The Octopus Project

The long, bright balloons used for the Octopus Project's balloon release at Lollapalooza weren't ever tied up — so when audience members let go, the blue summer sky exploded with their silly, willy-nilly trajectory. Endemic to this instrumental band is unusual execution, and by juggling a handful of instrumental specialties, it produces compelling electronic tracks that retain all of their innocuous glory. Hello Avalanche beams up listeners with what might be the musical backdrop for a little alien boy's Sunday afternoon bicycle ride. Yvonne Lambert's theremin solo in "I Saw the Bright Shinies" is a mental hospital ward luau that's still somehow danceable — in other words, bright, innocent, otherworldly fun.