Life is a disjointed mess, but that's no excuse for my conspicuous absence from blogging. Unfortunately, I have acquired a job I like, so afternoons usually can't be devoted to the latest, online diatribe. I did want to call your attention to (so far) the best album of 2007- M.I.A.'s sophomore outing, Kala. I was an instant-fan of M.I.A. when I first heard her debut album, Arular way back in the day (like, 2 years ago). Unfortunately, the strong, independent mantra she lent to her songs didn't translate to her life and I soon found myself catching snipits of her songs in television shows and commercials. It's easy to shit on indie bands. In fact, the indie community has an ugly compulsion to shit on bands the second they find any success. Still, if you're a band like M.I.A. or Kasabian and your marketing image is all about breaking out of convention, then you sell your songs to corporations, then you're asking to get called out. With her new album, M.I.A. further-sinks any revolutionary, strong-female credibility when she teams up with Timbaland for the final track on the album, "Come Around".
Still, her music actually sounds like little-else in the musical landscape and that's enough to set her album a step above the rest. Once I stopped expecting her to be my Champion of the Underprivileged, I could enjoy her as a slamming dance track sans cliche.
M.I.A. pays tribute to Bollywood with "Jimmy":
80's Hip-Hop Videos go to Africa with "Boyz":
Enjoy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment