Mahjongg's 2008 Tour and New CD
Chicago's Kontpab Prophets Extend Tour & Hint about Upcoming Album
Jan 4, 2008
Chicago's own indie-electronic prophets Mahjongg have recently announced an extension of their Winter Tour (dates listed below).
Additionally, the experimentalist group has hinted about what fans can expect from their sophomore effort Kontpab, which is due out on February 12th, 2008 through K Records.
Either attempting an eerie allegory or being comical smart-alecks, Mahjongg declared in a prophetic press release, released by K Records that their music attempts to teach the general masses of their god Kontpab, who "basically warns the human race of the mass 'funneling' of the populace minds into The Grid," which is a supernatural state of imprisonment...or perhaps a bad '80s movie. Opposite to The Grid is The Sphere, a Nirvana-like state of being to which Mahjongg is always pulling us.
In any case, Mahjongg are naming the follow up to Raydoncong 2005 after their Almighty: Kontpab: "The human race still chooses to 'funnel' into The Grid. It is because of this that Mahjongg is left with no choice but to invoke the name of our great God almighty itself. And it is with this name we proudly present to your our new album, Kontpab. For we are all Kontpab," the band stated in their press release. All unsettling religious proclamations aside, Mahjongg are under quite a bit of pressure to deliver after their successful past.
The wordy collective got their start in Columbia, MO, soon moving to Chicago, IL. Their debut EP Machinegong was released in 2004, with Raydoncong 2005 following soon after in 2005. Commonly compared to Gang of Four and others in the New York dance-punk scene, Mahjongg are similar to Need New Body and Clinic.
Kontpab will feature more improvisation and experimentation than the group's debut LP, and will definitely exhibit more production control as Mahjongg recorded this album in their new Chicago Sect studio.
Scheduled for release February 12 through K Records, Kontpab will surely make a splash in the waters of music in 2008. Most importantly though, it may be enough to push Mahjongg into the ears of the masses.
Mahjongg Winter Tour:
1/22/08 Cleveland, OH, Beachland Tavern
1/23/08 Buffalo, NY Soundlab
1/24/08 Cambridge, MA T.T. the Bears
1/25/08 Providence, RI AS 220
1/26/08 Brooklyn, NY Southpaw
1/27/08 Baltimore, MD The Depot
1/28/08 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda's
1/30/08 Columbus, OH Skully's Music Diner
1/31/08 Chicago, IL Subterranean
2/21/08 Milwaukee, WI Mad Planet
2/22/08 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
2/23/08 Grinnell, IA Grinnell College-Gardner Loungeue
2/24/08 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room
2/26/08 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge
2/27/08 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
2/28/08 Boise, ID Neurolux
3/6/08 San Francisco, CA Rickshaw Stop
3/8/08 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
3/9/08 San Diego, CA Casbah
3/13/08 Denton, TX Rubber Gloves
3/15/08 Lawrence, KS Jackpot Saloon
