why is everyone so sold on M.I.A?

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yeah me too. like, so what?

better to talk abotu the traum m.i.a i.m.o

― ambrose (ambrose), Thursday, 1 July 2004 13:45 (nineteen years ago) link

i aint heard it and the constant ILM vibe is becoming intolerable. pointers anywhere ? (dont do P2P sstuff ..)

― mark e (mark e), Thursday, 1 July 2004 13:45 (nineteen years ago) link

The last minute of "Galang" is joy on tape, silly, uplifting and moving (in a physical sense). The other couple of tracks I've heard I'm not so sold on. They're alright, but the last minute of "Galang" = FUCKING WOW.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Thursday, 1 July 2004 13:46 (nineteen years ago) link

i've only heard 'Galang' - what's better than 'Galang' in the same vein but by other artists? i'm assuming Dave and Ambrose know of stuff that eclipses it and that's why they're bugged by the hype.

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 1 July 2004 13:48 (nineteen years ago) link

if you don't do P2P you must not really love music (half-joking)

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 1 July 2004 13:49 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah i mean that last section of galang is alright (and i only mean alright) fire fire and sunshawa are both really dud and i'm hearing people describing her as dancehall, which obviously irks me. i mean if you've ever listened to any lady saw, cecile or tanya stephens it's clear that she's not, but hey, i'm less worried about that. this stuff just isn't that good. i reckon lady sovereign pisses all over her, really.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 13:51 (nineteen years ago) link

See Junior Boys / A Grand don't come for Free threads.

Consider.

Conclude that ILM does this about things.

― ___ (___), Thursday, 1 July 2004 13:53 (nineteen years ago) link

i guess what i like is the odd wailing throughout esp. at the end which sounds like about a hundred different things and evokes many visions - raw tribalesque passionate exotic militant hollering. it's intoxicating.

so what other tracks have things like that?

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 1 July 2004 13:54 (nineteen years ago) link

i forgot to say it's choiral (or choral?) but kinda dissonant, rather than 'hollering' as such

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 1 July 2004 13:55 (nineteen years ago) link

well the junior boys thread is my fault and people weren't going that crazy about it at the time it was started. this is out of hand, though.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 13:57 (nineteen years ago) link

out of hand? what's the problem exactly? about 20 people on ILM singing the praise of a genuinely good track that they are free to consider above average in their opinion? it's allowed!

would still like other recommendations in the same vein tho

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:00 (nineteen years ago) link

I was just expressing the way that this place seems to overshoot reaction on pretty much everything - when people decide they like something they put so much momentum behind it you expect it to be great. Some jump on board, others don't.

It's a bit of herd behaviour with MIA - from what I gather it is the name to drop at the moment. Which confuses me, as I really liked the Berlin and Cologne ones, and didn't realise everyone was on about this one.

As for overboard - I disagree stevem. I think it is wrong. I think it is wrong when one release into a label, someone puts them as their favourite label of a style at that time - the same applies here. One decent track does not an artist make.

― ___ (___), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:02 (nineteen years ago) link

But ILM = 'I love Music', rationalism is not a prerequisite.

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:03 (nineteen years ago) link

But it helps.

― ___ (___), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:09 (nineteen years ago) link

SHE"S NOT DANCEHALL, SHE'S NU-POP!

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:12 (nineteen years ago) link

Galang is easily in my top three this year, but at the moment I can't stop listening to "Sun Shawa". I wouldn't compare her to Lady Sov or Lady Saw or any of those, all of whom are also great in their own respective ways.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:14 (nineteen years ago) link

steve. re P2P .. i do love music. not mpfreees. i have crusty old laptop which aint strong enuff for heavy software (hence the design of ireallylovemusic) and prefer shiny silver discs to listen to, though @ work things are different .. just net admins dont allow P2P etc etc ..

― mark e (mark e), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:20 (nineteen years ago) link

i mean if you've ever listened to any lady saw, cecile or tanya stephens it's clear that she's not, but hey, i'm less worried about that

See, I'm not a dancehall expert in the slightest, but just by hearing a lot of recent music by the three artists that you mention, I definitely think that she fits in with them rather well.

It's easy for me to understand the M.I.A. hype - she's put out three great singles in a brief span of time. It's not a reinventing the wheel kind of thing, people are just happy to hear some hot stuff. "Galang" is fucking unstoppable, and in a better world it would be an enormous hit. There's a lot of people out there who would probably love that song, but unfortunately, it's pretty obscure right now.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:22 (nineteen years ago) link

Fire Fire isn't all that great, to be honest.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:24 (nineteen years ago) link

i really like galang, really don't like sun shawa. i'm not surprised she's getting the attention, though - it's slicked up and more accessible, and now she's got xl behind her.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:29 (nineteen years ago) link

i guess it's just all the associations with the fat truckers that puts me off - cool hoxtonite bollocks that i don't like on priciple. also dancehall appears to be the new thing for this lot and there's that wall of sound thing happening soon, too. after listening to the full album of that i've decided it's atrocious, btw - okay in 1 minute 30 second sample bursts but as a whole album, really, really dud. i'm not being a dancehall purist either (you can't be, the nature of the music makes it impossible), but if you do see MIA fitting with the likes of ce'cile, then why the fuck haven't people been turning cartwheels over her for the past two years or so. as ever, i like what lauren has to say - it's al ot to do with slick marketing, big(gish)-money backing and style over substance for me. (let me just say again, i don't hate her, i've heard a LOT worse, but i just don't get why she's soooo hyped now)

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:47 (nineteen years ago) link

and, of course, to the people who are enjoying her stuff, keep on keeping on, i'm probably just being a curmudgeonly old bastard, anyway.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:49 (nineteen years ago) link

i guess it's just all the associations with the fat truckers that puts me off

b-b-but they're honest manc/sheffield lads!

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:50 (nineteen years ago) link

I hate them.

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:50 (nineteen years ago) link

well i dont know of anything in a simliar vein stevem, i just dont really think its that great. havent heard 'galang', admittedly, just that new thing. my criticism falls under the category of "But ILM = 'I love Music', rationalism is not a prerequisite."

re fat truckers, dont know about honest. what on earth is the connection with them anyway? who is this m.i.a? is she from shef too?

― ambrose (ambrose), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:53 (nineteen years ago) link

no such thing as an honest manc

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:56 (nineteen years ago) link

ross out of fat truckers did production work on the album. she's london by way of sri lanka.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 1 July 2004 14:56 (nineteen years ago) link

i'm not being a dancehall purist either (you can't be, the nature of the music makes it impossible)

not sure what you mean by this, Dave. Care to explain?

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:04 (nineteen years ago) link

do you really hate the fat truckers?

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:06 (nineteen years ago) link

then why the fuck haven't people been turning cartwheels over (Ce'cile) for the past two years or so.

In my experience, they have. I know that I've had really enthusiastic responses to both "Rude Bwoy Thug Life" and "Hot Like We" on my blog, and I still get people talking to me about those songs with a lot of excitement. M.I.A. and Ce'cile seem to be on about the same level of hype and popularity, from my perspective anyway.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:08 (nineteen years ago) link

dancehall relies on too many different influences, interpolations and what have you to get too stuffy about it. it's hardly "pure" itself, that's what's so good about it. lauren no i don't "hate" them per se i don't think they're any good, but i don't hate them.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:08 (nineteen years ago) link

The use of "ILM" to describe an imaginary herd mentality/agenda is analogous to decrying the "liberal media elite". Some people like her, some don't, it's not like it's a certified consensus or something.

i-D put "Galang" in its singles section back in summer '03 anyhow, it's been bubbling around for ages, which is probably a sign of quality.

And yeah, it's probably "white dancehall" but "Informer" wasn't all bad...

― Jacob (Jacob), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:10 (nineteen years ago) link

oh, i was asking adaml. i have a personal more than musical attachment to them so of course i have to get all huffy.

xpost to dave

xpost to jacob - 'informer' is not going to help anyone's case.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:11 (nineteen years ago) link

My mention of herd mentality is not quite as it is interpreted. people are a lot quicker to praise things that are new beyond all recognition and then backlash, than the people who don't like it are to post their opinions straight away.

Just my observation.

― ___ (___), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:13 (nineteen years ago) link

matthew, what you do on yr blog is great. i'm a big fan as you know, but i think that M.I.A will be a lot better known than ce'cile and if she's not now she will be in a month or two. and jacob, i'm normally with you on most things, but i downloaded informer the other night coz i'd not heard it in years - it was fucking shocking!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:14 (nineteen years ago) link

pass the dutchie by musical youth, on the other hand, sheer brilliance... i digress

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:14 (nineteen years ago) link

I heard somebody playing the acappella from Informer over some Desi tune 6 months ago. Sent the place wild.

But, yeah, facetious innit. Not really a very good record.

― Jacob (Jacob), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:15 (nineteen years ago) link

and sorry lauren, i was kidding re the honest manc comment. this si a purely musical thing.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:15 (nineteen years ago) link

anyone here heard any gentleman?

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:16 (nineteen years ago) link

yes.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:18 (nineteen years ago) link

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:22 (nineteen years ago) link

i heard one song, played very loud in that basement shop on berwick street (daddy kool?). i liked it well enough. months later, i was in munich and saw loads of gentleman records for sale. my german friend saw me looking at them and went spastic: "what are you doing with those? you're not buying that, are you? he's a fraud! he talks about africa! etc etc". she totally shamed me, and i left empty-handed. that's the sad story of me and gentleman.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:23 (nineteen years ago) link

poor thing! i'm not keen, myself, but he's not bad and certainly better than snow. still i didn't understand people going nutso for the dr ring-ding stuff, either... found that odd.

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:27 (nineteen years ago) link

actually i feel worse for you being in daddy kool in the 1st place. was the really rude guy working there when you visited?

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:33 (nineteen years ago) link

Are germans the most "purist" dancehall fans these days?

― Jacob (Jacob), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:34 (nineteen years ago) link

do you really hate the fat truckers?

No, not personally, lauren. I should not have spoken so brashly and suddenly and I apologize if they are friends. I have obvious Hoxton issues!

― AdamL :') (nordicskilla), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:36 (nineteen years ago) link

I have obvious Hoxton issues

I believe there's a trucker hat with that written on it somewhere.

― Jacob (Jacob), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:39 (nineteen years ago) link

Someone was telling me the other day that Ce'cile just got signed to some big US label - I'm very hazy on the details, but if that's true, I think that she has the potential to outsell M.I.A. by a significant margin. Ce'cile is just so much more pop.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:43 (nineteen years ago) link

delicious vinyl

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:43 (nineteen years ago) link

i need to be less sensitive. re: daddy kool, the really rude guy is the owner isn't he? he's a TOTAL BASTARD ("you want to listen to that before you buy it? absolutely not!"). i've only encountered him twice, though. the other guys who work there have been so, so nice to me, which is why i always pop in when i'm doing a berwick street run.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 1 July 2004 15:52 (nineteen years ago) link

Skipping 22 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

i prefer this MIA reworking to the buzzard.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 13 August 2004 19:57 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...

is this south rakkas crew rmx any good then? and how might it affect the postions taken on this thread? then again, jentina got a dave kelly rmx too

(also hey i never knew this ws written by j frischmann! ew)

― candour floss (mwah), Sunday, 26 September 2004 06:46 (nineteen years ago) link

Having heard "You're good" and "Chinna girl" (the Richard X produced track), two of the Mia albums tracks, all I can say is that the sound is just a bit too similar to her earlier tracks.

― Andreas, Sunday, 26 September 2004 13:16 (nineteen years ago) link

andreas! where have u heard these?

― piscesboy, Sunday, 26 September 2004 13:31 (nineteen years ago) link

WHERE IS TEH ALBUM?

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 14:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Richard X fuck off please.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 26 September 2004 14:29 (nineteen years ago) link

jed you need a vacation.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 14:29 (nineteen years ago) link

or an E.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 14:29 (nineteen years ago) link

you're so right about the first one.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 26 September 2004 14:33 (nineteen years ago) link

don't we all.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 14:33 (nineteen years ago) link

between annie, rachel stevens, MIA, and a handful of other things i feel like we're moving into some renewed golden age for modernist girl pop.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 14:34 (nineteen years ago) link

Willing to do the Rough Guide to Modernist Girl Pop (Golden Age)?

― Jedmond (Jedmond), Sunday, 26 September 2004 14:36 (nineteen years ago) link

i wouldn't even know where to begin.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 14:37 (nineteen years ago) link

also i'd probably lapse into petty, indefensible ideological justifications for why MIA and destiny's child operate in separate aesthetic universes.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 14:38 (nineteen years ago) link

You've already made a good start - and admit it - making petty, indefensible ideological justifications is half the fun. Or am I just being lazy and opting out of doing one myself.

― Jedmond (Jedmond), Sunday, 26 September 2004 14:48 (nineteen years ago) link

MIA just seems to be bred for hipster acceptance and although I like the song OK I don't see what everyone's raving about. Also I am REALLY not looking forward to the time when all the 'hipsters' at my college keep asking if I've heard of MIA three months from now and I have to keep hearing it at parties along with THE SAME DAMN LE TIGRE SONGS i've heard for the past 3 years.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:24 (nineteen years ago) link

(x-post)Is the MIA album still not slskable?

It's a tough life at Wooster ain't it?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:25 (nineteen years ago) link

Also I don't see the connection to dancehall at all. It seems just as connected to electroclash. But what the fuck do I know.
Alex, you can connect the dots good job.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:27 (nineteen years ago) link

PS: I graduate this year so fuckit.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:27 (nineteen years ago) link

You don't see any rhythmic connection between MIA and dancehall??!? (I mean I'm not going going to deny the electroclash element but to write out dancehall altogether seems completely suspect.)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:29 (nineteen years ago) link

I guess I see some sort of rhythmic influence but to suggest that it IS dancehall just seems absurd.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:31 (nineteen years ago) link

Who the hell suggested that?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:31 (nineteen years ago) link

admittedly blurring some lines here (mostly to get a full cd's worth) and trying to keep it to the last two or so years (with a few exceptions).

1. Sugababes - "Freak Like Me"
2. Girls Aloud - "No Good Advice"
3. Annie - "The Greatest Hit"
4. Rachel Stevens - "Some Girls"
5. Whigfield - "Was A Time"
6. Kelis - "Flashback"
7. Amerie - "I Just Died"
8. Nina Sky - "Move Ya Body"
9. Christina Milian - "Dip It Low"
10. MIA - "Galang"
11. Britney - "Toxic"
12. Ciara - "Goodies"
13. Lady Sov - "Chi-Ching (Cheque 1-2)"
14. Toya - "I Do"
15.
16. Destiny's Child - "Say My Name"

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:32 (nineteen years ago) link

I also don't get this whole "the last minute is transcendent!"* thing.

*not an actual quote

xpost
Stelfox sez:
"i'm hearing people describing her as dancehall"

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:32 (nineteen years ago) link

So is 15 the John Cage contribution?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:33 (nineteen years ago) link

bah 15 disappeared and now i forget what it is!

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:34 (nineteen years ago) link

I'll take that comp (I have to admit having doubts about track 15).

How is something as giddy as "Sun Shawa" considered to be electroclash? (besides potential hipster connection)

Admittedly - hipster connection is powerful - which is why Arthur Russell is in the electroclash section at my local record store (meaargh).

Xpost x 4

― Jedmond (Jedmond), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:36 (nineteen years ago) link

I think Dave is fibbing. I can see someone saying that she either borrows liberally from dancehall, but I don't think anyone is really calling her "real" dancehall any more than oh they called Gang of Four a "real" funk band or PiL a "real" dub act.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:36 (nineteen years ago) link

Also I can't find the South Rakkas Crew remix of Galang right now and it's irritating me.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:39 (nineteen years ago) link

they should have just stuck the vocal over "clappas"

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:40 (nineteen years ago) link

personally i like "galang" (outside of it just being great) because it sits outside (and inside) (and side to side) of both grime and dancehall. dave is just on his hardcore scene hobbyhorse again. and face it, without the fat truckers revelation we'd never be calling this electroclash.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:45 (nineteen years ago) link

if you cant see galang's connection to dancehall you are deaf.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:48 (nineteen years ago) link

Haha I wonder did people fuck with the Pop Group back in the day for using ideas from dub and funk? "Well they're okay, but they aren't Mandrill or Keith Hudson or anything. I prefer the real thing."

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:48 (nineteen years ago) link

if you cant see galang's connection to dancehall you are deaf.
I don't think anyone has said they don't see a connection.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Sunday, 26 September 2004 15:53 (nineteen years ago) link

i heard a stream, but someone should gmail me an mp3.

― Roland Pemberton (Rollie Pemberton), Sunday, 26 September 2004 17:37 (nineteen years ago) link

"Also I don't see the connection to dancehall at all. - djdee"

Um I think you said it.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Sunday, 26 September 2004 17:47 (nineteen years ago) link

i kinda hoped this thread was abt teh germs.

― Ian c=====8 (orion), Sunday, 26 September 2004 17:59 (nineteen years ago) link

i got an mp3 of it already.

i don't understand how someone could say this song doesn't have roots in dancehall.

― Rollie Pemberton (Rollie Pemberton), Sunday, 26 September 2004 18:25 (nineteen years ago) link

"Also I don't see the connection to dancehall at all. - djdee"

Um I think you said it.

overstatement i apologize. But I also said "it seems just as connected as electroclash" and I was more responding to what Stelfox had said about people claiming it to be dancehall.

Alex in SF keeping me on my toes.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Sunday, 26 September 2004 18:42 (nineteen years ago) link

djdee I graduated a few years ago, I can't recommend it enough! I'm a part-time Chinese emperor now.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Sunday, 26 September 2004 21:51 (nineteen years ago) link

you're great!

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 26 September 2004 22:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Thanks! Have a fiefdom.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Sunday, 26 September 2004 23:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Jess, I think track 15 should be "My Neck, My Back" or Ghost Town DJ's "My Boo".

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 27 September 2004 00:05 (nineteen years ago) link

fourteen years pass...

Now a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Radical.

― John Harris is a Guardian columnist (Tom D.), Saturday, 8 June 2019 10:17 (four years ago) link

lol! 10 for a penny are these faux angry-young-firebrands.

― calzino, Saturday, 8 June 2019 11:03 (four years ago) link

she's no cold war steve

― mark s, Saturday, 8 June 2019 11:04 (four years ago) link

did he do a collage of the queen in the bath with phil mitchell and got a million lolz? See anyone can do that shit!

― calzino, Saturday, 8 June 2019 11:06 (four years ago) link

he is the MIA of albert square

― mark s, Saturday, 8 June 2019 11:18 (four years ago) link

i just wished she had the same courage of convictions Paul Weller displayed when he angrily launched into an unequivocally anti-imperialist tirade + told Lilibet where to stick her title.

― calzino, Saturday, 8 June 2019 11:24 (four years ago) link

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