In a classic deconstruction of the relationship between signifier
and signified, Chicago’s Mahjongg have named themselves after
a game played by old women, involving tiles adorned with Chinese
characters, usually played for a small cash pool. The band sounds
nothing like this, and believe me, it took every bit of strength
that I have not to say something cheap like “unless Jah Wobble’s
mother was in on that particular Mahjongg game.” Horrible,
isn’t it? Coming up with interesting and near-nonsensical
ways to rephrase “post-punk funk.” But really, RaYDONcONG
2005’s mish-mash of non-sequiturs and art-damaged dance
pop is deserving of quirky descriptions.
The looped wave of static that starts off the disc (on “Bbg-9298”)
is bridged by a few minimal synth sounds into a bass-driven groove
evocative of, yes, those seminal bass driven bands like Public Image
Limited (in the legendary days of Mr. Wobble’s tenure) and
The Pop Group, mixed with a nerdy undercurrent almost evocative
of DC’s unabashedly catchy, now defunct electro-geek-pop act
Barcelona. But things don’t stay too nerdy for too long, as
the track moves into an elegant, seductive electronic groove to
match the bassline in a way that’s almost beatnik-y, with
the initial near-mechanical refrain giving way to a wash of conversational
and nearly indistinguishable poetics.
Then comes “The Rrabbitt,” featuring a fast, almost
Latin beat, electronified and made tinny, giving birth to clinking,
clanking, hyperspeed disco, how you’d imagine an ABC record
played at the wrong speed. (Note: To verify this
I
attempted playing an ABC record at the wrong speed, and it just
sounded like happy hardcore, and “The Rrabbitt” certainly
doesn’t.)
Anthemic, vaguely iconoclastic, but probably intentionally obscure
chants (“This is not far from over/There’s mud in our
blood” in the sharp, Talking Heads-esque “Hot Lava”)
and funk guitars help accentuate the mood created by a barrage of
obscure electronic noises that weave in and out of the mix for the
entire disc—or maybe all the guitars and driving bass ornament
the electronically constructed feel. It’s really hard to say,
and from the dance-floor-savvy stylish thump of “The Stubborn
Horse,” to the appropriation of what sounds undeniably like
The Fall’s “I Am Damo Suzuki” gone all loungey
and spacey, it seems as though all the hype given to Mahjongg’s
blurring of electronic and organic is well-founded.
So what is RaYDONcONG 2005? From what sounds like a name
born from a joke none of us are privy to, to the dot-matrix imagery
on the back cover and the occasional misspelling and stuck-key nnnnnnnaming
of the ttttrrrackkks, it looks like quite a self-satisfied affair,
steeped in a heavy helping of hip irony. But it’s hard to
complain; at points the music drips hotness in ways that make the
walls sweat, and I s’pose you can’t really begrudge
a band their fashionable causticity if they can swing that. At least
not too much. I mean, Christ, when was the last time you made the
walls sweat? —Matthew Stern
Mahjongg
will play the Lager House in Detroit on May 7. 1254 Michigan Ave.
(313) 961-4668
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