WERS 88.9 fm - album review: m.i.a. - maya
By David Padula
7.28.10
The third studio album from Mathangi Arulpragasam, or M.I.A., is an abolsute, dead serious, fun-loving, gang war. It is industrial tango. It is synesthesia. It is a Coca-Cola time bomb.
Maya, the British-born artist's most recent record, is interesting for its dizzying effect on the listener. Blending Killing Joke guitars and noise that sounds like steel Jenga pieces fired as scattershot, M.I.A. masterfully manipulates her medium to create the minefield beat of "Meds and Feds." As it messes with each sense, Maya moves from the felt assault of "Meds" into the Wonka-drenched couple of "Tell Me Why" and "Space." The latter features slippery vocal twangs and the realistic declaration: "Gravity's my enemy."
With 2007's "Paper Planes," M.I.A. exploded. Reasonably so—"Planes" is a great song. Sampling The Clash's 1982 rocker "Straight to Hell" alongside gunshots and cash register sound bites, the M.I.A. hit was used in the megastoner-action-comedy Pineapple Express. From there on out, gravity became her true enemy.
The ultimate physical authority, however, was no match. 2008 saw the release of her How Many Votes Fix Mix EP, which boasted a remix of the single "Boyz," from 2007's Kala—and oh yeah, it featured Jay-Z. Also on Kala was a guest spot and duet with Timbaland. Having started a record company called N.E.E.T. (which stands for Not in Education, Employment, or Training), she signed to for her first project as a label head and soon released the soundtrack to critically acclaimed film Slumdog Millionaire (winner of eight Oscars in 2009, including Best Picture).
Nothing was going to drag M.I.A. back to Earth. In a seemingly continuous ascension, the culturejammer we've come to identify as three letters of the English alphabet remains as ambitious, artful, rebellious, and weird on Maya. Reconvening with Jay-Z for a remix of the Maya-born single "XXXO," the two artists tackled sex and attraction over gritty, mechanical dance rhythms.
A raw video for her drum and bass anthem "Born Free," though, is what people began making noise over. Having moved with her family back to her ancestral Sri Lanka while still an infant—at a time when the country's civil unrest was staggering—M.I.A. has been political from the start (see her 2004 mixtape with producer Diplo called Piracy Funds Terrorism). The video for "Free" sees redheads as the target of mass slaughter, and shows in hi-def detail land mines bursting, and one victim's head popping like 4th of July fireworks.
What does it mean? Is this a comment on arbitrary genocide or just a take on the "ginger" phenomenon of the 21st century? Is it both—a platter of puzzled juxtapositions assembled by one of the world's leading infomaniacs?
Whatever the case, Maya's both-sides-of-the-brain approach to establishing a motif works, even if it's confusing or off-putting the first thirty-three times you hit play. In the meantime, you'll just have to dance to the hypnotic tunnel rumbling of "Lovealot," bang your head to "Teqkilla," and try to explain to your friends—(but really yourself)—why sampling a power drill is cool.
Related Links: M.I.A. performance wrap-up
7.28.10
The third studio album from Mathangi Arulpragasam, or M.I.A., is an abolsute, dead serious, fun-loving, gang war. It is industrial tango. It is synesthesia. It is a Coca-Cola time bomb.
Maya, the British-born artist's most recent record, is interesting for its dizzying effect on the listener. Blending Killing Joke guitars and noise that sounds like steel Jenga pieces fired as scattershot, M.I.A. masterfully manipulates her medium to create the minefield beat of "Meds and Feds." As it messes with each sense, Maya moves from the felt assault of "Meds" into the Wonka-drenched couple of "Tell Me Why" and "Space." The latter features slippery vocal twangs and the realistic declaration: "Gravity's my enemy."
With 2007's "Paper Planes," M.I.A. exploded. Reasonably so—"Planes" is a great song. Sampling The Clash's 1982 rocker "Straight to Hell" alongside gunshots and cash register sound bites, the M.I.A. hit was used in the megastoner-action-comedy Pineapple Express. From there on out, gravity became her true enemy.
The ultimate physical authority, however, was no match. 2008 saw the release of her How Many Votes Fix Mix EP, which boasted a remix of the single "Boyz," from 2007's Kala—and oh yeah, it featured Jay-Z. Also on Kala was a guest spot and duet with Timbaland. Having started a record company called N.E.E.T. (which stands for Not in Education, Employment, or Training), she signed to for her first project as a label head and soon released the soundtrack to critically acclaimed film Slumdog Millionaire (winner of eight Oscars in 2009, including Best Picture).
Nothing was going to drag M.I.A. back to Earth. In a seemingly continuous ascension, the culturejammer we've come to identify as three letters of the English alphabet remains as ambitious, artful, rebellious, and weird on Maya. Reconvening with Jay-Z for a remix of the Maya-born single "XXXO," the two artists tackled sex and attraction over gritty, mechanical dance rhythms.
A raw video for her drum and bass anthem "Born Free," though, is what people began making noise over. Having moved with her family back to her ancestral Sri Lanka while still an infant—at a time when the country's civil unrest was staggering—M.I.A. has been political from the start (see her 2004 mixtape with producer Diplo called Piracy Funds Terrorism). The video for "Free" sees redheads as the target of mass slaughter, and shows in hi-def detail land mines bursting, and one victim's head popping like 4th of July fireworks.
What does it mean? Is this a comment on arbitrary genocide or just a take on the "ginger" phenomenon of the 21st century? Is it both—a platter of puzzled juxtapositions assembled by one of the world's leading infomaniacs?
Whatever the case, Maya's both-sides-of-the-brain approach to establishing a motif works, even if it's confusing or off-putting the first thirty-three times you hit play. In the meantime, you'll just have to dance to the hypnotic tunnel rumbling of "Lovealot," bang your head to "Teqkilla," and try to explain to your friends—(but really yourself)—why sampling a power drill is cool.
Related Links: M.I.A. performance wrap-up
See Also
-
August 26, 2010
Ray LaMontagne
God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise -
August 24, 2010
Black Keys
brothers -
August 19, 2010
Blitzen Trapper
destroyer of the void -
August 12, 2010
lost in the trees
all alone in an empty house -
August 8, 2010
danger mouse and sparklehorse
dark night of the soul
