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- Summary: The Chicago-based indie band move toward a more electronic sound on its first album without guitarist Jeff Carrillo.
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- Record Label: K Records
- Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Indie Rock, Indie Electronic, Post-Rock
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 5 out of 7
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Mixed: 2 out of 7
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Negative: 0 out of 7
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The Long Shadow of the Paper Tiger cements their place at the forefront of contemporary dance music. The songs are funky and immediate, but display a global consciousness that puts them in a class of their own.
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Long Shadow of the Paper Tiger is likely the most unabashedly fun album since Caribou's Swim, which played with the connection between organic and electronic elements the same way that Mahjongg here toys with everything, viewing familiar sounds as plastic trinkets: things to be picked up, shaken around, and then tossed away.
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Even if it's not as cohesive as Mahjongg's earlier work, it's easily some of the band's boldest, most confident music.
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One of Paper Tiger's finest qualities is its ability to include a diverse list of contributors who provide just the right formula of loops, dub beats, and samples to the album without making it seem bloated.
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As disjointed as that sounds on paper, The Long Shadow is the band's most focused and cohesive work. That's partly because it maintains a consistent mood, and partly because it maintains a danceable, frenetic pulse.
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When Mahjongg works out the mixture of its sound to its own advantage, the band is able to inject funk into heavily processed music, a noteworthy feat. If it only stayed with the noisier elements of its composition, Mahjongg would produce a more satisfying compound.
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Sadly, the vocals thwart this otherwise innovative, frantic danceathon. Those who grind their teeth in the presence of excessive vocoder will have to book a session with their dentist. The record's also too short.
Score distribution:
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Positive: 0 out of 1
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Mixed: 0 out of 1
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Negative: 1 out of 1
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Jul 6, 2023
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