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

Caribou - Tour CD 2007

Attended Pitchfork Music Festival last weekend, had an absolutely fantastic time there, saw some mind-blowingly good performances from the likes of Animal Collective, Spiritualized, !!! and Les Savy Fav to name a few. One band, Caribou, already had me sold before I even stepped foot in Union Park, so it was really just icing on the cake when they crushed it Saturday afternoon. Afterwards, while perusing their merch tent, I picked up this tour-only CD.

This is an incredible album, and it's a real shame they put some of this on a CD mainly sold only on their 2007 tour. Track one, to begin with, is a 30 minute DJ mix by Dan Snaith (the main force behind the "band" Caribou) that covers everything from 60's pop to krautrock to modern electronica. I can't seem to find the tracklist for the mix anywhere, which is a real shame, because every song is amazing. Tracks 2-7 are all Caribou originals and exclusive to the tour CD. After being slightly disappointed by the straightforward pop of their 2007 release "Andorra", I can only hope these tracks set the tone for all future Caribou releases. "Seven Oaks" and "Yo-Yo" show a return to form for Snaith, sounding like B-sides from his 2003 CD "Up In Flames", shoegazey pop electronica at it's finest. "Stones", "Woodcarver Steiner" and "Shim Shimmer" seem like studies in beat-making, being more like sketched outlines of future songs than complete works themselves. Still, the songs hold their own, particularly "Woodcarver Steiner" with its looped acoustic guitar and occasional vocal flourishes. The most curious song on the album is the closer "Hummingbird". Sounding more like LCD Soundsystem than Caribou, the song is a bleep-bloop foray into electronic drums, something Snaith has (until now?) bitterly despised. All in all for a $10 exclusive tour CD, the album is fantastic and worth every penny, which of course is why i'm giving it to you for free:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HS6SVWFV

Ungdomskulen - Ordinary Son

First, the bad news: Ungdomskulen's 2007 release "Cry-Baby" will not save dance-punk as we know it. I wanted it to, and after listening to this track, you'll want it to, but the album simply isn't that great as a whole.

The good news, however, is we still get treated to a few sparkling gems that hopefully foreshadow a very bright future for Norway's Ungdomskulen. "Ordinary Son", the first and best track off of "Cry Baby", combines arpeggiated overdriven guitar with a punchy bassline, all while not swaying far from the ticka-ticka sixteenth notes that restore my faith in the high-hat as a viable part of the drumset. This is no exercise in discipline, however. This is a full on, seven-and-a-half-minute progged out jam. It's got two seperate sections for gods sake. Imagine if Fugazi dropped all that political mumbo-jumbo and decided they wanted to make arena rock, or if The Dismemberment Plan decided lyrics were for suckers and embraced their inner Muse. Okay, this track is way better than either of those two ideas sound, but still, it comes close to explaining "Ordinary Son" and all its goodness.

Ordinary Son:
http://www.mediafire.com/?nzm5byu4jvm

For Tyler:

HEALTH - s/t

HELLO WE ARE HEALTH WE ENJOY NOISE AND FLOOR TOMS STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?jzg2jztgqmh

Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

Along with The Secret Machine's "Now Here Is Nowhere", I wonder why this album isn't one of those Space Jamz ex-Pink Floyd addicts in high school immediately latch onto like they do OK Computer. Psychedelica filtered through the late 90's, this album is an epic materpiece of dreamy fuzz.

hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=6XYJO70R

Fuck Buttons - Street Horrrsing

The perfect medicine for a troubled head.

hxxp://www.mediafire.com/?0ylcfd91eru