Rockin' Our Turntable: The High Confessions and Mahjongg
By Jon Graef in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 30, 2010 6:20PM
Immediately, it’s worth pointing out that these two recent releases—locally-tied supergroup The High Confessions' Turning Lead Into Gold With The High Confessions and eclectic, veteran Chicago dance band Mahjongg's The Long Shadow Of The Paper Tiger—can’t exactly be described as accessible listening. Regarding the latter, it’s because of the Chicago quartet’s full immersion in its self-described “Chicagotronics,” a mix of divergent, but electronically-tinged, sounds and tones with heavily manipulated vocal work. As far as The High Confessions are concerned…well, that requires a more detailed explanation. But, it’s also easily worth pointing out that these albums are very much worth the time it takes to properly digest them. For now, let’s start with Mahjongg, the more dance-oriented of the two.
What’s notable about The Long Shadow Of The Paper Tiger, Mahjongg’s third record and follow-up to 2008’s Kompact, is how rhythmic and densely-layered it is, even in its more reflective moments. “Miami Knights” may start off softly, with a Damon Alburn-meets-Pete-Townshend falsetto put on top of gauzy synths—but it builds swiftly, adding clattering bass and drums to pleasantly disorienting effect. Aside from “Knights”, though, Tiger is a propulsive record that finds the group jumping between menacing electronica to joyous, Afro-Cuban-influenced funk in the same song. Don’t be mistaken: This album won’t induce levels of confusion to rival those of a Frozen Caveman Lawyer. But, nonetheless, Tiger contains a lot of disparate elements for the listener to synthesize.
Fortunately, Mahjongg’s music is also filled with plenty of rhythmic momentum and melodic invention, especially on epic raves like “Grooverider Free”, which is a re-working of a previous tune, and “La Beat,” a concise dance number that closes the album on a positively euphoric note. Ultimately, Tiger is an intriguing listen, especially since it’s an album that is simultaneously scattered and focused. It’s impressive how Mahjongg can tie many different sonic elements together. But it’s the odd dance record that requires a modicum of patience, instead of immediate ass-wiggling one might expect of the genre. Still, because of natural electro-pop party-starters like “Whoop”, Tiger proves its fierceness over time.
Onto The High Confessions: As cliché as it might be to bust out the “supergroup” tag, this time it’s really worth it. After all, how else would you describe members whose day gigs include Sonic Youth (Steve Shelley), Revolting Cocks (Chris Connelly) and being a mainstay of Chicago metal (Sanford Parker)? Along with Jeremy Lemos, of avant-garde locals White/Light, The High Confessions have crafted a record ripe with anything-goes experimentalism that’s simultaneously doom-filled and, dare we say, playful.
Turning Lead Into Gold With The High Confessions goes off with a bang, as “Mistaken For Cops” provides spoken-word, but melody-tinged, vocal work as a calming, centering influence amongst the controlled chaos of a chugging basslines and a relentless, ever-building drum beat. From there, Lead goes off the rails, which we mean as a compliment of the highest order. The speaking-in-tongues overdubs make “Alone Came The Dogs” sound like the rantings of the world’s most tuneful schizophrenic, while “The Listener”, with its discordant vocal harmonies and adventurous ambiance, recalls a post-rock re-imagining of David Bowie’s Berlin trilogy.
Despite the length of these pieces, they’re endlessly listenable, provided you’re the kind of music fan who spends their time parsing metronomic drum beats from echo-strangled guitars and all the noise in between. If you are, then The High Confessions are like manna from hell, and Turning Lead Into Gold With The High Confessions is the perfect soundtrack for your anti-summer jams.