| | M I A Kala CD M I A Discography of CDs
(24 Customer Reviews)
Even before M.I.A. (Maya Arulpragasam) debuted in 2005 with ARULAR, the blogosphere was already abuzz about her, engaging in the kind of discourse normally reserved for academic dissertations. Whether hailed as a canny postmodern pastiche or dismissed as inauthentic cultural pirating, the music, a lively pan-global mash-up of regional dance music styles, seemed to be emanating simultaneously from every ghetto, favela, and council-flat within earshot. As if to call out her detractors, M.I.A. returns for another shot of explosive, politically charged and globally conscious dance music on her second album, KALA.
Lacking the patchwork quality of the debut, KALA is a more cohesive and polished affair, though it matches its predecessor for shear visceral thrills. Recorded across several different continents, and featuring the production talents of Timbaland, Switch, and Blaqstarr, as well as longstanding collaborator Diplo, the globetrotting beat makers mine sources as varied as funk carioca, Baltimore bounce, and the occasional ludicrously placed sound-effect (a squawking chicken). The gloriously bombastic lead single, "Boyz," kicks off the party with a blaring horn loop, carnival percussion, and a stuttering Bollywood vocal sample, while M.I.A. merrily chants the chorus in her sing-song faux patois. The twittering, beat-heavy "Bird Flu" sounds a bit like what you might expect--jagged beats create syncopated poly-rhythms, while birds chirp feverishly against Arulpragasam's bratty invective. But the irreverent cultural re-appropriation doesn't stop at her borrowing from the third world; clever nods to the Clash, New Order, and even Jonathan Richman appear in unexpected and cheeky combinations, offering further proof that M.I.A.'s potent cross-cultural grab bag is as sonically audacious as ever.Rolling Stone (p.65) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "It's heavier, noisier, more jagged....KALA strikes deep....A riot of human, musical and mechanical sounds bubbles underneath these tracks." Rolling Stone (p.107) - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Top Albums of the Year 2007" -- "M.I.A.'s second album was an international block party with a sonic imagination nobody could match all year." Spin (p.127) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "M.I.A.'s border-crossing dance pop is a revolutionary manifesto set the victory party vibe of the future." Entertainment Weekly (p.133) - "KALA is propelled by genuinely stellar moments: the manic thrall of 'Jimmy,' the ferocious gunshot-chorused 'Paper Planes.'" -- Grade: B Uncut (p.87) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] head-spinning equatorial dash....She twangs the boundaries of taste both lyrically and musically. But a knockout's a knockout..." The Wire (p.57) - "She has kept her globetrotting spirit intact in later years -- for Kala she's harvested inspiration and sounds from streets on every continent." The Wire (p.37) - Ranked #8 in The Wire's "Top Ten Records of the Year 2007" -- "[The] album saw her in transcontinental globetrotting mode in search of the tribal beats, engine sounds and local pop samples mishmashed into KALA." Q (Magazine) (p.76) - Ranked #34 in Q's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2007" -- "[H]ip hop by way of Africa, the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent..." M I A Kala Songs | | Kala CD DISC 1: |
| 1. | Bamboo Banga |
| 2. | Birdflu |
| 3. | Boyz |
| 4. | Jimmy |
| 5. | Hussel - (featuring Afrikan Boy) |
| 6. | Mango Pickle Down River - (featuring The Wilcannia Mob) |
| 7. | 20 Dollar |
| 8. | World Town |
| 9. | Turn, The |
| 10. | XR2 |
| 11. | Paper Planes |
| 12. | Come Around - (featuring Timbaland) |
| | Kala Songs DISC 2: |
| 1. | Paper Planes [Afrikan boy & Rye Rye Remix] - (remix) |
| 2. | Shells |
| 3. | Far Far |
| 4. | Big Branch |
| 5. | What I Got |
| 6. | Sound Of Kuduro |
| Kala Music Review Average Rating: (4 out of 5 stars)    List All Reviews Can I give it zero stars? Bought this disc on favourable reviews in the music press. What an error of judgment!! This is COMPLETE dross and best avoided at all costs. Not sure in all my CD-buying years to have acquired such a turkey. Avoid. Avoid. Submitted by brian (Dublin, Ireland)  Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 1 found this helpful.
Best album of 2005 so far! I'm seeing her in concert this summer! That's how awesome she is!
Great Electro beats, with Indian and Reggae influences. Wow! I love how bold she is. This is a great "Political Party" cd! Pun intended! Submitted by Asha G. (New York)  Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
Seriously BAAD **** I have really never heard anything quite like this. The musical sensibility is so vivid and potent that I could hardly turn the CD player off. I was first drawn to MIA's own recordings of some of these cuts and must admit that the production sheen on the full album isn't always to my liking. I'm most fond of the jarring beats and discordant blurts of sound on, for example, "Bucky Done Gun." The more nearly original tracks like "Galang" and "Pull up The People" also cut me harder. Nonetheless, this is such infectious and almost breathtakingly original performance that I just LOVE listening! I guess the downside would be the content. This is subversive material. I sure don't intend my daughters to develop the cynicism of "10 Dollar" or the misandry of "Hombre." I also hope that youth in this world find more hope and drop fewer bombs than the mutually distrustful citizens of M.I.A.'s world. What a disc, though! Seriously BAAD ****! Submitted by hanf (Suburban, middle class, Calgary, AB Canada)  Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
Enri B Love it!!!An incredible album from Sri Lanka...A superbe mix of ragga, dancehall,eastern influences,8o's electro beats and pure crazyness!Highly recommended.. Submitted by enricobenini2003 (Forli', Italy)  Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
World Music and independent thinking all the way! Wow! This is so refreshing. Maya raps about things she has experienced in her place of origin, India. The way she raps about it is very empowering. She sounds strong and she speaks the truth about the world in great electronic dance reggae/indie beats.
I love the eclectic mix and i love to dance to this.
If your sick of mainstream and pop culture buy this album! Submitted by Asha (New York)  Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
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Purchase Kala CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Trans-Siberian Orchestra Beethoven's Last Night CD (2000)
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$8.89 Principally recorded on June 19-20, 1980. Includes liner notes by George Winston.
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| | Grass Roots All Time Greatest Hits CD (1996)
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$7.19 This low-priced disc is far and away the best single-CD compilation ever issued of the Grass Roots' work, 16 chart singles covering every phase of their history, from 1966's "Where Were You When I Needed You" (in its actual hit version) thru "Let's Live for Today" and "Midnight Confessions" to their last hit, 1972's "The Runway." Listening to this 44-minute compilation, one not only encounters a superb array of catchy songs (and even some of the lesser hits, like the number 61-charting "Come On and Say It" and the number 34-charting "Glory Bound," are compelling pieces of soul-based pop/rock) but also virtuoso production and playing. The material has been remastered in state-of-the-art sound, giving one a chance to appreciate the production and engineering as well as the playing, which (regardless ...
| | Jordan Rudess Feeding The Wheel CD (2001)
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$13.85 On Feeding the Wheel, Jordan Rudess has modernized the keyboard sounds pioneers like E. Power Biggs, Rick Wakeman, Gary Wright, Alan Hovhaness, and Keith Emerson broke ground with. The latter-day third ivory player in Dream Theater takes Gary Wright's Dream Weaver a step or two into the twilight zone. "Headspace" is a nice moody piece, kind of like Edgar Froese outside of Kraftwerk with more activity in the mix. "Quantum Soup" features Steve Morse of the Dregs on guitar solo with Terry Bozzio of Missing Persons playing percussion, the first of eight numbers the ex-Zappa drummer provides the bottom for. Track two has its own evolution, from jazz/progressive rock to a bassy funk eight minutes into the tune, with the 11 minutes of "Quantum Soup" melting nicely into the six minutes of "Shifting Sands." The spaced notations in the CD booklet are vaguely familiar, that aforementioned Dream Weaver concept a simplified version of this. "We all feed wheels that carry our hopes and dreams ...
| | Claude Challe Buddha-Bar, Vol. II CDs
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$40.49 Claude Challe's Buddha-Bar, Vol. II compilation has elements of Far Eastern spirituality, African song, European electronica, and Spanish spice. The first album, Buddha-Bar, is very mellow for the most part. Deepak Chopra and Demi Moore, far and away the most recognizable names on the album, do a spoken word ditty on love and self-worth. People who are not fans of new age doctrine will appreciate artists such as Oliver Shanti and Consuelo Luz, both of whom contribute songs that manage to sound musical, spiritual and ethnic at once. The second album varies from hallucinatory to groovy to fairly high-energy. "Tears Inshalla" will appeal to fans of Eastern-influenced trance. Lyrics are of almost no importance on the album. They do exist on most tracks, but they bounce around from English to Portuguese to Arabic. Bits and pieces and snatches of phrases come through here and there -- just enough to make a listener feel in sync with it all. This music is intended to be an ambient journey, and while a few of the tracks seem ...
| | Paul McCartney Flowers In The Dirt CD (1989)
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$12.75 All songs written by Paul McCartney except "My Brave Face", "You Want Her Too", "Don't Be Careless Love" and "That Day Is Done" (McCartney/MacManus).
This includes the "Flowers In The Dirt" CD, a family tree poster for the current line-up going back to The Quarrymen days, a tour itinerary, post ...
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| | Keith & Joan Pitzer West Virginia Serenade CD (2004)
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