Machinegong

I drove out to Greensboro (a little bit over an hour west of here) last night to see Mahjongg. They're touring right now with Pretty Girls Make Graves (and the Constantines for a little bit). I still don't understand how they ended up playing Greensboro (and tonight in fucking Greenville, NC), and not Chapel Hill (or even Raleigh). The show last night had a really young crowd, and I felt like a perverted old man because I noticed that a lot of those high school(?) girls were pretty damn hot.

I just stayed for Mahjongg, who put on a very good show. It was the first time I'd ever seen them, since they formed after I left Columbia four years ago. Their sound has changed a lot from their recording on the KCOU comp, moving from a post-rock sound to a more new wave, post-punk sound. I have their nice new EP (Machinegong) on mp3, but I want it on vinyl, which they ran out of. I also noticed how much better they sound live...and on their last song, there were definite Afro-beat influences, something that isn't really evident on their EP despite what it says on their one-sheet.

More than anything, I'm proud of my Columbia, Missouri (now Chicago + Columbia + Portland) boyz (& girl). They're already good, and I expect them to get better and better. Live, I think they're kind of reminiscent of Need New Body (who actually put on a not-so-good show when I saw them a few weeks ago). Now that I'll be moving to Chicago this summer, I'm sure I'll get to witness their evolution more closely.