M.I.A. - KALA

oh yeah she seems to be intent on annoying the people uncomfortable with her vague poverty tourism schtick on arular even more - she is totally embracing it this time round. shoutouts to "third world democracy" and i'm sure i caught a ref to darfur :o

at least "poverty tourism" and "third world democracy" admits to the existence of poverty and the third world.

hang on i'm a bit drunk but -- woah shit those things exist?!!! fuck!!!!!!!!!

"Boys" and "Bird Flu" remind me of Kate Bush's "The Dreaming" more than anything else.

Anyone experienced the crazy L£4kproof system this album has going on soulseek? What the dilly-o?

is it like...you queue it up and it says the user is offline?. that's happened to me with songs off the new queens of the stone age.

Okay there's a live performance up on YouTube now - the sound quality is pretty shoddy but I can already tell Jimmy is going to be awesome.

Hustle
Boyz
Bamboo Banger
Jimmy

Also, anyone know who the male MC in the middle of Hustle is?

Oh boy. Can'twaitCan'twaitCan'twait.

her live show just keeps getting worse and worse.

but I can already tell Jimmy is going to be awesome.

ha ha, you've gotta be kidding. sounds like a campy "Dschinghis Khan" cover. ouch.

"Dschinghis Khan" > Half the shit that gets <rep>ped around here.

Holy shit, the cover:

http://www.prefixmag.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/mia_kala_cover.jpg

looks like it was done in ms paint?

Uh-oh (she looks cute with her hair in a bob though).

the 8-bit african-esque font is cool

Also what purports to be a tracklisting:

01 “Bamboo Banga”
02 “Bird Flu”
03 “Boyz”
04 “Jimmy”
05 “Hussel [ft. Afrikan Boy]”
06 “Mango Pickle Down River [ft. the Wilcannia Mob]”
07 “20 Dollar”
08 “World Town”
09 “The Turn”
10 “XR2″
11 “Paper Planes”
12 “Come Around [ft. Timbaland]”

Yeah, 6 sounds like a joke title to me too.

i like 'Come Around', esp. her "dundadadun"isms and that menacing synth bass sound that drifts in towards the end.

no, wilcannia mob are this actual aussie rap crew who had a song called 'downriver', which i guess is gonna be that. (it sampled a digeridoo! it sucked! thanks minna!)

i can't BELIEVE they put afrikan boy on there as well. afrikan boy is this not-even-one-hit-wonder grime guy who raps normal over kanye instrumentals except for this one tune where he done a comedy african voice all about "one day i went to lidl, went to shoplift in lidl". all the supersuper mag type fashion hipsters mustve glommed onto it since.

is everyone gonna let tim get away with that dreaming comparison unmolested? altho actually, if mia ends up busting a mock aussie flow on track 6 he'll be scarily otm...

"there goes a tenner" lol

the video for boyz is lots of fun. i just wish the quicktime video would stop freezing up.

this is pretty nice, too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3q5KQHUjxs

Yeah "Come Around" is an awesome track.

"is everyone gonna let tim get away with that dreaming comparison unmolested? altho actually, if mia ends up busting a mock aussie flow on track 6 he'll be scarily otm..."

Ha ha I wasn't saying those tracks were as good as "The Dreaming" or that MIA was using a dodgy cockney-Australian accent (I love this accent even though it only exists in films and that one Simpsons episode). But tell me that the chorus to "Boys" doesn't sound quite similar to Kate's "SEE THE LIGHTS RAM THROUGH THE GAPS IN THE LAND" vocals.

no, wilcannia mob are this actual aussie rap crew who had a song called 'downriver', which i guess is gonna be that.

not a crew, just some pre-teen country-town kids - none of them had ever rapped before or really had any interest in music, they recorded the one song on the prompting of Morganics, a dude who does lots of community outreach social work theatre activism grant money type stuff. Just this week he's released an album he produced for three homeless Tanzanian brothers.

anyway Diplo went and did some outback outreach work type stuff when he was in .au in February, this is likely a result of that.

nu rave cover! oof.

has this leaked yet? when can us mere mortals hear it?

<I>Wilcannia Mob</I>

Oh, that's truly cool they're getting some MIA love.

haha yeah i knew what u meant tim. and i just listened, and cannot disagree. 'sat in your laps' jungle drumz and proto-pharrell shoulder pops could fit too, if pressed.

i do like 'boyz' as it goes, but mia doesnt feel like the main attraction there. would repeat the old "it's the best basement jaxx in a bit" if it wasnt for the fact that the actual new bjaxx ep is some fucking amazing ruff oldskool hotness!

(i never bother with side 2 of the dreaming usually, mind)

taking it's TIME or what?

RIP. Hope you up there living in a mudhut in heaven now, baby doll

Yeah I thought this was supposed to come out last week or something?

I thought you were supposed to come out last week.

zing?

no le4k$ yet either.

i got to hear the whole album today. Definitely not what I expected, and I mean that in a good way.

Darker and weirder than Argula, much much weirder. There is no obvious 'hit' that i could detect, but it's certainly an inventive album. Most of the vocals are reverbed, delayed, chopped to hell and the beats are like a chunky stew. I was actually getting pleasantly uptight in the listening room until Jimmy which is this lite disco house thing. Quite jarring in context.

She does a lot of singing of other tunes within her own. Entire versus of "Road Runner" and "Where is MY Mind."

Runs out of steam before the end, and they're squeezing a TImbaland track just to keep the US market happy (it's weak), but still and album I really want to hear again. HOpe it leaks before the end of summer.

Album kinda runs

it's not weak! love that tune! is it really on the album though? wow. wonder why it didn't end up on the timbatots record? lite disco house? i'll buy that.

Kala just leaked. Look hard and you will find it.

on s0uls££k? look hard ?!

Alright, I've got a scowl on my face and I'm clenching my fists, but Kala is not forthcoming!

sophomore thread slump

I've looked everywhere I can think of, even her fan boards have no idea about a possible leak. Where is it?

yeah, I don't even really care and I am bothered that I can't find this!

it's on my Slsk wishlist and never comes up :(

jesus christ, people, you act like it's xmas eve and you're all 6 yrs old. go listen to something else and be patient ffs

yes, dad.

Oh yeah don't let the Dark Skin fool you, I'm IRISH!

Fuck! I'm scouring Soulseek now and nothing's coming up! What did you search under?

Kala just leaked. Look hard and you will find it.

-- Emily, Thursday, 12 July 2007 16:47 (Yesterday) Link

we've been had i think.

All albums should come with a release date and a le4k date. Just to save me the trouble of looking for this once a week...

Wikipedia entries on recent albums tend to be really specific about what date it leaked to the internet, so there's that.

It's kinda depressing that Blaq Starr reportedly produced a song on this record, dude is a genius and deserves better.

Deserves better than being on one of the most anticipated records of the year? Yeah, he got a raw deal on that one.

Deserves better artistically, I'm just saying in my own subjective opinion, not that working on a major label album won't be good for his career.

Curious, have you heard the song yet? I love "Git My Gun" so much.

"one of the most anticipated records of the year"?

(NOTE: I really like Arular but COME ON NOW)

that's "one of the 7,500 most anticipated records of the year"

"Deserves better artistically, I'm just saying in my own subjective opinion, not that working on a major label album won't be good for his career."

It's all Diplo's fault.

he must be so depressed

Diplo or Blaq Starr?

i imagine they're both quite bummed about the situation.

jesus christ, people, you act like it's xmas eve and you're all 6 yrs old. go listen to something else and be patient ffs

-- lex pretend, Friday, 13 July 2007 09:24 (12 hours ago) Link

yes, dad.

-- Colonel Poo, Friday, 13 July 2007 09:33

lol

its easy for lex to say were acting like kids when he has it already.

the lex usually valorizes kid-like reactions, no?

Still aint' found this... (and I didn't care before I read this thread!)

ya xpost

Its usually the Lex calling people 'dad' and 'grandad,' hence the lolz.

30 second clips on each track have been revealed:

http://www.musicload.de/item.ml?releaseid=2604737_2

paper planes sounds awesome.

i really wish timbaland would stop saying "baby girl"

ha he's been saying it for like 11 years now or something. its starting to take on this paedo air.

After Arugula comes... KALE

feat. the Black Eyed Peas

"one of the most anticipated records of the year"?

(NOTE: I really like Arular but COME ON NOW)

-- HI DERE, Friday, 13 July 2007 20:24 (3 days ago) Link

I can't actually think of another record I was anticipating this year except for Justice.

I mean, why wouldn't it be?

Because her first album sold approximately 14 copies (including the two I bought)?

if people don't care too much for her or her new cd, then why is kala being guarded so badly? no leaks to speak of, huh?

Because the only people who care are Internet music nerds like us?

THIS ISN'T VERY HARD TO FIGURE OUT, PPL

I posted this on another thread but the current soundscan numbers for the first album are about 130K units in the US alone.

Also, internet music nerds are the new majority.

i've searched everywhere i can think of, and re-searched every day, quite diligently, and nothing. i know someone with a copy, but he's separated from his computer at the moment. but that means others have it.

anyone willing to share?

I posted this on another thread but the current soundscan numbers for the first album are about 130K units in the US alone.

Two iterations of the same album combined for a total of less than .04% of the potential market over the course of two years.

I am not scoffing at her album sales; that is better than anything I will ever do. However, have some sense of perspective here; her audience is narrow.

Dan, I think it's a pretty highly anticipated release. I don't think anyone on this board thinks we have to talk about Three Tenors numbers to say something is highly anticipated.

My only point is that it's highly-anticipated by a comparatively small number of people, therefore I think the claim that it's one of the most hilghly-anticpated releases of the year FULL STOP is even more hyperbolic than ILM usually gets.

Eh, I think music nerds are some of the few people that actually anticipate releases *at all*.

The fact this discussion has even occurred speaks to it being anticipated, dudes.

oh ffs i give up

dan is right.

"ffs" = classic DP

130K is a very, very good sales number for any debut artist, let alone one on an indie, let alone one pimping baile.

With Timbaland and Interscope involved, this album pretty much fits the category of "hotly anticipated" in a way that goes beyond your typical BLOGGERZ WITH BONERZ HYPE BONANZA.

I mean, the bar has been lowered a great deal to the point where every fuggin niche in the world gets to hand out "highly anticipated" cards.

I for one am highly anticpating DP's world tour stop in the ATL so I can throw flowers on stage.

I was in ATL two weeks ago!

DAMMMITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

I am v v excited about this album aka anticipating.

Dan is right.

M.I.A = Annie

This isn't as good as the anticipation of the last album.

Kala's leak anticipation is boring. When's her next album going to leak?

this isnt fun, hearing about a supposed leak but seeing no signs of the actual leakage. i dont think its leaked at all. its all a big ruse. maybe this is the new thing. phantom leakage.

In Finnish "kala" translates to "a fish". "Kala" is also the name of the female ape who raises Tarzan in the original Tarzan novels. I wonder which one Mia is referring to?

can't wait til she starts launching subtle viral marketing sites feauturing grainy videos.

KALA's her mum's name. ARULAR is her dad's name.
Tru-pop-fax.

we should have Tru-pop-fax scrolling at the bottom of ilm at all times.

I heard that KALA is a racial slur in arabic or something like that...

apparently its her dads name...

I heard that it's Cornish slang for an erection.

So Mia is Tarzan?

I heard she was secretly Aphex Twin and it's all a big joke.

i heard she was neneh cherry.

I heard she was Diplo.

wait has this not leaked yet? how is that possible?

It's so good/bad nobody wants to share it.

i heard she was ghost rider

i heard she was nick cage.

I heard she was the small cat and that's all, period.

Cleared for Takeoff
Visa issues resolved, M.I.A. can finally show us what she learned while in exile
by Tom Breihan

"It's just been a long time since I've been able to get into the U.S.," says M.I.A., on the phone from the London offices of XL, her British label. "I have an apartment in Brooklyn. It'd be nice to go there."

Lately, that's been a problem for Maya Arulpragasam. Last year, after the London-born singer had spent over a year traveling the world to promote her widely praised debut album, 2005's Arular, U.S. customs officials refused her entry here. Since then, she's been at the mercy of the American government. This past May, visa issues forced her to cancel a planned appearance at the Sasquatch! Music Festival in Washington state. And though she'd long been announced as a performer at the Voice-sponsored Siren Festival in Coney Island on July 21, at the time of our interview, those issues hadn't been entirely resolved. "It's kind of like I haven't been denied—it's just that nobody knows what's going on, so we have to wait until the paperwork gets done, basically," she says. "I hope I can make it to the festival. I kind of want to make it home. I'm still living like a student, you know?"

Thankfully, her passage was ultimately granted, and the show will go on. But home has always been a nebulous concept for M.I.A., who split her childhood between Sri Lanka and England. Arular showed the influence of different indigenous mutations of pop music—from America and England and India and Brazil and Jamaica and Puerto Rico—artfully blended into a digitally globalized form of homespun dance-pop. Reportedly named after her father's Tamil Tiger nom de guerre, the album mixed oblique lyrical references to guerrilla warfare with dance- floor exhortations and text-message chatter; M.I.A. frequently performed onstage in front of Day-Glo cave-paintings of tanks and bombs.

Still, she downplays any speculation that her visa problems might have some connection with the personally political nature of her lyrics: "Generally, there's just some bands over here going through it. Like, I think the Klaxons are in the same boat." Still, it's not hard to find correlations between the country's terror paranoia and the customs problems of an artist who so freely plays on the signifiers of terrorism.

Due in August, Kala—M.I.A.'s sophomore album, out on Interscope in the U.S.—carries evidence of her travel issues. Since she couldn't count on consistent access to her Brooklyn home, she recorded all over the world: in America, in Trinidad, in India, in Jamaica. Often, she'd tinker with the same song in all those places, as with "Boyz," the first single. "I recorded the drums in India, then I had the files in Trinidad," she remembers. "We put it together and did the vocals in Trinidad, and then we did some extra work on it in Brooklyn, and then we went back to India and did some extra-extra work. So each song has layers and layers."

Consequently, a song like "Boyz" takes on aspects of every country involved in its creation. "It fell into, like, 'OK, we're going to make soca that's not really soca,' " she says. "And in Trinidad, I was trying to make a song that wasn't very soca-ish, but I was in a soca environment with soca producers who were having a lot of soca stuff going on. I wasn't thinking about American clubs at the time, about what sort of stuff they were listening to, what kids in Paris were listening to. I was just there in the moment in Trinidad. It had the ups and downs: the basic chorus, soca for the tempo, and you just fuck around with that. You create a new way to feel music."

The result is an off-kilter shitstorm of furious drums and party-noise whistles, a sound fuller and more chaotic than anything on Arular—the tension resulting from that chaos never quite finds release. It's a dance song, but a curiously unrelenting dance song, and most of Kala mirrors that dense ferocity. "Hussel" layers bird whistles, air-raid sirens, and farting tuba bass over its drums, while "XR2" relies on riotous Baltimore-club horn stabs. It's heavy stuff.

M.I.A. co-produced every song on this record, working with producers like the U.K. remix specialist Switch and her ex-boyfriend, the Philadelphia DJ Diplo. "Because I went off and recorded it myself, I had more control over it," she says. "I had the ability to fuck around with it more." Though she recorded tracks with a number of big-name American pop and rap names, like Bangladesh and Three 6 Mafia, she left nearly all those results off the album, concentrating instead on the tracks she made while in semi-exile.

Though the Timbaland collaboration "Come Around" will be included on Kala's American release as a bonus song, the only guest vocals on the album proper come from Afrikan Boy (a Nigerian immigrant rapper living in London) and the Wilcanna Mob (a group of prepubescent aboriginal Australian rappers).

"At one point, when Interscope played 'Boyz,' will.i.am and Pharrell and Timbaland were all in one room, and I was just coming from India, working in a little studio with cockroaches and little kids using my blank CDs as Frisbees and shit," she remembers. "And then I sat in a million-pound studio with T.I. and Britney next-door. They were playing my stuff, and I felt like I've done this to the point where I can bring it to Interscope. And now they can hear what little kids in Australia sound like, which they're not going to actively go out and seek because everyone's in their comfort zone. And at the same time, I was like, 'If I can already do that, what's the point of working with big-name producers?' "

That's an odd statement from an artist so openly infatuated with American pop music, but Kala is more an interrogation than an imitation. On "Hussel," a sort of answer song to Rick Ross's Southern-rap hit "Hustlin'," she asks, "Why's everybody got hustle on their mind?"

"When I was in Liberia, you get into the huts, and little kids are listening to that shit," she says. "And it's cute to see them dancing to it, like, 'Wow, yeah, the 'Hustlin' song, that's so cool!' And then it's like, 'Actually, it's not fucking cool.' You have to give them something else as well. If it's about working or if you're talking about money, then I don't think that 99 percent of music should stress that. So at the time, I was just asking somebody that question. I don't want to live like that."

Now that she's made a new album that fiercely challenges American pop, M.I.A. is faced with the interesting challenge of bringing it to America. If Kala is the direct result of her temporary exile, we may never get to hear another album like it again, since she plans on settling in Brooklyn as permanently as she can. "My dream is always to get a place and stay there and just do it," she says. "I would love to wake up every day in the same bed."

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0729,breihan,77259,22.html

"Now that she's made a new album that fiercely challenges American pop, M.I.A. is faced with the interesting challenge of bringing it to America."

i don't think that sentence would have ever made it past chuck eddy

haha, yeah, that's appalling.

challenging, even

still working the visa angle? fuck, man, last year i saw her at a cat power show at irving plaza and in the xl nyc office on two different trips.

She's playing 7/30 in LA.

I saw her at Siren at Coney Island on Saturday. Granted, the sound / set up at Siren makes most people sound average (on that main stage especially - the other one's much better) but she wasn't all that interesting. Her voice was weak, and I thought she's have more stage presence. Fuck, I sound like someone sitting at home watching American Idol.

I agree, she's pretty weak live.

didn't arular leak 6 or 7 months before it was released?

one of the great contributions of American Idol is the raising of consciousness about what makes singing enjoyable and effective

yeah, but that's because the release date was put back a couple of times. (xpost)

if only that's all there was to music, Tracer! (xpost)

Tracer, stop trying to bait me!

having spent a few days with it, i have to say i like this MUCH more than arular (which i already liked a lot)

how do i get myself a copy?

Quickly become a journalist and get a promo copy!

or, you know, wait like the rest of us.

free copy with the Mail On Sunday

When does the Mail On Sunday usually leak? Friday?

i want a copy of this thing now.

NOW!

What the fuck is taking so long? Seriously.

these fuckin guys

her new look is butt ugly....just sayin.

I never really thought she was that attractive to begin with. Didn't understand all the talk about "sex appeal."

so, who ever talked about "sex appeal" aside from doodz jumping up and down to proclaim that she didn't have any?

yeah she looks terrible now, especially with the blonde hair. i think most of the sex appeal talk comes from the fact she does sound sexy on certain songs.

she looks great i think.

I think she's good-looking, not knock-em-dead gorgeous or anything but I don't get why anyone would be mystified by others finding her attractive.

The Reverend and I are on a very big roll, agreement-wise, these days.

i happen to think she's pretty hot, but there's no doubt that a lot of the drooling comes from dudes who perceive her as some alluring ethnic tigress. orientalism lol

elmo argonaut OTM

ARRGH every time I see this thread near the top, I jump to the conclusion that it's leaked and run to OiNK only to find Greg Ellis (Drummer of VAS/Azam Ali)

Mia is my new hero for irritating people who wanna think about leaks all day long

gahhh!!!

its pretty amazing that this hasnt leaked yet. i feel like i should commend MIA and XL. this is almost MORE fun in that were having to wait like the good ol pre-internet days.

I would say this album is definitely one of the highly anticipated albums of the year, especially if you multiply the number of people doing the anticipating vs. the intensity of their anticipation (and then divide that by 7).

Any chance you lot could like, fuck off and stop being so lame? Thanks.

wow, touchy.

Wow, this hasn't leaked? I had assumed it had by all the times this has been at the top. In fact it could almost have been released by the looks of it!

The album version of 20 $ has leaked...

http://mhulotsnothingdays.blogspot.com/2007/07/where-is-my-mind.html

The rest should follow soon!

hahaha!

This track is really good.

I am annoying and just bumping this to make people cry.

This track *is* really good. Couldn't figure out what the bassline was reminding me of, and then I thought "Blue Monday".

Awesome track!

brilliant deduction, spencer...

The whole thing has leaked minus Paper Planes, so look around for it. Its so fucking good! Far more diverse and experimental than Arular. Jimmy is really weird on first listen, its so strange to hear Maya all breathy and girly. Bamboo Banger and Hussel are really dark and menacing, reminds me of Silent Shout a little.

i look forward to hearing this but don't give a shit when that actually is - does that make sense?

who produced 20 dollar? the beat is AMAZING. MIA sounds a bit ropey on it but hey... hope theres some fast tracks on the album like bucky done gun.

xpost, this is how I feel.

there's a link in here to download what mia is covering for "jimmy." i like it better than her version.

omg this album is so fucking good

not supposed to link to songs on ILM

this is weird and bad

not supposed to link to songs on ILM

not that you can hotlink rapidshare files anyway

how the fuck did afrikan boy get on there? that one song of his was unbearably awful.

Couldn't figure out what the bassline was reminding me of, and then I thought "Blue Monday".

Also couldn't figure out what the lyrics were reminding me of, and then I thought "Where Is My Mind?"

:)

I can't have been the only one to notice the "straight to hell" riff at the forefront of Paper Planes, can I?

nope

Paper Planes is insane. There's also some kind of Roadrunner reference on Bamboo Banger.

itunes + vista = suckfest

seriously. it took a half hour just to get the files onto my ipod. can't wait to get back home to my desktop.

(I had to zap the Paper Planes link, sorry)

Looking forward to hearing this 2nite.

so, i'm the only one that thinks jimmy is really dumb and annoying?. maybe it'll grow on me or something.

I love it...Although I probably prefer the original.

Hooray!!! IT'S HERE!!!!!!!

itunes + vista = suckfest

seriously. it took a half hour just to get the files onto my ipod. can't wait to get back home to my desktop.

-- funny farm, Monday, July 30, 2007 10:21 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

dear god, is there anything i can do for you? that free album download sounds harrowing.

haha.....
jeez, i did make myself seem a bit like a douche, there.

well, actually i wasn't complaining about the album download. i was complaining about vista and itunes not working properly with eachother. but, i gues it's all the same.

The show was *really good*!

I'm having a hard time getting used to her out of tune shrieking - so much so that I listened to Arular again and I found it hard to like anew too, even. :-/

The show was *really good*!

Seconded.

I can't have been the only one to notice the "straight to hell" riff at the forefront of Paper Planes, can I?

OMG. What a way to end a set! I just checked this thread to see what that song was called. Also, did she do the full lyric to "Where is My Mind?" I could only decipher the chourus. And the slowed-down "Blue Monday" bassline sounded so good it makes me wonder how nobody's thought of it before.

this album is the absolute shit.

this is shaping up to be the most postively talked-up ilm record so far this year amirite?

man. this is amazing. huge respect.

on a couple of listens last night this sounded fantastic - i'm wary of the whole reviewing the album 10 minutes after the leak thing, but most of the complaints i've seen about this have been claiming that it lacks tunes/dancibility, which seems like nonsense to me.

Didn't like Bamboo Banga. Haven't hear the rest yet.

its not flawless

but fuck me if this album does not shit on the competition from a great height

i call it "bhangra space crunk"

amen

I am also having douchebaggy troubles with getting my stolen album to play. Won't import into iTunes, Windows Media Player won't have it, can't even import it into Audacity.

Any suggestions, anyone?

yes. stop calling yourself 'BIG HOOS'.

World Town is the best song of the bunch. I am so loving this.

yes. stop calling yourself 'BIG HOOS'.

-- ^@^, Tuesday, July 31, 2007 10:33 PM

Feel free to change your perspective.

GET A MAC

and anyway, big hoos aka the steendrive= the best handle on ilx.

Eighty eighty.

ilx: the new class

I really wish M.I.A. wasn't touring with Bjork. I'm not interested in Bjork at all and it probably means the tickets are way overpriced.

ok, it finally clicked after four listens. and I like arular again too. I don't usually need this much time to get back into something I liked before.

Didn't she use to have a colorful and vibrant site? What happened?

http://www.miauk.com/

I really wish M.I.A. wasn't touring with Bjork. I'm not interested in Bjork at all and it probably means the tickets are way overpriced.

-- filthy dylan, Wednesday, 1 August 2007

she's doing some support slots, afaik she isn't "touring with" her. ffs if it's too much, don't go and quit whining about it. MIA's tickets will be just as expensive if anyone even still cares about her in ten years time.

Listened to most of it on the way to work this morning, sounds great. Got so excited when I saw it leaked last night. The Where Is My Mind? and Roadrunner lifts are cool, as is the sheer fun factor.

Jesus Christ, how good is XR2?!

Now that I am actually listening to this it's not really doing anything for me.

I'll let it sink it before I comment though.

Def like "Pickle Down River"

Haha, that's the one song I skip.

She'll have to go a long way to top that terrible clunky Bjork lyric about the suicide bomber though.

Hmm???

I like the "Paper Planes" chorus - "Rumpshaker" with gun shots is somehow less dumb than with zubba zoom zoom (and a boom boom).

Pleasantly surprised by how strong this album is; no sophomore slump in evidence.

This album is unbelievable great.

Found the first album (and her in general) fucking annoying, vocally UNBEARABLE, trite, insanely overpraised, barely worth the repeat playthroughs and a model demonstration of everything bad about indie/internet hype. A few good tracks and an awful lot of BS.

Liking a LOT of this a LOT. Opener just smokes (then Bird Flu... is what skip buttons what were invented for) and there's other great stuff here, if this was instrumental (which at times I kind of wish...) it'd actually probably hold it's own next to Panda Bear or something just on gloriously messy inventiveness. Quite the pleasant surprise, I'm still on the fence about some of it/her, but going less immediately, graspingly pop, it's worked for her big time.

Album of the year.

for me

Will definitely buy it on vinyl.

Switch's influence is actually good. Much better than I had predicted.

How the hell did she end up in Wilcannia?

I *love* Boyz, Jimmy, XR2 and Paper Planes, kind of undecided about the rest of it.

I'm a little disappointed so much of it is so mid-paced. As Dan pointed out a few months ago, her voice and delivery really require an active beat - the reason Arular and the best tracks here work so well is that she's totally propelled along on the momentum of the track and you don't really notice her vocal limitations. When things slow down a little there needs to be a melodic cushion there (Amazon, Paper Planes). When she's going "hustle hustle hustle, cry cry cry" over a sparser arrangement it just sounds kind of bored and empty.

I'm reserving judgement on the thing as a whole for now, but on the first couple of listens it doesn't have the initial wow factor that Arular held for me.

Oh Bird Flu is great as well but I'm not really sure why people are hating on the Timbaland track over everything else here.

Re: XR2 - I felt my spine tingle at the opening "where were you in '92?" bit as my head went "okay, you KNOW what happens now". The inevitable maximalist all bells, whistles and sirens blog house remix is going to be incredible.

this is some serious shit.

she out-Bjorked Bjork on this one.

How the hell did she end up in Wilcannia?

She didn't, Morganics did, about four years ago. (Probably ignore the Diplo guess in that link though.)

Oh! I read this thread but I missed that - thx!

I haven't heard the full album but have a feeling I'll agree with Matt DC - I like M.I.A. when she's going for all-out maximalist assault ("Boys" is definitely one of my absolute favourite things of the year for this reason), but quickly find her tiresome when she's getting all sparse/spartan/worthy.

I just reversed $20. It sounds cool; she's whispers propaganda.

I like M.I.A. when she's going for all-out maximalist assault

^ this

"Boyz" might be my fave song by anyone this year

does this one also sound like it was made on mario paint?

i really like this.

that's all for now.

The best things about Boyz are a) the cheering and the crowd clapping and the fanfares that accompany it and b) the fact that it comes straight after Bamboo Banga and Bird Flu and the cumulative effect is this constant ramping up of deafening drums.

I'm sold on all of this now except for Mango Pickle Down River, and Hussel isn't great, especially Afrika Man's verse. Although the bit when they loop his "you think this is hard, come to Africa" line and there's this enormous bass synth stab absolutely rules.

Also "when I'm dogging on the bonnet of your bright red Honda" WTF?!

WAIT I GET IT "DICK" "WOOD" "JOHNSON"

I used to know a guy called R1ch4rd Fa11as actually. Oh the hilarity that caused when we were 15.

What do we think of "Down River"/"World Town"(?)/"Bucky Done Gun v2"? I think it rivals Boyz for the best song on the album...

sort of what matt dc said, except i was never blown away by arular, and i'm loving most of this. jonathan richman shout out is crazy way to open an album - wonder if Radio 1 will get this made into an updated jingle based on the original :-) :-)

Jimmy and Paper Planes,plus all the stuff i've already heard (XR2, Boyz, already featured on FT podcast, yay) instantly lovable. others are a bit hrm so far. the mango pickle one sounds like an extended skit off a DJ Yoda mix. which, to me, is a good thing.

i cant believe more people aren't loving $20

Boyz would sound so great on a street carnival sound system.

$20 is the blue monday one. mix this into Rihanna shut up and drive plz kthx

Also "when I'm dogging on the bonnet of your bright red Honda" WTF?!

-- Matt DC, Friday, August 3, 2007 Bookmark Link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogging_%28sexual_slang%29

agree with matt dc and tim f. OTM etc. still like this album though. ive only heard it once though in case i start to dislike it. i need to love one new album this year. dont ruin it for me.

$20 is awesome as well. I love the vocoder on her voice that alternately makes her sound like Cher doing Believe and a roaring robotic dinosaur.

Paper Planes = track most likely to be covered by Lily Allen this year.

oh dear... i'm sure i'll regret posting this, but upon marianna's encouragement, this is a drunken email i sent last night about kala:

well, having listened to the MIA album a couple times now, i have to say that i am so appalled by how bad it is, that i wondered if it was even the 'real' album, or someone having a laugh, doing a 'mock' MIA album.

**WARNING - GRUMPY OLD MAN RANT ALERT**

this could be the most asinine, amateurish, worthless recording i have heard in a long time. and i used to listen to trance music! seriously - her "lyrics" are embarrassingly childish and stupid. maybe that was intentional, but come ON! i honestly suspect that she was simply making up words on the fly, just rambling about random things that rhymed. it reminds me of when me and my friends were about 8 years old and we had one of those tape recorder things, and we would just spout whatever words we could string together. needless to say, she has about as much talent in this regard as the average 8 year old - and that might be giving her too much credit. and her singing/MCing everything in that monotone is incredibly tiresome. about the only thing i like is some of the production and background beats, but even those are just re-purposed from the freestyle stuff of the early 80s. what i find most worrisome is the fact that hapless journo hacks will probably laud this as some sort of watershed recording of british music - a great leap forward by an 'adventurous' artist, blah blah blah. then again, these are the same people that think radiohead are geniuses, and they stopped making decent 'music' after 'the bends'. jesus, wake me when it's over.

wow. i really went off. and upon reflection, i realize that i am a 'hapless journo hack' who gave OK computer a good review. ouch.

i'm baffled and disappointed by your reaction to this music, Sir.

MIA really is the most exciting artist in British music right now tho. We're sorry...

i'm actually a bit baffled by my email too!
hey, at least you've got MIA. we've got nickelback :/

What part of her or her music is British then? (xpost) (oh, the label, is that it?)

What part of her or her music is British then?

that's not what i said

altho her basslines never shut up about house prices, chavs and putting the kettle on

This sounded FANTASTIC at first... probably because her vocals & patois stylings are a BIT more tolerable this time, where Arular was sickeningly, obviously so lightweight and all up-in-your-face without ANY of the wallop or weight to make that approach WORK.

Kala is going for something far more low-down, grooves that are insistent and squirmy but still bang, musically it's SO much more interesting that it's just in a different league. Production wise, it's full of surprises, energy, immediacy and feels like a really unique and effective fusion.

BUT 4,5 listens in, the cracks are starting to show big time and I'm getting annoyed at her too-frequent inability write a song that doesn't evaporate from memory the minute you turn the stereo off. Boyz is a particularly acute example here.

I feel like MIA is absolutely perfect for people who prefer their pop/dance to consist of NOTHING BUT transient thrills and explosions (hi dere ILM!), who can find "massive pop hooks" in anything, however empty & hollow it might be ... and kind of useless if you like anything more solid, especially lyrically.

All of which is a bit unfair, as she's made GIANT steps forward here in packing memorable moments into her stuff, enough that I can understand the excitement she generates a bit better now... but honestly... overrated much?????

mind you "most exciting artist in British music" not saying much looking at the competition so maybe she is :p

you're saying Boyz is forgettable??? or the exception to that?

People who diss post-Bends Radiohead are not to be trusted, even when I think I might agree with them.

I'm saying, like SO much of her stuff, it kind of has half a tune, not much of a chorus/hook/song... and then the rest of it... I think I must be hearing her wrong because the rest just feels like load of noise & effects hanging around to disguise what's missing. Doesn't really work for me, soz.

i'll convert you to this like i did The Knife

Geesh, fandango, is it necessary for you to come into every M.I.A. thread and bitch about how "overrated and shallow" her music is? And you're so condescending about it as well, I happen to quite like her lyrics. And "Boy" is pretty much all hook, so I don't get where you're coming from there either...

The Knife was a grower, this is sounding like an anti-grower...

but I do like it a lot more than her first, faults and all.

woah there! I've hardly said shit on ILM's MIA threads before now, and about condescending... I've got some way to go before I catch up with others here imo. I actually started posting on this one because I was honestly surprised how rad this seemed the first few spins... ok, now I'm not so sure, but I'm just going with the flow like everyone else seeing as it only just leaked... fucks sake.

I wonder how shallow a song called 'Boyz' would possibly have to be to be 'too shallow'.

fandango, is your plan to become completely disillusioned with this album by the official August 20th release date? you're making good time!

xpost: I post on another board that you do (the Bjork 4um), it's just something I noticed... it's like M.I.A. brings out the troll in you or something...

ha! I'm not trolling honestly! not especially eloquent unfortunately but... yeah, I find her problematic, and it kind of sours her music, there's just an aftertaste... hell, I'm hardly the only one, but at least this time, I'm undeniably impressed on some levels... isn't that good enough?

matt dc, you're redirecting something I said broadly onto a specific example which isn't what I really intended to say (about that one song).

and yeah, ILM -loves- these kind of "all hook" records, where I often find them flat (for all the effort) and ultimately sorta boring but I'm kind of resigned to that.

also, I'm not sure if I'm being condescending towards MIA or other ILM-ers, okay "overrated" I guess is a crit. of others so fair enough, perhaps it's just my reaction to the entire internet throwing me daggers when I dare to say she sucks at some things, but shallow, well that's just my feeling and I'm allowed to say it!

ABout Björk (see also upthread) the sad thing is I actually agree that this is musically, just the kind of genreless, fresh, enervating excitement I was hoping for from her new (and unusually dissapointing, for me) one :(

matt dc, you're redirecting something I said broadly onto a specific example which isn't what I really intended to say (about that one song).

Yeah I know, I was just sort of amused by the concept.

still sounding fantastic ten or so listens in - i never really liked arular like that much (at least in comparison to piracy funds terrorism), and didn't have high expectations for this, so it's great that it's turning out to be my pop album of the year so far. really looking forward to seeing her live again.

i can't believe that $20 doesn't piss me off - bootlegs in 2007? - but i guess it's just weird enough to work.

People who diss post-Bends Radiohead are not to be trusted, even when I think I might agree with them.

i share your views and wish to subscribe to your newsletter

xpost matt dc - heh :)

that dogging line is hilarious btw, she's got some really funny lines but for some reason I never seem to pick up on them IN the songs (unlike say, Missy) which might be why she sometimes comes across as a lot more academic than she should... also BAD hangover fwiw so apologies if I'm being particularly unpolite & harsh... typing rubbish to the interweb about all I'm good for today :x

The Bends is shit

half of the bends is shit.

'watching lost on cable'

i can't believe that $20 doesn't piss me off - bootlegs in 2007?

wha? how is $20 a bootleg? it's only a bassline lift, not even a sample!

blue monday + where is my mind = bootleg.

i think i like the slower songs better. eerier.

bury her vocals further in the mix.

maybe i just want an instrumental mix.

i don't know the 'where is my mind' thing. but it's hardly a bootleg cf rap music

the final (timbaland) track is growing on me

? what about rap music? she sings an entire verse + chorus of where is my mind, it's most of the lyrics to her song!

yeah someone who was in my office yesterday recognized the where is my mind lift immediately without knowing the m.i.a. song at all

Where Is My Mind is only about half the lyrics to the song, but the record itself, sonically, is so much more than just Blue Monday plus Where Is My Mind anyway.

I noted with amusement the Lex going "apparently it contains a Pixies reference" when he owns both the first two Pixies albums and therefore that song.

DAMN - i was this ][ close to asking what 'where is my mind" is?

Where Is My Mind is only about half the lyrics to the song, but the record itself, sonically, is so much more than just Blue Monday plus Where Is My Mind anyway.

yep, and i think that's why it cuts through my bootleg-phobia. every time i hear it it's slightly surprising to me that it doesn't jar or sound stupid, but something about the combination works. amusingly when i first heard the song i totally failed to pick up the blue monday steal until colette pointed it out, but the lyrics jumped right out at me.

zomg i cant believe that shed use pixies lyrics it ruins the song

WHAT IS WHERE IS MY MIND U GUYZ HALP

yours, lexski

he quit ILM so i am filling in

he quit ILM so i am filling in

praises be

i mean in all honesty id mostly rather she use other peoples lyrics than her own

well 60% of the time anyway

it's funny, the modern lovers - new order - pixies refs on this would probably, at various points in my life, either enthralled or annoyed me, and now i'm perfectly neutral about them.

more fascinating insights still yet to come

I can't stand "Boyz", it's so annoying.

Also, she comes across as a bit annoying herself in that new pitchfork interview.

I mean, I get that she probably faces ire from many people because she's a woman and from a third world country, but I personally don't give a shit about either of those things. If I don't like something, I don't like it. It's not because a woman made it, or an immigrant or a three headed dog, music is music (to me). She really beat into the ground the fact that "Nobody thinks a woman could have any ideas without a man behind her", and that's fucking stupid (in my eyes).

She also seemed to be a bit confrontational (I had never heard that "Diplo was the mastermind behind MIA" like she implys every article says), and especially towards a website that actually digs her. I can't imagine how it would have been if it was a SPIN magazine interview or something.

I think you are the only person who hadn't heard Diplo and MIA conflated. There were about a ton of threads and blog posts and articles when Arular that used them interchangeably.

Her comments weren't directed to people who dislike her music. They were directed to people who do like it but have to reason to themselves that she can't possibly be the one behind it, and that seems to be the case in a lot of articles.

And yes, the fact that nobody thinks a woman can have any ideas without a man behind her is stupid. This is why she is angry.

if they sampled actual chickens for "bird flu" this album jumps from a B to B+.

It does indeed have real chicken sounds.

oh shit

this album is FIERCE

going back and listening to "Arular", "Kala" sounds so much more brutal and confrontational and in-your-face.

i've only listened to this on shitty computer speakers at work -- can't wait to bump this on the car stereo -- i feel i'm missing out on a lot of the depth of the production on these clipped-range 1/8" jack fuckers

upon first listen this is boring compared to arular. what happened to the rhythms?!

uh hello, world town???

Hahaha what?

bird flue? $20? XR2????

"$20" is kind of boring.

also lacks those annoying 'skits', thank god

Also, she comes across as a bit annoying herself in that new pitchfork interview.
not as annoying as the writer who was like "boo hoo i had really great questions planned but she hijacked the interview to talk about something important to her." shut up!

True, and besides, it seems the only planned question the interviewer gets out was WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH SUPERSTAR PRODUCER TIMBALAND? which, given her entire rant about people associating her with her established male collaborators at the beginning of the interview, makes me think he's kinda dense.

Also, she comes across as a bit annoying herself in that new pitchfork interview.

omg i like the album less already!!

Yeah given the relative consistency of ideas across the album I'm assuming MIA had most of the initial inspiration and then fed it to her producers to work magic out of.

Anyone got a list of who produced what, by the way?

attn DJ's: mix "Down River" by M.I.A.----> "Radio Fireworks" by Surkin

up the rpm, of course.

Anyone got a list of who produced what, by the way?

in her pfork she begrudgingly gave most of the credit to switch:

On this album I self-produced most of the album with Switch, and nobody's talking about that. And it's because Switch doesn't really talk it up, or he's not into self-promotion like that. Switch spent a year with me making my record and I'm really surprised how he doesn't really come across as the person that I've relied on most. I don't know, I just wanted to set the record straight and make sure that credit goes to people, where it's due, I guess. Last time I set out in America, I probably saw Diplo once.

Forget the Switch/Diplo shit...Timbaland listening to Celine Dion?!?!? OH NOES!

Was bumping this in the car today.

AWE$OME

That quote doesn't sound begrudging to me - it seems like she's saying people should talk about Switch's involvement more.

I really like the idea of her choosing to work with Switch (based on "Boyz" the execution is ace as well) - it seems like such a counter-intuitive-but-intuitive choice.

Diplo and M.I.A. seem to fit on this kind of abstract music crit article level where both are seen as these jetsetting diaspora celebrities mining the world's disparate cultures to create a handy phrasebook guide to the international language of booty. I think this is part of why people succumb to overestimating Diplo's role.

Whereas Switch would appear to be doing something quite different, but then you think about his actual sonic approach and it fits M.I.A. hand-in-glove. With Switch you don't get that theoretical angle that Diplo brings to the table, it's just "we'll use anything from anywhere" as part of a program of sensory overload.

And I say this while only liking Switch's own stuff some of the time.

Is this the "Boyz" that everyone is talking about?
http://pitchforkmedia.imeem.com/video/GnalkB_z/boyz/

Christ, this is horrible. it sounds like someone who was making a bollywood soundtrack got an aneurysm before completing the song, and somehow the exploding synapses in their brain splattered all over their sequencer. Anyone who likes this should probably explore bollywood music. there's good stuff out there-- much better than this, anyway.

OK, "Paper Planes" TOTALLY samples The Clash's "Straight to Hell."

"it sounds like someone who was making a bollywood soundtrack got an aneurysm before completing the song, and somehow the exploding synapses in their brain splattered all over their sequencer."

I'm sorry, you've confused "horrible" with "awesome," even though you gave a passable explanation.

"Anyone who likes this should probably explore bollywood music. there's good stuff out there-- much better than this, anyway."

And while you're at it, anyone who likes "$20" should probably explore this thing called rock music! There's good stuff out there!

Also, house and hip hop and dancehall! There's good stuff out there too!

I'm just glad someone else didn't like "boyz".

And he even gave better reasoning for not liking it than I did

Haha M.I.A. always brings the trolls out.

I can't wait to download this and be completely baffled by M.I.A. AGAIN.

I have no idea why but suddenly I was thinking that M.I.A.'s closest forebear might be Kate Bush. I wish I knew WHY I thought that, but it seems to be something to do with conceptual reach and treatment of source materials as opposed to actual sound. Probably just something random based on the rhetoric on this thread.

Ha ha Ned upthread I said:

""Boys" and "Bird Flu" remind me of Kate Bush's "The Dreaming" more than anything else."

:-D Then I was unconsciously channeling you, good sir. But without wanting to force a parallel too much, I'm wondering if there isn't more to it in the sense not just of creative independence (and associated perceptions on the part of an audience vis-a-vis female artists) but 'English' identity. M.I.A. will never sing "Oh England My Lionheart" (if anything Sinead's "Black Boys on Mopeds" is more apropos) and yet she strikes me as *very* English for all that she is working and identifying with a wider world consciousness. If that makes sense.

"Also, she comes across as a bit annoying herself in that new pitchfork interview."

no she comes across as someone who raises some important points.

A lot of the songs here and on Arular question whether one can even believe in identity politics when that great, big world outside, whether it's terrorism or lots of fine import records, keeps impinging.

She sure sounds a bit ranty and unhinged in that Pitchfork interview. Considering how much love she gets from music critics, it comes off kind of weird. Bad breakup with Diplo maybe??

Perhaps she's just not willing to accept the fact that women can't make or distribute music without help from men?

She sure sounds a bit ranty and unhinged in that Pitchfork interview. Considering how much love she gets from music critics, it comes off kind of weird. Bad breakup with Diplo maybe??

-- Moodles, Saturday, August 4, 2007 7:19 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

good call! or maybe it was her time of the month!

Yeah, the pancakes were a tip off

the interview is a bit off-putting (and calling attention to her myspace rant doesn't help her case). perhaps she reads too much of her own press - i definitely read sutff about diplo, but i certainly didn't have the impression that she was anything less than a full partner in arular. that may still not be given her not enough credit, but it's far from being a puppet.

she's probably just pissed b/c her ex gets credit for her breakthrough.

anyway, i still like the album (and much better than arular)

Okay listening to this now: she's totally making up the lyrics as she goes along, which I'm leaning towards being a good thing.

Re Timbaland's teepee line, is deliberately confusing the two "Indians" a rap meme or something?

I don't mean to be rude with my breakup comment, I just think she seems oddly angry at Diplo. Is it really true that he had no hand whatsoever in her sound? And didn't she first get recognition because of his mixtape?

And if she thinks that more women should make and distribute music without the help of men, that is perfectly reasonable. But I don't think anyone is saying that women can't do that or shouldn't or that she can't. I also don't think that she's somehow been overshadowed by Diplo or anyone else. In fact, she's been the object of fawning praise, so I really don't get what she is so angry about.

"Galang" first emerged at the end of 2003 or so didn't it? Did M.I.A. and Diplo even know each other at that stage?

I always got the impression he was only involved in "Bucky Done Gun" and "U.R.A.Q.T." on Arular - and which fittingly dabble in funk carioca and baltimore beat respectively. I could imagine Diplo introducing M.I.A. to those sounds, but she hardly would have needed Diplo to explain dancehall to her (and dancehall forms the stylistic backbone of that album).

she hardly would have needed Diplo to explain dancehall to her

Wow, now I'm imagining the bizarre world where Diplo DID need to explain dancehall to her. It must be the same world where Dave Marsh explains house music to Derrick May.

because m.i.a. invented dancehall?!? i have no problem believing diplo knows more about it than her

I have no problem assuming they were both fanatics already!

i thought m.i.a. learned about rap music from peaches

She learned about it from me, which was a mistake given my assumptions about dancing in America. :-/

This is all beside the point, the real question is whether its Boyz or Paper Planes that is the unstoppable heat-seeking perfectly contrived summer pop song for me this year.

At the moment I'm going for Boyz solely for the "how ya doin? Pukka bounce" bit.

It's "What We Do Now? Dapper Dance"

lol summer pop song

My problem with Boyz is that it starts out so promising and then her vocals basically smother anything interesting about the beat with that corny nursery rhyme rhythm.

Which is also the problem with Bird Flu

lol summer pop song

Well the sun has only just come out over here so us Britishes are probably getting carried away.

lol 'baltimore beat'

I kinda understand where she's coming from and it did always seem like she pretty much had her first album done and her whole sound in place before she met Wes Gully, but it does really just come off like sour grapes personal shit that noone in the public needs to hear. Reacting too extremely to the whole "noone thinks I can do anything on my own because I'm a woman" thing is how we get situations like crazy-ass Lauryn Hill not giving any credit/money to people who worked on her album because she's paranoid about people thinking Wyclef is more talented than her.

I almost started liking "$20" today. If I hear it a few more times, I will probably love it.

My problem with Boyz is that it starts out so promising and then her vocals basically smother anything interesting about the beat with that corny nursery rhyme rhythm.

I sort of agree with you WRT Bird Flu but surely Boyz is all about the nursery rhyme rhythm with both the beats and the vocals. It's the fact they're so intertwined with one another that gives the song its momentum - Boyz = glam rock essentially.

"Boyz" is far from the least interesting song -- "XR2" strikes me as the album's dullest retread; and I haven't yet gotten "Mango Pickle Down River," which sounds like Musical Youth stuck in Bollywood so not entirely charmless.

<i>Reacting too extremely to the whole "noone thinks I can do anything on my own because I'm a woman" thing is how we get situations like crazy-ass Lauryn Hill not giving any credit/money to people who worked on her album because she's paranoid about people thinking Wyclef is more talented than her.</i>

i thought of lauryn hill as well. (wasn't that what <I>lost ones</i> was about? that song is great).. what i thought was, ppl treating women artists like they can't do things for themselves = no surprise. it happens in most fields! as does the response that one should just pretend like everything is OK, not talk about it, nor react to it, because it's best to keep your mouth shut.

what gets me though is, I see the point that maybe working in an office you pick your battles and don't call out anyone in public.. but a female hip hop artist can't say what's on her mind either when she's pissed off about something? Can she ever?

No. Who wants to listen to that?

"live in bed chew on wheat/watch Desperate Housewives on cable/menstrual cramps gonna get you/made it in my kitchen/from the crap you drop/on my casserole when they pay you."

/inner-sexist

iron my shirt bitch

(sorry)

"lol 'baltimore beat'"

Argh I wrote that. the ridiculous "balearic beat" tag has infected my brain clearly.

"because m.i.a. invented dancehall?!? i have no problem believing diplo knows more about it than her"

Probably, but the dancehall sound on Arular is so dancehall 101, and indeed never advances beyond that rudimentary approach except (ironically) on a Richard X production (although he'd indulged in dancehall productions himself before). It's hard to believe that anyone with even the most passing awareness of the style's existence would need the concept explained to them - and unlike Brazilian funk and baltimore house, dancehall was regularly charting very well at the time, was being played in a lot of clubs, had always been very popular in the UK...

It's not so much like teaching Derrick May about techno - more like if Diplo tried to teach US college kids about emo. Although maybe he does that too??? I don't keep up perhaps.

so JIMMY is blates BONEY M right?

i'm sure every1's said this upthread. too long to read it all.

Haha M.I.A. always brings the trolls out.

Yes, the opposite of a fan is a troll. What an utterly simple-minded, foolish thing to say.

dancehall was regularly charting very well at the time, was being played in a lot of clubs, had always been very popular in the UK...

Yup. So while my analogy was fairly ridiculous to start with (of course!), point is is that, especially for anyone living in London, it's hardly something new and/or strange that needs explaining especially if you're interested in popular dance music there.

"What an utterly simple-minded, foolish thing to say."

Oh yes, as opposed to the stunning insights visited upon us by Richard Wood Johnson.

Yeah Ned I didn't think you were being serious with your analogy.

Oh yes, as opposed to the stunning insights visited upon us by Richard Wood Johnson.

...And the red herring fallacy rears its ugly head. We were not discussing the stunningness of anyone's insights, Alex, but rather the question of whether someone who presents a divergent point of view is automatically a "troll."

I agree, Richard, you're not a troll, but you're posts upthread were pretty arrogant and presumptuous.

I have no problem with divergent points of view, but it's also pretty clear that the people on M.I.A. threads who profess to not like her music (but just as often seem not to like her for whatever reason) tend to be a nastier and more sanctimonious lot than most.

"I don't mean to be rude with my breakup comment, I just think she seems oddly angry at Diplo."

Really it seems more like she's really irrititated with journos to me.

but you're posts upthread were pretty arrogant and presumptuous.

I agree that I made strong comments, but I fail to see how this is in itself an affront. The intensity of my comment against is no stronger than the intensity of many of the comments for, and you shouldn't take my disdain for MIA's music as a personal attack, just as I don't take anyone's pity for me as MIA non-believer personally. Anyway, I don't want to drag this thread into the usual quasi-philosophical territory that controversial topics usually end up in, where people begin quoting each other out of context, start deconstructing their psyches, and eventually accusing each other of being closet racists. But I would like to impress the point that I see nothing wrong with expressing one's taste with passion. It makes things more fun.

i know i'm having fun.

hurting is otm about the vocals overpowering everything else, but 'boyz' is easily my favorite track on an album jammed with duds. i loved 'arular' but the thing that had me so smitten on that album - the rhythms - are precisely why i'm not feeling 'kala'. they seem half-baked, lacking decent hooks, and are just plain uninteresting to me. on second listen i actually skipped through the majority of the album, it just wasn't compelling to me.

yeah, souring on this big time... feel like I really need to work out (not to post it, just for my own curiousity) what, or what comibnation of things exactly it is that turns me right off about her, I have the nagging feeling no-ones ever really nailed it beyond the typical (and easily dismissable) art-school-up-her-own-arse-rebel-chic cliches...

It may be easier now, without so many agendas & inflammatory opinions swarming around this one (yet) and all the really really glaring drawbacks and obvious problems of the first having been accounted for and dealt with...

funny someone should mention Lily Allen really, it's that kind of under-the-skin hard to place personal sort of niggle that keeps me from even liking MIA (even when her beats are hot) tho' I've warmed to Lily, for one reason or another, she just seems genuinely naive and less professional than some about stuff... MIA otoh seems cold and beyond calculated (again hard to say why) and such an abscence of warmth, humanity, emotion even... in her music.

If she's SOOOOO great why am I almost never moved? Even for a 'dance' record? admittedly there are now a few melodic touches on Kala that seem to point to something deeper, but wow they were a long time coming.

Post again when I've worked it out, or probably just never again and put it down to suckage :p

Is there any dancehall on the new record?

(sorry for not reading thread)

"i loved 'arular' but the thing that had me so smitten on that album - the rhythms - are precisely why i'm not feeling 'kala'. they seem half-baked, lacking decent hooks, and are just plain uninteresting to me."

I don't get this at all, despite it being exactly what my office mate just said to me. I thought that the beats on the first album were boring as shit, just simplistic to the point of tears, and that this album was the polar opposite (I also don't get the "sparse" description of Kala, compared to Arular). I even went back and listened to Arular again, wondering if I'd just mis-remembered. No, no, Arular really did disappoint me. And I really do like Kala a whole lot more (and a whole lot on its own). What was so great about the beats on the first album? The drums were intentionally flat and bland, and the production was 8-bit thin on purpose, and it just doesn't hold up.

i have read thread and am wondering the same... (xp)

i think fandango might actually have a point re MIA's coldness. not a drawback on its own altho for this kind of music maybe it is. 'Boyz' sounds joyous but MIA never quite seems to be able to convey that herself?

that x-post is furiously OTM

yeah, there's a weird psychic gap between the content and the delivery for me, it makes me suspicious to a greater extent than all the artwork/politics/fake dancehall nonsense ever did... already got raised on the old thread by someone complaining about her 'sloganeering' (or words to that effect) but surprised it's not a more common complaint...

then again if you DO say anything disparaging you get ambushed by rabid indie-kids praising her "unique flow" (ala Joanna Newsom) and geographical uniqueitude so it's not really worth the hassle.

it matters less on this new one being vocally, more low-key/quiet strength/mixed further down, and production wise it's thicker and you can get distracted from it all anyway with ease. But I'm still really wincing, embarrassed even, lots of the time, and that's why I'm never sure she's really as sex-on-toast as everyone makes out.

that OTHER sri-lankan fake-dancehall female "rapper", from Jahcoozi, even though I think their music is more mediocre, and often sounds (or sounded) like MIA without the musical color ... don't mind her in the slightest/ MIA? I keep trying to suspend/forget my disbelief and failing totally, I'm back at square one every time.

god I hate how MANY words it takes me to get stuff out all the time ffs

/ot

she does my head in really, I guess if she "brings out the troll" it's because she's hard to like but also hard to ignore... and yeah, I'm probably better off doing the latter.

Really it seems more like she's really irrititated with journos to me.

"Diplo has got two tracks on there, Timbaland's got one track, Blaqstarr's got two tracks, but the rest of it, the bulk of it, is built out of me and Switch. And if I can't get credit because I'm a female and everything's going to boil down to 'everything has to be shot out of a man,' then I much rather it go to Switch, who did actually give me the time and actually listened to what I was saying and actually came to India and Trinidad and all these places, and actually spent time on me and actually cared about what I was doing, and actually cared about the situation I was in with not being able to get into the country and not having access to things or, you know, being able to direct this album in a totally innovative direction. I was just kind of taking what I was given, and took the circumstances I was put in. And I wanted to make the most of it. And the only person that believed in it was Switch, and he gave me the freedom to have the space and have thinking time and have the experiences or whatever and came and shared them with me."

This totally has more to do with her frustration with the producers not named Switch, who evidently did NOT care about what she was doing, did NOT care about her situation or her desire for "a totally innovative direction," etc etc etc. Journos are just guilty of constantly name-checking people she evidently feels are doing right by her (and if journos are imply she's their puppet I'd kinda like to see some examples, most pieces seem pretty fawning to me).

evidently feels AREN'T doing right by her, I mean.

I'm not shocked that Timbaland wouldn't go to Trinidad with her though, I mean, come on, he's got Timberlake beats to cook up

I've heard eight songs off this album. I like three and find the rest boring.

I really didn't like "Come Around" until the "beat goes on" bit got stuck in my head today and now I think I really dig it, along with "Bamboo Banger" and "Bird Flu" and "Boyz" and "World Town" and "XR2" and "Paper Planes"

but not "Jimmy" and "Hussel" and "Mango Pickle Down River" and "The Turn"

"$20" is just OK

dunno if this has been posted but, jimmy: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Sjam_ygv69Y

the video for mia's cover is pretty sweet too

there's a weird psychic gap between the content and the delivery for me, it makes me suspicious to a greater extent than all the artwork/politics/fake dancehall nonsense ever did

most insightful post on thread so far by a degree of like infinity.

well done.

ha, that Jimmy Ajaa video is grebt! (i didn't know it was a cover, though it's not suprising)

sorry, aaja

so JIMMY is blates BONEY M right?

Yeah, I can't believe how much so, even the video kind of alludes to this with some of the costumes.

How old was M.I.A in '92 ?

like 15

then again if you DO say anything disparaging you get ambushed by rabid indie-kids praising her "unique flow"

where does this happen???

Don't challenge the hataz' persecution complexes with reason.

I'm surprised people are finding her such a barrier to their enjoyment of this record considering she's either buoyed along or almost drowned out by the sheer flurry of noise on a lot of these tracks. She lacks the vocal presence* or ability to really dominate any of the beats here (well, maybe some of the sparser ones and she can't even do that very well). There are a few tracks, like XR2 for example, when she's subdued to the point of being ignorable. Luckily the rest of what's going on is so good it more than compensates.

*Not for want of trying, MIA seems to be short on presence generally. One of the reasons I've never fully got into the live shows is because she lacks stage presence and the whole setup gives the impression she's doing karaoke to her own songs.

Tim I'm disappointed!

well, I already said that she's much LESS of a barrier on this one, so I personally enjoy it a lot more.

even if she is sometimes still stuck in some weird interzone between "creative, unique, experimental" indie-rap and actual pop music that, frankly, doesn't do that much for me.

Fandango, it's not that this record is amazing, it's just that people who dislike it seem to act as though they've been hung out to dry by everyone else. You always give a slightly different impression, like you're hanging yourself out to dry or something...

Live shows lack stage presence???? whatevs

two dance moves: step right, slide left foot to join. repeat, repeat, repeat. and: do choo-choo train with hype-girl.

yeah i thought she was fine live when i saw her ages ago - i mean what do you want for what is basically just an MC + laptop dude further back?

popjustice say they think it sounds like BONEY M too sw00ds, it's not just us.

i mean what do you want for what is basically just an MC + laptop dude further back?

For the MC to have stage presence!

which entails what exactly? beyond dancing a bit and talking to the crowd a bit (which she did do)?

yeah i've seen her twice and been totally mystified by all the complaints about "presence." shes fun, she gets the crowd dancing, she talks to us, cuet backup dancers. i dont know what you all are looking for.

Finally downloaded this from Slsk, like it based on 1st listen. Bit disappointed with $20 though, after hearing about Blue Monday sample + Pixies etc although it's OK I suppose.

Never seen her live so can't comment on that.

"I don't read, I just guess" = Mondays, right?

Interesting Xgau album review from the new Rolling Stone:

Careerwise, the recent album M.I.A.'s Kala recalls is Kanye West's Late Registration -- an unexpectedly sure-footed follow-up to a brainy beat-adept's can-you-top-this debut. And though West is the more universal musician, especially as Americans conceive the universe, there are also musical similarities: Both albums challenge sophomore slump by risking pretension. But where West hired classically trained Jon Brion, the Sri Lankan-British rapper spread out and bent down low. Originally she'd hoped to trade the grimy beats of 2005's Arular for the more radio-friendly dirt of Timbaland. That plan fizzled, for two reasons -- not just the feds' refusal to let M.I.A. re-enter the U.S., but her instinctive reluctance to turn into Nelly Furtado once the chance was in her lap.
Plus, though she's polite about it, a sneaking suspicion that maybe Timbo wasn't all that -- that there were edgier beat-makers all over the place. With visa madness blockading her new Brooklyn apartment, she turned world traveler, pulling in multiple Indian musics and encompassing Jamaican dance-hall moves,Indian-Trinidadian multicontinental mash-up, Liberian vibes, a British-Nigerian rapper, Australian aboriginal hip-hop, Baltimore hip-hop, Jonathan Richman, the Clash and a bonus afterthought from Timbaland's solo album. Though she claims this record is more personal and less political than Arular, that's misleading. The political was all too personal on an album obsessed with her long-lost father, a player in Sri Lanka's terrorist-revolutionary Tamil Tigers. Here, that conflict-ridden relationship is behind her. Star access enables a woman who grew up an impoverished refugee to observe the outcomes of similar histories in immigrant and minority communities worldwide. If you don't think that's political, ask your mama -- or hers, who's named Kala.

Arular was about M.I.A. -- her ambition, her education, her contradictions, her history of violence. Kala is about the brown-skinned Other now obsessing Euro-America -- described from the outside by a brown-skinned sympathizer who's an insider for as long as her visa holds up. It opens with the uninvitingly spare "Bamboo Banga," which samples Indian Tamil filmi composer Ilayaraja and bends the lyric of Richman's "Roadrunner" so it celebrates a kid running alongside a Third World tourist's Hummer and banging on its door. "BirdFlu" disses dogging males everywhere -- "selfish little roamers" -- over another filmi sample and a barely synchronized four-four on some thirty deep-toned urmi drums. Also on "BirdFlu," high kiddie/girlie interjections add a cuteness that's sustained pitchwise on "Boyz," with its video of synchronized Kingston rudies shaking their moneymakers for the Interscope dollar. Only with "Jimmy," a Bollywood disco number a kiddie M.I.A. used to dance to for money at Sri Lankan parties, does a conventional song surface.

You've probably gathered that unlike Late Registration, Kala is less pop-friendly than its predecessor. It's heavier, noisier, more jagged. Timbaland might conceivably have found a hit for M.I.A.; London-based "dirty house" producer Switch, credited on eight of twelve tracks, will not. The eclectic world-underclass dance amalgam M.I.A. has constructed is an art music whose concept recalls the Clash as much as anything else -- the aggression of the early Clash and the reach of the late (who she samples). But soon enough, the music does soften and, occasionally, give up a tune. There's melancholy melodica, Sri Lankan temple horn, the eighteen-year-old rapper Afrikanboy describing his hustles, and several child choruses, notably on "Mango Pickle Down River," where preteens rap about bridges and fridges to rhyme with the didge -- didgeridoo -- that provides their groaning bass.

But none of these pleasures comes as easy as the high spirits of M.I.A.'s debut album seemed to promise. And in the end, that's why Kala strikes deep. There's a resolute sarcasm, a weariness and defiant determination, a sense of pleasure carved out of work -- articulated by the lyrics, embodied by the music. A riot of human, musical and mechanical sounds bubbles underneath these tracks. Not a white riot, that's for sure, and not a dangerous one either -- unless you believe every Other wants what you got and has nothing to offer in return. Kala proves what bullshit that is. The danger is all the evil fools who aren't convinced.

ROBERT CHRISTGAU

Man that's a long review from him.

(or did he have to pay for webspace when it was on his site, and now he's paid by wordcount?)

what's the guardian on about here? :

It was US bloggers who gave her a leg up, after the British media initially found her too hipster..
__

http://music.guardian.co.uk/urban/story/0,,2150297,00.html

running around in '92 going to raves and doing pills = SHE IS 35 YEARS OLD

i mean credit to her because she looks and acts ten years younger really

The eclectic world-underclass dance amalgam M.I.A. has constructed is an art music whose concept recalls the Clash as much as anything else

I think this is interesting.

I was thinking the other day while listening to Straight to Hell that I couldn't think of anyone who really addressed globalisation in their lyrics at the moment, which seemed odd given that it seems a more prominent concept than it would have been when the Clash wrote those lyrics. Maybe I just haven't heard stuff, though.

I mean there must be a million people whose biography reflects the rupture and dislocation and exploitation that global capital has brought about and also have access to the equally global means of distribution of music or whatever. I'm surprised there isn't more stuff documenting/evoking all this, especially from that perspective, rather than from the other end, although it doesn't seem to be that big a lyrical topic even for your Coldplay types.

Again, probably my ignorance.

And M.I.A. has a Straight to Hell-sampling song... THE CIRCLE IS COMPLETE

(Haven't heard new album, just thinking aloud)

Yeah, well that's what got me thinking ...

I guess it's not even worth mentioning at this late date, but I *wish* Timbaland didn't have to take a verse. "Come Around" could've been the best track-- take out that middle portion and get a little focus/extend on the outro and it would've been a banger. At the same time, I think the album turned out great w/o Diplo/Timbaland/Big-Name producer stamps all over it. Great album either way. She does a fabulous job floating in her lyrics on "Paper Planes."

Is there any over-arching connection with the song-quotes?

Rolling Stone had a total orgasm over this album.

that Timbaland verse is my least favorite thing on the album.

But where West hired classically trained Jon Brion, the Sri Lankan-British rapper spread out and bent down low.

see? even Christgau noticed that she's always crouching and kneeling in press photos.

I've been appreciating that Afrikan Boy verse a lot more since someone pointed out he sounds exactly like Dr Alban.

trax are wack. e me maya!!

^^^
yes

"Bamboo Banga" is more like what I was looking for! Sweetness.

running around in '92 going to raves and doing pills = SHE IS 35 YEARS OLD

30, actually. That makes her 15 in '92, which is at least more plausible than Sean Kingston being imprisoned at the age of 9.

A lot of these songs make more sense in the context of the album.

Okay I think "The Turn" is maybe an order of magnitude better than everything else on this album.

"Paper Planes" has the best chorus.

she's not 35

xpost

yeah I agree. and it stands out since it's so sing-songy and a lot of the rest of the album is fairly harsh.

I love Jimmy and Paper Planes, and like much of the rest ... really the only one I'm not that into is $20, it sounds like a bad mash-up .... the smooshed-together elements aren't digested enough, you're like "oh she's singing the Pixies over New Order." which in itself is not very interesting.

i guess i should go buy this now

I was disappointed by this. By the beats as much as anything (I've always considered MIA more of a toaster / accompaniment than someone who can really take control of a track). Then again, I don't like Switch, so maybe it's not surprising. Too much trebly noise, not enough rhythm, and limited one note basslines.

i guess i should go buy this now

Okay I think "The Turn" is maybe an order of magnitude better than everything else on this album.

Yep. There's a few other decent ones. Overall the album disappoints.

$7.99 sale price at Best Buy today.

When asked to confirm M.I.A.’s age, a spokeswoman at Interscope waffled between 30 and 31; her manager, Tiffany Steffens, said that M.I.A.’s passport gives her age at 32. Like many details of her past, it can’t be verified very easily. from New York Times article

"An Itinerant Refugee in a Hip-Hop World" for those of you quibbling about her age.

By BEN SISARIO
Sunday August 19, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/arts/music/19sisa.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

first impression (which may not hold up) is that this is better than arular. tougher, louder and poppier all at the same time. in any case, not remotely a disappointment.

haha I totally read that as "An Internet Refugee"

tipsy mothra OTM. The highs aren't as high as Arular, but its a much more even album. After her absolutely atrocious Lollapalooza set I was set for more disappointment, but I was pleasantly surprised after my first listen.

really enjoying this record

I don't know how generous I'm being towards M.I.A.'s intentions, but I'd think she wouldn't just shoe-horn some Pixies lyrics into a song unless she thought they had some meaning she wanted to convey. (Unless, of course, her sole intention was to flip some geeky whiteboy rock-crit wigs.) Just sayin'.

i liked this MUCH more than arular

never really listened to arular, kala is a good record, sounds great in the car, yay

"Paper Planes" oh wow

yeah "Paper Planes" is far and away my favorite thing she's done so far. Even as much as it seems a departure for her somehow? I've just been playing it over and over the past couple of weeks.

Aside from the "Straight to Hell" sample, what else does "Paper Planes" take bits from? The "all I wanna do is *shotgun* *shotgun* *shotgun* *shotgun* and *reload* *cash register* and take your money" is definitely a quote, I just can't place it...

All I wanna do is a zoom zoom zoom zoom and a boom boom! just shake your rump!

The Pixies again!

The above-mentioned video for "Jimmy":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLPUe9Xn9ZE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Epoetv%2Ecom%2Fvideo%2Ephp%3Fvid%3D22008

Some really impressive animation work in this.

I'd think she wouldn't just shoe-horn some Pixies lyrics into a song unless she thought they had some meaning she wanted to convey.

sure -- she's building on the psychological dislocation of the original by adding geographic and economic dislocation to it. adrift in the global economy, etc.

@Telephone thing: Wreckx N Effect - Rumpshaker.

maybe i'm just overly familiar w/ the pixies song. the modern lovers bit in bamboo banger doesn't rub me wrong at all.

the speech impediment on that -- "woad wunnuh woad wunnuh" -- makes me think of the elmer fudd version of "fire." but that's ok. elmer's cool.

paper planes
mango pickle

I like the first few tracks that remind me of PiL.

I can't stop listening to "Paper Planes"

I'd suggest she indulge her post-punky side more (def. preferable to goin' Timbaland, her heart's not in Nelly Furtadoing), but then I'm worried we'd get more stuff like "$20."

there's a track that reminded me very much of a track off the gang of four's yellow ep. or the vibe of a lot of the slits/raincoats. that kinda forlorn melodica thing.

i'm enjoying this record much more than i expected to.

same here, I wasn't even curious to hear it until like a week ago

my favourite tracks are the ones i heard before getting the album with the exception of Paper Planes - as good as everyone says, pretty much. think $20 may actually be my favourite tho along with the singles.

OMG I have been caning this all week - and it's all completely awesome apart from the Timbaland track. The only thing I didn't like on Arular were the skits, but I hate skits.

Also enough with the circumspection. I'm pretty sure she just likes the Pixies and New Order. You couldn't live with the Frischmann for any length of time and not like them; also 32/33 is sufficient age to be a first wave raver - 13/14 in '88. I'm also disturbed by the mental pictures Christgau is painting, but that's an 'improvement' on just BORING me as per usual.

I'm really not feeling this album AT ALL. :-(

The first track swipes off The Perfect Kiss, too...

You may find enjoyment of the record is enhanced by one of those cars with bass bins and Class C narcotics.

I certainly find that with the new Darren Hayes double LP

This ain't a patch on her first album, which had higher peaks and was more consistent to boot. "$20" and "Paper Planes" are the worst things she's done, why are they getting the hype?

Actually, that's probably unfair. The better half of this is genuinely exciting.

conversely i don't get the "$20" hate. pixies aside, i love the big dubby sound of it.

stunt opinion injury

no! it's got a nice drone. i don't know what the problem is.

It just kind of drones.

drone is ok by me.

who the fuck listens to this bullshit

good point.

i mean, "zing"!

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/NewAnswersControllerServlet?boardid=41

(xpost)

what kind of fool wants to hate on 'Boyz' anyway?

I guess it's not even worth mentioning at this late date, but I *wish* Timbaland didn't have to take a verse.

His vocals seem so out of place. Her lyrics are cryptic and vaguely political, then he awkwardly crashes in with his tired "I'm the MAN baby doll" shtick.

The disc is great, tho.

I'm dying to hear it. Amazon.com, why art thou tormenting me so?
Maybe I'll get it on Monday.

lol at this being outsold by Rilo Kiley in the UK

"mia is shit" troll

88 Lines about 44 Mias?
-- Rufus 3000 (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 4 May 2006 13:36 (1 year ago) Link

where's the m.i.a. thread with an angry j blount defending her, i can't find it

^^^ would love to see

The thread where people who think M.I.A is rubbish say M.I.A. is rubbish.

FORTIFY TREEHOUSE! REPEAT: FORTIFY TREEHOUSE!

-- j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 06:34 (2 years ago)

I like how Blount posted without capital letters or punctuation, to show how free and easily in-depth musical concepts flowed throughout his critical brain.

It's like watching Robin Williams do stand-up

you should listen to some college radio man, that shit will blow your mind.

-- j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, March 16, 2005 5:59 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark Link

no MIA played on college radio, no sir

haha i forgot about the whole sitcom-related derail halfway in

spread out and bent down low

so that's two lyrical references, not just one, right? and the non-completely-obvious one is to the more famous artist, right?

I remember The John Larroquette Show! I can't remember any of the episodes, but my mother always made tapes of it for my father while he was in jail.

-- Quit glaring at Ian Riese-Moraine! He's mentally fraught! (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 17 March 2005 01:24 (2 years ago)

FAKE IRM

His vocals seem so out of place. Her lyrics are cryptic and vaguely political, then he awkwardly crashes in with his tired "I'm the MAN baby doll" shtick.

TS: "RUNDAKARUNDAKARUNDAKARUNDAKA RUN DOWN" vs. "go to yo' teepee"

I can't get enough of her inflection on "check my coat in and I paid the dollar / sidekick rings / what's up holla." I don't care if she's Satan's Angel The Sexy Sexagenarian -- that line sounds fabulous.

FORTIFY TREEHOUSE! REPEAT: FORTIFY TREEHOUSE!

-- j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 06:34 (2 years ago)

-- am0n, Saturday, August 25, 2007 2:48 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Link

I like how Blount posted without capital letters or punctuation, to show how free and easily in-depth musical concepts flowed throughout his critical brain.

-- Dom Passantino, Saturday, August 25, 2007 2:48 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Link

??

Yep. There's a few other decent ones. Overall the album disappoints.

-- bnw, Wednesday, August 22, 2007 2:50 AM (5 days ago) Bookmark Link

lately paper planes is making '5 day ago me' feel like a dumbass :/

DAMNIT. I just realized that I'm supposed to review this by tomorrow.

(but thanks for reminding me, bnw)

(and I had the exact same reaction as you...Paper Planes changed everything!)