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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 ... Full Descriptiondismissed 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.
Personnel: DJ Ability (scratches); The Wilcannia Mob.
Additional personnel: Afrikan Boy, Timbaland.
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..." Hide DescriptionPurchase Kala CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | M I A Arular CD (2005)
Kala album
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M.I.A.'s ARULAR marks the arrival of an explosive new voice in popular music. The brainchild of Sri Lankan MC Maya Arulpragasam, the music of M.I.A. ("Missing in Action") reflects her harried, transient upbringing. The daughter of a revolutionary member of the controversial Tamil Tigers, Arulpragasam settled in London as a teenager, where she went on to study fine art and film at the Central Saint Martin's School of Art. After being hired by Justin Frischmann to document an Elastica tour, Frischmann inspired Arulpragasam to write songs of her very ...
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On its 2006 album, RETURN TO COOKIE MOUNTAIN, the Brooklyn-based post-punk group TV on the Radio manages that rare feat of becoming more adventurous and accessible at the same time. While this record isn't a major departure from its eclectic predecessor (the lauded DESPERATE YOUTH, BLOODY THIRSTY BABES), it is notably ...
| | Lcd Soundsystem Sound Of Silver CD (2007)
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As wryly noted on LCD Soundsystem's debut 2002 single, "Losing My Edge," in the underground music arms race, aging hipsters are losing ground against young upstarts who are (perhaps) unaware of their own influences. And if influences are the stuff with which post-millennial musicians are made, Murphy has trumped us all. Touching on reference points ranging from disco, krautrock, Bowie, house, and post-punk, to singer-songwriter types, SOUND OF SILVER is a veritable catalog of left-field cool. Leading off with the slow-boil, hypnotic opener, "Get Innocuous"--which sounds a bit like a reprise of "Losing My Edge" crossed with Kraftwerk's "The Robots"--the album moves from dance-floor stormers to plaintive piano numbers without batting an eye. On "North American Scum," Murphy lampoons the often mistaken idea that LCD Soundsystem is a U.K. act; his nasal vocal echoing Jonathan Richman as he declares "for those of you who think we're from England--we're not." As humorously self-effacing as he is, SOUND OF SILVER also shows Murphy's growth as a songwriter. On the album's closer "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down," he laments the passing of the old New York, "To the cops who are bored once they've run out of crime/New York you're perfect don't change a thing." It's a fitting tribute that holds up against ...
| | Amy Winehouse Back To Black CD (2006)
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BACK TO BLACK's production is an artful blend of sophisticated '60s R&B and 21st-century stylistic poaching, with "Tears Dry on Their Own" incorporating elements of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," and Winehouse sounding like Billie Holiday fronting a reggae band on the old-fashioned cheating song "Just Friends." Densely packed with musical history and often conjuring a dark, Portishead-esque atmosphere, BACK TO BLACK is a sumptuous-sounding collection freighted with blunt confessionals of a lush life.
It doesn't take much listening to Amy Winehouse's 1960s pop period piece to realize that this is a tribute with an edge--nice girls back then didn't sing about boozing and rehab. Since her 2003 debut album, FRANK, Winehouse has been a frequent presence on the gossip pages of the U.K. tabloids, and her songwriting here candidly reflects her experiences ...
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Kala album
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Canadian singer-songwriter Leslie Feist first gained prominence working with the Montreal shock-rapper Peaches and later the Toronto-based collective Broken Social Scene, but with the release of 2004's masterful LET IT DIE, she embarked on a solo career that quickly eclipsed her previous work. Following the pleasant but inessential remix album OPEN SEASON, 2007's THE REMINDER is Feist's true follow-up to LET IT DIE, and it deepens and solidifies that album's strengths. Combining jazzy ...
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| | Blackfoot Rattlesnake Rock 'N' Roll: The Best Of CD (1994)
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After Lynyrd Skynyrd hit it big right with their classic 1973 debut, PRONOUNCED LEH-NERD SKIN-NERD, the floodgates opened for other young Southern rock bands, such as the Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, and of course, Blackfoot. Blackfoot singer/guitarist/leader Rickey Medlocke was actually an early member of Skynyrd, but skipped out on Ronnie Van Zant and ...
| | Hollies Live Hits CD (2007) (Import) Import
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