Mahjongg announces January tour, February album release :: Music News :: Articles

For those interested in the most curious of musical beasts, consider Mahjongg. The amorphous, ever-rotating cast of rock 'n' roll characters first formed in Missouri, but now calls Chicago home. In 2005, the band released a thoroughly underheralded afrobeat/dance punk-inflicted masterpiece, Raydoncong 2005, on Cold Crush Records. Having apparently garnered the attention of Beat Happening/Dub Narcotic Soundsystem/Pacific Northwest musical guru Calvin Johnson, Mahjongg now calls his K Records imprint home. It's via just that particular avenue of distribution that Mahjongg's sophomore full-length, Kontpab, will hit record store shelves on Feb. 18.

Additionally, the band has scheduled a handful of tour dates (see below) leading up to the month of Kontpab's release. What to expect from a Mahjongg show? Well, fans of Can, M.I.A., Remain in Light-era Talking Heads, Fela Kuti and Gang of Four will enjoy themselves. The members of Mahjongg have a fairly wicked sense of humor when they choose to let it out, and an abstract outlook on music and life in general. Just check out this statement issued by the band that kinda sorta maybe lays out its modus operandi:

"As a collective, Mahjongg believe that the body of human knowledge is our most prized asset, and that the harmonic proportions of music are universal in other fields of endeavor. They are fighting for the power of science. Many are against science, but Mahjongg believe in the power of Humanity, and influence people to dance, to make love energy, to love each other and care for each other. They creatively forge the primal forces they've derived from other cultures to curtail our self-destructive tendencies and spawn a soundtrack for a new community."

Ha! Whatever you say, y'all. Just keep making that oddly awesome, genre-defying music and hey, while you're at it, schedule a show in Atlanta, all right? Thanks.

Those non-Atlanta dates are as follows:

January
22 - Cleveland, Ohio @ Beachland Tavern
23 - Buffalo, N.Y. @ Soundlab
24 - Cambridge, Mass. @ T.T. the Bears
25 - Providence, R.I. @ AS 220
26 - Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Southpaw
27 - Baltimore, Md. @ The Depot
28 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ Johnny Brenda's
30 - Columbus, Ohio @ Skully's Music Diner
31 - Chicago, Ill. @ Subterranean