Mahjongg - Kontpab

So i've kind of become obsessed with Mahjongg. Let me backtrack a bit: I accidently caught Mahjongg's set at Pitchfork Festival when I showed up early to the B stage to get a good spot for HEALTH. That, combined with the fact that the B stage that day was running about an hour and a half late, put me front row for what turned out to be one of the strongest sets I would end up seeing at Pitchfork that weekend. It was only 1:30pm and it was obvious most of the crowd was still shaking off the late morning haze, which is a damn shame, because Mahjongg can fuckin' GROOVE. This kind of grooving deserves a late night set and strobe lights, not an afternoon warm-up spot for a half-awake crowd. Anyway, I thought they fucking killed.


That brings me to Mahjongg's 2008 release Kontpab. Lets get this straight: this is not a perfect record. It's got lowpoints, not enough to tarnish Mahjongg as a whole, but enough that they can't be brushed off. "Those Birds Are Bats" is a weird half-baked pop-punk number that comes out of left field with its awfulness, and "Problems" drags like none other. As well, a few other songs can tend to feel a little too rigid (ex. "Kottbusser Torr"), like Mahjongg forgot to take their groove pills that day in the studio or something; again, not enough to kill the mood, but just enough to not get you to latch onto this album front to back. Those moments aside though, this record has some amazing tracks. Opener "Pontiac" is a polyrhythmic number based off a Mbira (Worlds of Music what whaaaat) loop that immediately grabs you from the beginning and doesn't let go until you've chugged through all glorious six minutes. "Tell The Police The Truth" is perhaps Mahjongg's best song of their career, a sarcastic send up to pigs everywhere all sung over a complex but surprisingly organic beat. Finally, the epic (I guess epic, it's easy to call any song over 8 minutes epic, but seriously, this song is so good) finale "Rise Rice" crunches and crushes, making you want to immediately start the whole album from the beginning again. After listening to this album on repeat I can't help but feel angry that Mahjongg didn't work just a little harder on Kontpab before releasing it into the world. Mahjongg deserves to be a more recognized band with tracks like these, they just need to deliver it next time without the duds.


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NW0NY493