Audio jungle

When explaining music to others, I have always found it difficult trying to decide how to define a band that’s just a few degrees left of normal. Mahjongg has not made this task any easier.

With a variety of eclectic influences such as dub-reggae, ’80s dance, indie rock and everything but the kitchen sink, these guys make a lot of noise. And they do it all with a modest setup of a keyboard, bass, guitar, a sampler and two drum sets.

Kontpab, released in January, is a trip through a jungle of sound, weaving radio dials, ray guns, teenage drug use and the mid-to-late ’80s into its dense, diverse auditory experience.

“Tell the Police the Truth” is a head-bopping, heavy dance song with hard-to-identify percussion/static noise in the background. The polyrhythmic structure behind the beat itself sounds as if it comes from a toy space gun.

A far cry from “Police” is “Those Birds Are Bats.” This track sounds a lot like, I hate to say it, but, The Strokes. The distorted vocals and a drumbeat that a 6-year-old could play are what gave it away. It’s an oversimplified version of the overall project Mahjongg seeks to complete on this record, but it’s still pretty catchy.

Songs like “Pontiac” and “Wipe Out” are some of the most interesting tracks Mahjongg offers up. Mahjongg’s vastness and eclectic tastes arise in earnest here. Both tracks are laden with heavy percussion use, polyrhythms and syncopation. If indie kids from Congo and Jamaica went 20 years back in time and drank a lot of cheap wine, these tracks would probably be the final product.

Doing this record justice is a pretty hefty task. If you’re a music fan at all, I suggest you get your hands on this record. It’s good to know that people still dare to step outside of convention and make the leap of faith to wherever the hell Mahjongg went.