Pages tagged “mahjongg”

Each year, I open a fresh Word document and initiate, once more, a war with myself. This year was no exception. Titled "An Assortment of 2008 Musical Things in a Semi-Particular Order," my list, which includes albums you may have seen previously featured here and here, is absolutely and totally subject to change until Dec. 31. That being said, take a gander at its current iteration:

This fall, the arty dance-party-starters in Mahjongg will take their blippity bangers to Europe for a trek across the continent.

Local acts Yea Big + Kid Static brought the funk and Mahjongg brought the noise to Schubas on Thursday night, but the music was put on hold while another Chicago-based act, Barack Obama, accepted the Democratic party's presidential nomination in Denver.

“We'd like to thank Obama for opening for us tonight,” Stefen Robinson, aka Yea Big, humbly said a few songs into the set. Yea (pronounced "yay") Big embodies geek hip-hop: His scraggly beard and nerdy glasses are topped off with a sweatband to hold back his thick, short curly hair, while his track short-shorts and tube socks assure you this guy's ready to move.

Mahjongg straight from the stages of SXSW 2008!

Mahjongg straight from the stages of SXSW 2008!

Chicago artniks continue adapting their sound on new opus

Mahjongg’s music is undeniably difficult, but for every challenging passage there’s a populist sigh of relief around the corner. This is because a) the members of Mahjongg embrace sound in all its forms, and b) Mahjongg is precisely the type of experimental post-punk band that invites easy namedrops (Can, M.I.A., Remain in Light-era Talking Heads, Afrobeat, Gang of Four, Prince, etc.) without ever really sounding like any of them for more than a moment. Luckily, Mahjongg’s new album Kontpab calls Calvin Johnson’s K Records home, which means the band should have the opportunity to rattle quite a few more eardrums than it has thus far. A few things said eardrums will experience are the brief, irresistible guitar stabs of the spacey “Problems,” the seemingly endless intro beat of “Pontiac” (inspired by a cassette tape found in the band’s old touring van), the sibilance-happy alt-romper “Those Birds are Bats” and the relentless, noisy jam of “Rise Rice.” An exhausting listen, Kontpab once again showcases Mahjongg’s innate ability to nab bits of greatness and incorporate them into its vast sonic palette.

Listen to a clip of "Rise Rice" from Kontpab.

Hometown: Chicago, Ill.
Fun Fact: With multiple members holding college degrees in math, Mahjongg has composed music in every time signature that is a prime number, up to 23.
Why It's Worth Watching: The post-post-rockers unite organic and cutting-edge technological elements to create eminently danceable sounds that are unlike anything else.
For Fans Of: Can, Gang of Four, Remain in Light-era Talking Heads, Battles

The back cover of Mahjongg's latest album, Kontpab, doesn't deliver much immediate information. There is no tracklisting, no band member names, not even a copyright date—just a monochrome graphic that resembles TV static.

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

Related links:
Mahjongg's homepage
Mahjongg on MySpace
Mahjongg "performs" a song on Chic-A-Go-Go!

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