M.I.A. - Kala poll

Although, to be fair, I love most of this album.

i like the midtempo stuff, it's woozy and weird and is where the album really opens up sonically. accordingly: $20.

The only tracks on here that were not at one point vying for position as my favorite song on the album are "Mango Pickle Down River" and "Jimmy" and I view both of those much more favorably these days.

still I'm doggin' on the bonnet of ya red HONDA

The whole first side is aces, guys.

"$20 Dollar" is recommended to those who think she just writes slogans and agitprop.

^^^^ this is what I mean when I talk about Kala lyrics being next-level compared to Arular; she still has the woozy imagery thing going on but she actually expands upon and extends themes as opposed to repeating them three times (which can also be awesome a la "Galang", don't misunderstand me here)

also btw speaking of "$20" I'm sure this is old news but still hot and awesome: http://hypem.com/track/484986/A+plus+D+-++20+Monday+M+I+A+vs+New+Order+

as much as i love paper planes it's not really what the record is all about imo, just a brilliant pop tune thrown in at the end of an awesome MIA album. also i still hear it like every time i go out and at every party i go to.

Bamboo Banga with Boyz a close second.

I agree that the lyrics on Kala are stronger than Arular, but maybe songwise it's a bit weaker.

Boyz.

why is she so off tune on $20 Dollar

She's always off tune!

True, it's just particularly grating to me on the "where is my mind" bits.

I still think that Paper Planes is probably a peak of her whole artistic/political vision, but its been overplayed to death and the whole "Swagga Like Us" phenomenon just killed it for me. So, Boyz. Plus the beat is just tremendous.

Also, if loving Mango Pickle Down River is wrong, I don't want to be right.

too bad the bonus tracks aren't on here, some of them are massive ("Big Branch"!)

bird flu or boyz (they're pretty much the same song in my head anyway)

Bird Flu because it's so infectious

"Mango Pickle Down River" vs. "Bamboo Banga," but "Bamboo Banga" wins for me

"Jimmy"

Although I have to admit part of my vote goes to the video, in which she looks AMAZING.

imo it goes through a right couple of lulls here in these 2 bits

5. Hussel [feat. Afrikan Boy]
6. Mango Pickle Down River [feat. The Wilcannia Mob]

8. World Town
9. The Turn

but Paper Planes, Bamboo Banga and 20 Dollar just about save it from disappointing 2nd album syndrome.

i was baffled by the reviews and opionions of it as being better than ARULAR then, and i'm completely baffled by them now.

Bamboo Banga i think overall.

Yeah, of those for songs I love 3 of them to death and recently came around on the last one.

"$20 Dollar" is recommended to those who think she just writes slogans and agitprop.

― Hell is other people. In an ILE film forum. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, December 1, 2009 6:24 AM Bookmark

Screw that. Give me all the agitprop sloganeering you want, just give me some beats and some color and keep this dreary mud away from me.

I think World Town is catchy as hell! No way is that a lull. I never could get into 'Hussel,' though.

I think I'm gonna go with 'Bird Flu,' mostly for the massive drum fills and chicken sounds but I could just have easily voted for 'Boyz' or 'Bamboo Banger.' I love the Bollywood sample that's kinda hidden throughout that song and only really revealed at the end.

Hussel would be my second or third choice. Great chorus.

Screw that. Give me all the agitprop sloganeering you want, just give me some beats and some color and keep this dreary mud away from me

But she does that too -- and in the same song.

Not by my estimation.

Boys.

lookin fwd to 30 Dollar

Looking at this list of songs, I'm realizing that I only really like about half of these - but those I like a lot.

lol that's how I feel about Arular

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

That looks about right, although it would've been awesome to see Bamboo Banga take it all.

Timbaland arriving with "Baby girl..." kills the end of this for me.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxetc.p Same, but I actually really like the beat AND especially Maya's verses. Has anyone made a mix of this that loops the chorus and re-appends the outro/fades the song out? Does anyone want to try?

do people feel this way about all tracks that Timbaland chimes in on? because i'm not seeing any relevant difference

No, I normally don't mind Timbaland's intrusions - it might be pre/post-2004 timbaland, but even on Loose and FutureSex/LoveSounds he was tolerable, or even enjoyable. This particular verse is just so AWFUL and so out of place. It doesn't mesh with Maya's style vocally or musically at all. Sore thumb, imo.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/dec/16/mia-artist-of-the-decade

Nah, she doesn't have enough mass appeal (yet). I think she's been more written about than adored.

well he's not really saying she is the artist of the decade, just that she has consciously positioned herself as the kind of big-picture mantle-inheritor who gets talked about in those terms. (and that those terms are themselves sort of antiquated.) i think he's been wrong (jarringly sometimes) in a lot of what he's written about her, but this one is pretty close to right on a lot of things.

I think laying out the case without passing explicit judgment on her worthiness helps him here.

Leafing through it at a bookstore on Thanksgiving weekend, I concluded that the Hilburn book is ghastly.

the Hilburn book?

No '30 Dollar' on the new album?!

In retrospective Bird Flu should be higher.

still her best imo

yep

Kala
Matangi
Arular
MAYA
AIM

Close. Kala and Arular are tied for first folled by the underappreciated MAYA. Matangi is not far behind that one and AIM is the worst yeah

*followed

I love this recording artist.

i was baffled by the reviews and opionions of it as being better than ARULAR then, and i'm completely baffled by them now.

I would put Arular in my top ten of all time and I don't think she's ever come remotely close since

Yeah Arular sounded so great at the time and, having heard it again for the first time quite recently, it still holds up. I didn't really listen to much past then

did anyone see the guy from the wilcannia mob on the reggie yates doc? it's pretty heartbreaking

Arular is the only one I got that into.

i love MIA imo she's the most interesting pop star of the 2000s

i was baffled by the reviews and opionions of it as being better than ARULAR then, and i'm completely baffled by them now.

― boxedjoy, T

It's not better – it's a refinement. I love'em both.

Also, it's better.

If MAYA didn't have that horribly draggy middle section, I would like it more.

Adam, Alfred and DJP all otm. I also still listen to "Piracy Funds Terrorism" a lot.

I like MAYA too. I thought way too highly of Matangi at the time, though.

Matangi bangs

I like Matangi but stopped playing it pretty quickly. I think it's a little monotonous, not as varied as the ones before.

i love MIA imo she's the most interesting pop star of the 2000s

― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau)

Yeah I agree. For me at least speaking about female pop stars top of my mind these are my favorite each decade:

50's: Yma Sumac
60's: Brigitte Fontaine
70's: Stevie Nicks
80's: Kate Bush
90's: Bjork
00's: MIA
10's: Grimes

I just realized that each one of those comes from a different country.

Ah wait MIA was born in the UK, scratch that. I thought she was born in Sri Lanka.

listening right now "Birdflu" is an insane beat. makes sense she sampled Suicide later. this is on that level of electronic minimal punk but with this hyperrad acoustic flavor.

god damn this album rules

how many
how many

.. and i still stand by that earlier bafflement.

I posted this on the other Kala thread. Bird Flu is still dope but the beat being a whole-cloth Bollywood sample takes a little something away from it, especially after those stories around the release about going to India and recording with drummers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcQyMmjMrP4

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/how-m-i-a-made-kala-20130319

"For "Bird Flu," M.I.A. harnessed the power of South Indian percussion: "30 drummers in a room" playing an instrument called the urmi, a which is used in temple rituals. The result, M.I.A. recalled, was "a massive beat – the total opposite of the snap beat sound that was popular in the U.S. at that time. People kept telling me: That record is going to clear the dance floor.""

Maybe she did record with a bunch of drummers but it didn't sound as good as the sample...

yeah i was gonna ask if she did that. you are probably right. i love the loops. this record is very instant classic.

XR2 is a banger

The Turn is making me think of Bow Wow Wow

this album is really very good