Small background: M.I.A. is a Sri-Lanka via London rap/electronic/punk artist...thing known for her eccentric debut Arular, and she rules. She was denied a Visa for unknown reasons, so this album has been recorded around the world.
And for the review:
As an absolute lover of MIA's Arular album, I was worried when I heard about KALA, and heard the first two tracks, "Bird Flu" and "Boyz". Sure, they were excellent, but they were so eccentric, would should be able to make a whole album of (even more) eccentric songs and keep it, well, good?
My doubts were immediately corrected as I started the album. The opener "Bamboo Banga" is a monotone, barely moving, but still progressive-feeling track, that opens with a vocal sample of "Roadrunner," over the monotone beat. It calls to mind the image of people from the third world watching a ferrari go zooming by on their dirt road, blasting some american hip hop.
Other highlights include the disco "Jimmy," which is a remake of an old bollywood song M.I.A. danced to as a kid, "Paper Planes," a song that turns a chorus originally about Rumpshaking into a gun-firing anthem of hustling, and Mango Pickle Down River, a Didgeridoo-toting track with some Australian 10 year olds guest versing. It's the kind of track only someone like M.I.A. could pull off.
The album is very heavy on samples, ranging from Bollywood music to The Clash and The Pixies. Even so, it still sounds very M.I.A., and it only helps to boost the international sound of this record. The album sounds so different from the structured, "clicky" Arular, but still like M.I.A. in every way. It lags a bit towards the end with 'Come Around', so I'm giving it a 9.25/10.
And for the review:
As an absolute lover of MIA's Arular album, I was worried when I heard about KALA, and heard the first two tracks, "Bird Flu" and "Boyz". Sure, they were excellent, but they were so eccentric, would should be able to make a whole album of (even more) eccentric songs and keep it, well, good?
My doubts were immediately corrected as I started the album. The opener "Bamboo Banga" is a monotone, barely moving, but still progressive-feeling track, that opens with a vocal sample of "Roadrunner," over the monotone beat. It calls to mind the image of people from the third world watching a ferrari go zooming by on their dirt road, blasting some american hip hop.
Other highlights include the disco "Jimmy," which is a remake of an old bollywood song M.I.A. danced to as a kid, "Paper Planes," a song that turns a chorus originally about Rumpshaking into a gun-firing anthem of hustling, and Mango Pickle Down River, a Didgeridoo-toting track with some Australian 10 year olds guest versing. It's the kind of track only someone like M.I.A. could pull off.
The album is very heavy on samples, ranging from Bollywood music to The Clash and The Pixies. Even so, it still sounds very M.I.A., and it only helps to boost the international sound of this record. The album sounds so different from the structured, "clicky" Arular, but still like M.I.A. in every way. It lags a bit towards the end with 'Come Around', so I'm giving it a 9.25/10.