M.I.A. - KALA

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).

I even like his vocals.

I like the Timberland track if it was by itself or a b-side or something, but it's incongruous on the album. Finishing with Paper Planes would have made a more consistent, cohesive whole, I think.

i still lol @ the teepee bit

The Timbaland track is fine musically. I think his verses about coming on to MIA don't work well though - the chemistry doesn't seem to be there.

^^^^ OTM. And it's totally out-of-context for the song, which is vaguely political and threatening when MIA's singing (then Timbaland's awkward, clumsy come-on changes the entire feel of the song).

after falling out love with this album a while back i am back in love with it. the production on here is fucking retardedly good.

xpost - timbos verses were stupid.

lol @ M.I.A.'s verse being "vaguely political" when she's basically speaking gibberish. you guys...

Yeah, that's true. That's why I said "vague."

she can be vaguely political despite talking a lot of gibberish. what dyou want? the redskins to be her ghostwriter?

I'm bored of eating banana
I want guanabana
I wanna warm my buns this summer summer summer summer
Now I'm sittin' down chilling on some gun powder
Strike / match / light / fire
Who's that girl called Maya?
M.I.A. coming back with power power (power power!)

Vaguely political/mostly gibberish.

its good sloganeering.

jimmy, boyz and paper planes are pretty blissful.
everything else is at least completely listenable
i don't understand types who find this music irritating or obnoxious. i'm totally happy to pop it on in the backdrop without it getting under my skin in the wrong ways.

not as good as arular, for me.

i have to give arular a more thorough listen. kala jumped out at me more initially, but many people have advised me that overall it's not as good.

I still haven't found much worth grabbing on to on Kala. Paper Planes, Jimmy and Boysz are def good, but the rest sort of blend together for me. Arular seemed much more distinctive.

This completely blows Arular out of the water on every front possible.

i still totally love the album. and the first four tracks have become my 3-yr-old's preferred dancing-around-manically-before-bed soundtrack. especially "bird flu" and "boyz."

This completely blows Arular out of the water on every front possible.

I'm not sure this is true (tho both discs are great). There's an intensity in songs like Amazon and Galang and that hidden track at the end of Arular that might be matched by the songs on Kala, but not bettered.

There's certainly an energy to Arular that feels largely absent on Kala, once you get past the first few tracks. But the songs are better on Kala, even if Arular doesn't have anything as bad as that godawful Wilkannia Mob track. I'd say they're on a par.

My previous comment was fueled by my fervent belief that "Bamboo Banger" is far and away the best thing she's ever done.

That's one of my least favorite songs on the disc. It's good, but I think it pales in comparison to Paper Planes and (I know no one will agree with me on this) Come Down, sans Timbaland's awful "rap." I would have included Jimmy, too, but the music is pretty much lifted from that Bollywood song.

Wow, I don't get that at all. The production details alone in how all the extra snippets/samples/vocal lines are interwoven are completely enthralling and breathtaking to me.