Mahjongg

Can you make indie kids dance? Can you do that and not alienate rhythmically challenged hipsters whose noses grow crooked at any whiff of "dance music”? The Midwest quintet in Mahjongg have raised a second album of rhythmic rumpus as an attempted answer. Opening with an all-out gamelan drum and bass salvo titled "Pontiac,” the odds seem in their favour. After putting asses out on the tiles, they art up the works with cheap keyboards, machine noise and sub-Rapture, ’80s-plundering moves. The conflict of whether to art, rock or dance gives the band their character but their failure to commit also swamps up the mix. On "Those Birds Are Bats,” they crosshatch Animal Collective and VU’s "Stephanie Says.” Elsewhere, they hit a New York minute middle ground between the aforementioned Rapture and the Liars, circa Drum’s Not Dead. Closer "Rise Rice” nicely balances the opening global funk vibe, sinking an air raid sting keyboard into the frenetic percussion and bass pulse, but it’s like a drunken promise at the end of a party. So maybe this is an album for non-dancers to yank out when someone requests LCD Soundsystem and they’re caught flatfooted. And maybe the indie dance kids can just buy/download the twelve-inch mix.