M.I.A. - KALA

the more I played Kala, the more I liked the songs I found initially annoying

this was especially true for me of "20 dollar" and "hussel."

but i still shut off the timberland track at least half the time.

timbAland, obv....

Arular doesn't HAVE any songs that fall down, top 5 album of the decade imo. About a third of Kala is sludgy and tedious and barely listenable. And Arular had better songs and production, some stuff on Kala seems undersketched and the whole album sounds dry and brittle where Arular sounded warm and colorful.

the whole album sounds dry and brittle where Arular sounded warm and colorful.

it's funny, that's almost the opposite of how i'd describe them. warm and colorful is exactly how i hear kala.

but i don' wanna fight, i love them both.

can't stand Arular - this album is miles better

Amazon, on Arular, is unf--kwithable.

But I also love the last song on KALA (sans the horrible Timbaland vocal bit), so my opinion can't be trusted.

i only ever listen to maybe half (or less) of the songs on kala, but they're better than most or all of the good stuff on arular

piracy is still my favorite, i think?

So if we're really going down this route, here are the songs I fuck with on Arular:

Pull Up the People
Fire Fire
Amazon
Sunshowers
Galang
Hombre
URAQT
MIA

Here are the songs I fuck with on Kala:

Bamboo Banger
Bird Flu
Boys
Hussel
$20
World Town
XR2
Paper Planes
Come Around
Shells
Far Far
Big Branch
Sound of Kuduro

No fair using the bonus tracks!

I think I need to listen to these albums side by side to decide. My instinct sez that Arular is slightly better, but I also agree that the Piracy mixtape is the best thing her name is attached to.

i only ever listen to maybe half (or less) of the songs on kala, but they're better than most or all of the good stuff on arular

yeah, this sums my position up basically. kala keepers = "bamboo banga", "hussel", "bird flu", "paper planes" - all some of the absolute best things m.i.a.'s done. to a lesser extent, "jimmy" and "xr2" are pretty good too, but there's nothing else on the album i really care about. whereas there's little on arular i dislike; maybe a caveat for preferring the dj marlboro remix of "bucky done gun" and the piracy funds terrorism version of "sunshowers".

the piracy funds terrorism version of "sunshowers".

cosign

i dunno which i prefer, there's a few tracks from both albums i jam on the reg and i ignore the others on each. probably swing towards Kala tho.

dunno why 'Come Around' gets hate either ("MIA doesn't live in a teepee" is a lame reason)

also kala sounds so much better and bigger, as opposed to arular's cheapo aesthetic

The Arular CD doesn't sound cheapy at all though. Just the original leaked mp3s.

i have a real copy and all the production sounds kinda thin and digital to me. i think it's intentional and i like it, but i like the samples and percussion assaults on kala more.

it's definitely possible that my enthusiasm for arular was tempered by knowing and loving a lot of those songs in their piracy form first.

as for "come around," it's ok, but it's a sort of 2nd- or 3rd-rate timbo beat, and i think doesn't measure up to a lot of the rest of the album. it feels predictable in a way that most of kala doesn't.

"i have a real copy and all the production sounds kinda thin and digital to me."

That's funny cuz I was shocked when I first heard the CD how much thicker, lusher and louder it sounded to me than the mp3s.

wait, it's all coming back to me and i think those might still be the original mp3s on my ipod, and i never bought a copy. oops.

what a difference a good mastering job makes, i'm guessing.

i don't think arular is thin, i just think it's not quite as sonically varied.

that's true, but kala's variation is in quality as well as styles

Eh, I disagree with that; IMO the whole album runs from fucking amazing to great with the most annoying "misstep" being "Jimmy".

"About a third of Kala is sludgy and tedious and barely listenable. And Arular had better songs and production, some stuff on Kala seems undersketched and the whole album sounds dry and brittle where Arular sounded warm and colorful."

THIS

the kala songs i dig i DIG, kwutimean? but the ones i don't care for i never wanna hear. meanwhile i can fuck with pretty much EVERYTHING on arular

gimmie these:

Bamboo Banger
Boys
Paper Planes
The one with the kids on it, holy shit

and that "teepee" line drains the album of likeability/cred, it's just a horrible, horrible moment

it's like the dead scream of whatever

I really started to love this album when I saw her in October 2007 – these songs boomed when performed.

Yeah, the "teepee" line is . . . regrettable.

lolz it says a lot for how much attention I pay to her lyrics that I have no fucking clue what song the infamous "teepee line" is in

you've got your priorities right, basically

That "teepee" joke is so bad it's funny. If it was Sarah Silverman guest-rapping you all would have laughed at it.

lolz irony of ironies that it's in noted amazing lyricist Timbaland's verse on "Come Around"

has there been a arular v. kala poll yet?

Kala blew me away a couple of months ago when I relistened. The lyrics, such as I understand them...I'm ambiguous about them morally, but that's part of what makes it interesting.

much prefer kala to arular. you folks saying arular is "warm and colorful" and kala is "dry and brittle" are weird.

the one with the kids is fucking terrible.

don't get the Jimmy hate. one of the best tracks on the album

so is Mango Pickle! (ie the one with the kids)

maybe I just like MIA for all the wrong reasons

the one with the kids is fucking awesome and most of them are better rappers than she is

i put that shit on and i'm like yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

with the most annoying "misstep" being "Jimmy".

Haha, for a while that was the only song on the album I could abide.

ftr, for those who like "Mango Pickle Down River":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQgIk3fV8zI&feature=player_embedded

i like jimmy a lot, can't stand mango.

really hoos? i feel like i've heard more than a few kids who could rap circles around those kids.

(btw I know the same point I made about MPDR can be made about "URAQT" but I also like the original version of that one)

don't get the Jimmy hate. one of the best tracks on the album

I like the song very much, but the music is almost completely lifted from that Bollywood film score, isn't it? Her vocals were okay, and the lyrics are hardly the best on the disc (they are a nice change-of-pace from the vague political/radical themes). It seems to me that much of the credit for this song has to go to the original, unless there's something I'm missing about her remake.

You guys are making me want to play this for the first time in two years. I will say that "Mango Pickle" kind of sums up my feelings about the album as a whole -- it's just kind of half-assed. I definitely got sick of Arular after a while, but at least it felt like a solid collection of songs.

really hoos? i feel like i've heard more than a few kids who could rap circles around those kids.

― Ømår Littel (Jordan), Thursday, October 1, 2009 8:49 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

lol not cause they're all baby rakims or w/e they just have a lot of personality

I like the song very much, but the music is almost completely lifted from that Bollywood film score, isn't it?

omg a rapper sampled something

wait OMG a rapper sampled something I already love!

its like chocolate in my peanut butter.