Tour Dates
01 Oct IT Cesena - Officina 49
03 Oct IT Brescia - Lio Bar 04 Oct IT Udine - Cormon Salvadi Festival 05 Oct IT Bologna - Locomotiv 06 Oct IT Faenza - Clandestino 08 Oct IT Roma - Init 09 Oct IT Pisa - Caracol 10 Oct IT Genova - Buridda 11 Oct FR Marseille - Festival Actoral / Montevideo 12 Oct FR Bordeaux - Saint-Ex 14-16 Oct FR Brest - Workshop / Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Brest 14 Oct FR Brest - Salle du Clous tbc 17 Oct IRL Dublin - Upstairs at Whelans 18 Oct UK Glasgow - Stereo 22 Oct UK Cardiff - Clwb Ifor Bach 23 Oct UK London - Upset the Rhythm / Bardens Boudoir 24 Oct UK Brighton - Freebutt 25 Oct FR Rouen - Emporium Galorium 26 Oct NL Amsterdam - Studio-K 27 Oct DE Hamburg - Astra Stube 28 Oct DE Leipzig - Frueh Auf 29 Oct DE Dresden - Scheune 30 Oct DE Berlin - Bang Bang Club 31 Oct FR Colmar - MJC 01 Nov FR Boulogne-Billancourt (Paris) - Festival BBmix 02 Nov DE Darmstadt - Oetinger Villa 03 Nov CH Basel - Hirscheneck 04 Nov DE Esslingen - Komma 05 Nov DE Koln - Tsunami 06 Nov DE Trier - Exhaus 07 Nov FR Metz - Festival Musiques Volantes / Les Trinitaires 08 Nov CH Lausanne - Festival Métropop / Le Romandie 13 Nov SP Castellon - Tanned Tin Festival |
So I've been sitting on this album for quite a while. I don't know why I never got around to reviewing it, but hey, better late than never, right? Anyway, Chicago's minimalist dance rockers, Mahjongg bring a fresh sound to K Records on their new album, Kontpab, and now that they're about to embark on an epic European tour, now's as good a time as any to talk about this album. Repetitive lo-fi droning electronics, percussion ranging from syncopated and tropical to sparse, simplistic dance beats, and sparse melodies, all come together to create a pretty cool sound.
The opening track, “Pontiac,” consisting of the aforementioned syncopated drumming sounds like a dance party on a trashed beach, could not be more different from the sleazy lo-fi disco jam, “Problems,” with its repetitive melody and sparse electronic drums that do the bare minimum to great effect. “Kottbusser Torr,” on the other hand sounds like Kraftwerk, as influenced by electro and old-school hip-hop. Glitchy beats with rhythmically spoken vocals with a two-line sung chorus almost distract from the cool melodic synth line that sounds like something out of Metroid. “Tell the Police the Truth” is like the sound of someone playing Space Invaders, with added chaos and some vocals. Honestly, this is probably one of the weaker tracks on the album, in my opinion, mainly because of the vocal melody and the overly long outro. Still not bad, though. I really love the lo-fi pop on “Those Birds Are Bats,” though. This is about the closest this album comes to sounding like something that was released on K Records. It's a really straightforward, catchy pop song, with bursts of tape hiss and static interspersed throughout. “Wipe Out,” on the other hand, is just odd in all the right ways. Syncopated rhythms combined with glitched-out carnival organ flourish with Bee Gees style helium laced vocals. More a curiosity than a “song,” but I still think it's awesome. The electro-funk of “Teardrops” is more hilarious than anything. A strong bassline provides a backbone for glitchy, percussive electronic clicks, beeps, and bells and sleepy vocals. The tinny sound of”Mercury” is really cool. It's like hip-hop as played on a pile of cheap, secondhand keyboards by a bunch of nerdy kids. This track is awesome. Seriously, seriously awesome. The album culminates in the 8-minute dance party scorcher, “Rise Rice.” It starts with a slow build-up, from a bassline, adding tribal percussion, adding layers of vocals and percussion, and tearing them back down with just as much ease.
So I hope you're convinced of how great this band is. Here are the European tour dates. I'd definitely love to catch these guys live. Here's your chance to beat me to it! More info on these guys can be found at their official website.
Soup thinks you should all be dancing to this right now.
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