M.I.A. - KALA

Matt, you should wait until he's no longer on ILX.

I still think "Bamboo Banger" is not only the best thing on this album, but the best thing she's ever done.

for sirius. fucker actually got "powa" and "banga" into my head.

Jimmy I could do without, but i love the little kids' NWA track.

"Jimmy" is great- straight-up Bollywood disco and not rap at all, but great.

Goddamn! I searched forever (well, really about an hour but...) for a clip of the number "Kaatukuyilu" from the film Thalapathi which M.I.A. sampled in "Bamboo Banga." And voila:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5onAObhwcE

The sampled vocal comes in at 2:39 in the clip, the opening drum sample at 3:13. But you'll recognize melodies/patterns from the start. A fantastic song. Beatier than the Hindi hegemony. According to this, it's dappangoothu, "an indigenous music (genre) of South India...characterised by relatively simple melodies sung to throbbing, flamboyant percussion." Sign me up.

Didn't get this record for the longest time since catchiness is my number one requirement. But now...well, ya know, album of the year and all. And lo - catchy too (and finally).

Thanks!

Great find, Kevin!

Some MP3 blog posted a load of MIA source material a few months back, I wish I could remember what it was.

i think it was palms out sounds, or poss attorney st?

yeah sounds like palms out sounds.

Here:

http://palmsout.blogspot.com/2007/09/sample-wednesday-39-mia.html

i successfully ignored m.i.a. for all of '07, but paper planes finally got into my head. some of those remixes are pretty great!

i miss lex!

yeah that shitty song is in my head after watching the pineapple express trailer like 50 times

isnt it just a straight clash loop anywayz?

i do think the half-assed dirtbag style of it fits the trailer fine

haha

DFA remix - really funky, has basically nothing to do with the original track.

and what's hatred for/love of m.i.a. never fails to astound me

there is some pretty great and some really terrible shit on this album.

Yeah I'll stipulate to that. But her secret is that she doesn't know the difference between the two, and doesn't give a shit what we think anyway.

"isnt it just a straight clash loop anywayz?"

Not exactly, but it's close.

Not that that's an insult either way. It's a great loop and it's used well.

there is some pretty great and some really terrible shit on this album.

-- Jordan, Saturday, 16 February 2008 03:11 (4 hours ago) Link

^^^this, and "Paper Planes" falls into the later category

More lunacy!

I've listened to this album a few times, and it's fine, but I really can't get nearly as excited about it as I did about her debut. I think her tricks are wearing a bit thin.

Sorry, but I don't get what's good about "Paper Planes" AT ALL. It makes me actively wish I was listening to something else.

it would help if you said what you dont like about it

The Reverend has always been suspicious of melody and hooks.

Okay, ummmmm. If the melody or hook were worth a damn, I'd be much less suspicious of them. The hook is better in concept than practice. The melody isn't anything special. The sample is ugly and unappealing. There are no cool production curlicues. There's no momentum or beat to it, rendering it completely fucking tedious.

maybe this comes down to whether or not you like the clash--"straight to hell" is my jam and i cant help but be affectionate to anything that uses it

The only part I like is the "sticks n stones n weed n bones" bit.

xp: I really don't know anything about the Clash. I like "Rock the Casbah" and to a lesser extent "Should I Stay or Should I Go", but those are probably the only songs of theirs I've heard.

Oh, actually, there are two parts I like. I like the "zoom-zoom-zooma-zooma-murdah" bit, too.

love the beat. all woozy + snap drums. the song slays at parties too.

If I want woozy + snap drums, I'll listen to "I'm a J", ffs.

you know rev youre allowed to have two songs that fulfill a desire for "woozy + snap drums"

Yeah, I know. I just require them not to suck, that's all.

"I'm a J" + "Crank That", there we go.

i feel the same as max except thats why i hate the m.i.a. song

i think "hazy" is a better word for the song than "woozy" anyway

I would like to hear the DFA mix, though.

as a way of trying to defend my like for this song--i dont think the "melody" is really worth defending, since it barely exists, and complaining about it "not being special" misses the point i think? i mean she's a "rapper" more than she is a "singer" and if you come to her looking for good melodic hooks (that havent just been wholesale lifted, as in "sunshowers") youre barking up the wrong tree. also "production curlicues"--i dont know what this means, really?

but to say that the sample is ugly, i dont even know what to do with that!

straight to hell

The hook is better in concept than practice

what

That's not snark, I genuinely don't know what that could mean.

i prefer the bun b/rich boy remix anyhow bcuz her verses are pretty boring i think

ftr i'm a j>>>paper planes

The "melody isn't really anything special" was more in response to Alfred's post that anything. I don't really go to her looking for great melodic hooks, which isn't to say she doesn't have any. "Production curlicues" = little unique bits in the production. I guess what I'm saying with that is the production is boring.

I'll take a listen to the Clash song.

xp to HOOS: It's a good idea, it just doesn't really work. I'm not sure how that's a difficult concept.

this is why pretty much all the remixes are better than the original. better rappers, less boring production (although i do like the loop...never heard the clash tune, i'm dl'ing now).

i guess the sample is a pretty straight rip, huh? clash tune is cool, though.

Clash tune is cool. The sampled part sounds much better there. I have to note that M.I.A. slowed it down by 5-10 bpm, presumably to make it drag more.

if "hit that" replaced the timbaland track, this might have been better than arular.

I think I'm the only person who likes that Timbaland track (except for his vocal part).