The humble octopus, with its eight gangly tentacles, has been a prominent figure in popular culture. There’s Octopus’s Garden, one of two sole Ringo Starr songs written for the Beatles; Henry the Octopus, who lives in our backyard swimming pool; Octopussy, the giggle worthy title of the thirteenth Bond film; Ursula, The Little Mermaid’s voice capturer; Dr Octopus, aka Doc Ock from Spiderman; and also that strange octopus headed, tentacle bearded man from Pirates of The Caribbean 2. Not that I watched it… ahem.

But quite frankly, octopi (or the correct, octopuses) scare the shit out of me.

But forget that and my paint skills, I also found a nice blue ringed octopus.

Sydney friends, you may have heard of a thing called Octopus Pi.  Sorry, it is not deep fried pieces of crusted calamari as you may well have thought. I can claim that Octopus Pi is quite possibly the best Octopus related thing of all time, which is quite a big thing to say coming from someone who is petrified of octopuses, especially when they come served on a plate.

For the past two months, eleven incredible Sydney bands have been recording tracks for the very first release on Octopus Pi Records, creating a compilation that will literally blow your minds. Taking over 150 hours of analogue recorded (tape recorded) studio time, the final hour-long product spans between the genres of experimental noise and ‘old-school’ psychedelic rock.

Octopus Pi director and curator of events such as Wormwood and the Wormwoodstock Festival, Kimberley Galceran, selected the Sydney based acts. She also answered the question of which is the compilation’s title, and one that she is often asked: WHATISPSYCH? “Psychedelic literally means ‘Mind-Manifesting’. Psychedelic music isn’t a genre, it is any music that manifests an awakening in the listener; it’s the deep, unique and thought-provoking sound that so many underground Sydney acts are putting forward.”

Some of the incredible bands taking us on this journey of psychedelia, infecting us with their sounds include God K, with their bells, upbeat guitars and drums reminding us that we should have darn well been alive in the 70s, Dead China Doll, at nearly 12 minutes, a synthesised harpischord takes over this song to later transport us into trumpets and what seems to be a screaming vocalist, No Art, with no vocals except for the occasional faint whisper create matching music to make them seem ever so mysterious, and Psychlops Eyepatch, with so much reverb it makes you feel like you’re swimming underwater in a foreign land. Together with seven other bands, the results right here on Bandcamp will put you into an hair-raising trance, sending you somewhere you’ve never been before.

Stuff the Octopus’s Garden, WHATISPSYCH is where I’d like to be.

WHO :: Octopus Pi – ‘WHATISPSYCH’
WHAT :: Digital, vinyl and deluxe vinyl packs available from Octopus Pi’s Bandcamp
WHEN :: Double launch parties for the vinyl edition on Fri Dec 14 and Sat Dec 15
WHERE :: Midian, Marrickville (more details to come, sneakers!)