough sound to be represented on a boarding school kid’s t-shirt... and catchy enough for another one to make fun of him for.

Go Try

MP3 - The Octagon - Suicide Kings
If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is published with permission of Fanatic Promotion so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
MP3 - The Octagon - Macaca
MP3 - The Octagon - Love Will Turn You Around

If anyone from the IFPI is reading this track is linked direct from Serious Business Records and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit


The Octagon - Myspace // Website // Last.FM
Record Label - Serious Business Records // Serious Business Records Myspace

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