M.I.A. - KALA

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(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!)

I didn't warm to "Paper Planes" until I heard the chorus.

must have been a long 55 seconds for you

i am really liking this....a lot

yeah i mean come on HOW FUCKING GOOD is 'paper planes'?

in at number 39.

i dont get whats so good about paper planes. NOT REAL PUNKS unless you prefer the clash version. you guys all hated puffy for doing the same thing, except mase was a better rapper

haha deej cap'n save-a-puff

i like the songs that aren't like songs, with all the drums pounding all over the place

paper planes is actually fucking good.

I like that managed to find two people and a group of kids who are even worse rappers than she is! I really like this record. She's got a real way with a hook and the production is smashing.

M.I.A. has better flow, deej.

Puff sampled The Clash?

I like the way she/Switch flipped the verse melodies from Straight to Hell (dark, plodding) into something bouncy but kinda melancholic.

Does the shootem-up chorus have some child voices backing? Someone upthread mentioned globalization themes ... "Oh Papa-San /
Everybody, they wanna go home now"?

I don't think this is Willenium/Clash-type sampling techniques ...

whats the difference?

I like the kid rappers! That song is cute, it works really well in a we-just-tossed-this-off-between-recording-the-"real"-songs way.

'$20' is amazing too. really fucking amazing. it's half an amazing album i think now. the bits i don't like are like someone banging some bin lids together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9_Dk_F98cU

ehehehehehehehe

The difference? You don't see any difference between The Fresh Prince sampling the most popular Clash song for a dance hit and an artist who was basically itinerant for a year while producing songs all around the world, using guests with zero cache? Not trying to make M.I.A. out to be some angel with the cards stacked against her or anything, but christ ...

I'm also in favor of more kid MCs.

i don't understand what difference that makes, no

MIA wasn't west philadelphia, born and raised either

SHE'S AN ART SCHOOL GRAD WITH A RECORD DEAL WHO TRAVELLED THE WORLD, GIVE HER A BREAK ALREADY.

WHEN SHE SAMPLES FAMOUS SONGS SHE'S NOT DOING IT FROM THE SAME PALACE OF PRIVILEGE AS WILL SMITH

If Will Smith was any good, surely he'd have worked with Diplo?

DJ Jazzy Jeff was merely the Diplo of his time y/n

god i felt dirty even saying that jokingly, Jazz please kick Diplo out of Philly the way Uncle Phil used to kick you out of the house in Bel Air

Heh. Well I guess the difference is getting more out of the sample than just a hook.

Over-thinking a sample can kill it but ... it doesn't strike me as a cut/paste boring sample. First, they flipped the melody of the sample and gave it a diff. emotional resonance (doesn't sound as dark as it does in the original). Plus, M.I.A./Kala plays around w/ globalization themes in almost every aspect (lyrically, musically, production-wise, etc.). If a listener finds globalization as Kala's leitmotif, then using the "Straight to Hell" sample will probably resonate more.

If you're just bangin' "Paper Planes," the sample might not seem that different from any other sample. My gf doesn't know a damn thing about the Clash and loves the song, so it's nice to see that M.I.A./Switch didn't shoe-horn the sample into the song. It just comes off as organic (which is good), and just gets better when you realize where the sample comes from.

WHEN SHE SAMPLES FAMOUS SONGS SHE'S NOT DOING IT FROM THE SAME PALACE OF PRIVILEGE AS WILL SMITH

True, but I'm sure she would've liked to visit her BKLN apartment. I think I said itinerant, not poor. And to be fair, I don't think she's really projecting herself as an abject musician busking around the world. BUT I GUESS SHE'S A LOT EASIER TO DISMISS IF YOU THINK SHE IS.