Today, eight years after the band’s formation, we can pretty much state that Mahjonng were pioneers of the Y2K era music scene, succeeding in bridging the gap between dance and rock. But unlike the rest of their fellow dance-punkers such as the Raptures or LCD Sound System, this four-piece from Columbia, Missouri, never thought twice about pulling it off.
Since their relocation to Chicago in 2004, vocalist Hunter Husar and his buddies have cultivated a certain air of mystery that keeps audiences on their toes. Named after the famous chinese game that was imported to the West at the end of the 19th century, Mahjongg released their second full-length record, Kontpab, last year. It was immediately dubbed as a ‘concept album’, with a title that sprang from a fusion of the German expression ‘kontra-punkte’, meaning ‘counterpoint’ and the word ‘pab’ which roughly translates as… ‘spam’.For the band members Kontpab personified a deity that they collectively worshiped; the nine-track album representingtheir spiritual journey from ‘The Grid’ to ‘The Sphere’, and thus the Kontpab myth was born…
Unsurprisingly, the record appealed to Olympia-based musician and producer Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening, Dub Narcotic Sound System) who is known for his eclectic taste for sub-indie experimentation.But that’s enough chitchat: let’s hear it from Mahjongg.
- Listen to the whole album on the label’s band page here.
- Enjoy the autostereogram (cool 3D visual illusion) on their myspace page here.
This was filmed at the Mizmiz Restaurant
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