Mongoloid Village “Folly”

Portland, OR's Mongoloid Village is one of the few bands I've written about for which I've actually managed to make a consistent effort to check in on from time to time in the hopes of some new material sprouting up. Well, almost three years later they've finally got some new jams! "Folly", currently available digitally through some sort of association with Made in China Records (though I can't really tell whether or not physical copies are in the works), unloads seven tracks in 32 minutes and sees the band maintaining their foundation of peculiar yet hard-hitting and sludgy rock, while increasing the head-scratch factor just enough to keep you on your toes. As with their last outing, expect a good dose of chunky, angular riffing and pounding rhythms layered with loads of weird effects and noisy, dissonant textures; swirling, spacey melodies; totally badass, super prominent bass runs; and killer vocals that possess a really unique blend of singing and semi-shouting. For some reason, the strange quirkiness of this material is starting to remind me of Mr. Bungle or something like that, but with much more listenable songwriting skills in tow. Maybe I'm losing my mind, I don't know. You can stream the entire album below via Bandcamp to decide for yourself, and then score the download for a mere $5 if you like what you hear:

Hopefully it won't take another three years for these guys to kick out some more tunes, 'cause something about this stuff always keeps me wanting more!

Get It

Bandcamp (mp3)