Avial by Avial (Phat Phish Records)
Transcending the barriers of language and yet oozing tons of international appeal, Avial’s self titled album has all it takes to make a legend. Each of the 8 songs is either beautifully...
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Kala - M.I.A.
Buy a copy of Kala by M.I.A., select any song, and pump up the volume. And enjoy a rambunctious roller-coaster of sounds, electro loops, Indian sitar and Australian didjeridoo. Slumdog Millionaire was the movie that catapulted M.I.A. to a larger audience, if Timbaland's efforts weren't enough. Deconstructing who is M.I.A. is a visual and sonic journey through her works - brimming with riotous colors, sounds and emotions. Each of her songs is a brilliant curry of music from across the world - rap, Indian Bollywood tunes, 70's disco, tribal whoops. The same goes for her art-- reflected in her eye-popping website with flickering disco lights and eye-jarring colors.
2007 saw the release of Kala, the album which catapulted M.I.A. into the public spotlight- and each song on that album is a brash anthem which can teach the likes of Madonna or Timbaland a thing or two. You almost wonder whether it is M.I.A. who needed Timbaland or vice versa. "20 Dollar" starts with a medley of video game beats and bullet shots all twisted into a vortex of synthesized singing. The song is an early preview into how the personal histories of people which M.I.A. represents catapult into a political theatre through her music. How small change for someone can become a method of expression for someone halfway across the globe.
"Like do you know that cost of A.K.'s/ Up in Africa/ 20 dollars ain't shit to you/ But that's how much they are/ So they gonna use the shit just to get far"
"Bamboo Banga" is the opener, and tends to sway precariously between sounding disturbing and chilly or irreverent and fun. Interspersed between the rapping is what sounds to be Tamil music, buttressing lyrics about coming back with "power, power" - knocking on the proverbial American Hummer.
"Now I'm sitting down chillin on gun powder/ Strike match light fire, who's that girl called Maya/ M.I.A. coming back with power power."
If the political gets too much, "Jimmy" takes all the seriousness away with its lilting rhythms and disco beats derived from a Bollywood number. Even the video is a golden diva dance with Arulpragasam dancing about with twenty hands like a Hindu Goddess in one scene, and a small shiny tee in another.
"Paper Planes" is the song to Slumdog, and is another political paean to poverty and freedom. The apparent violence of the song is mellowed by the fact that M.I.A seems to cock a snook at the people who find her threatening. In 2006, she faced problems in obtaining a visa to the USA. She recorded Kala while traveling through countries as diverse as India, Liberia, Jamaica and Japan - using live instrumentation, layering to create a sound extremely unique and difficult to pinpoint geographically.Through many of the songs in her album, she seems to be laughing back at the US and its sometimes stifling culture of paranoia.
Kala is a more well rounded album than Arular, and M.I.A. comes across as a more confident performer - willing to speak her mind and use the widest range of musical expression to do so. The album might hypnotize with its music and leave the listener thinking this is only an album with big sounds - yet one has to be patient, and dig deep into each song, to find hidden meanings, and where M.I.A. is coming from. It's this spectacularly spontaneous and irreverent pop artistry that led TIME to pronounce Maya as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. You don't have to agree with all of her political views - yet its tough to escape the addictive beats of her music.
Buy a copy of Kala by M.I.A., select any song, and pump up the volume. And enjoy a rambunctious roller-coaster of sounds, electro loops, Indian sitar and Australian didjeridoo. Slumdog Millionaire was the movie that catapulted M.I.A. to a larger audience, if Timbaland's efforts weren't enough. Deconstructing who is M.I.A. is a visual and sonic journey through her works - brimming with riotous colors, sounds and emotions. Each of her songs is a brilliant curry of music from across the world - rap, Indian Bollywood tunes, 70's disco, tribal whoops. The same goes for her art-- reflected in her eye-popping website with flickering disco lights and eye-jarring colors.
2007 saw the release of Kala, the album which catapulted M.I.A. into the public spotlight- and each song on that album is a brash anthem which can teach the likes of Madonna or Timbaland a thing or two. You almost wonder whether it is M.I.A. who needed Timbaland or vice versa. "20 Dollar" starts with a medley of video game beats and bullet shots all twisted into a vortex of synthesized singing. The song is an early preview into how the personal histories of people which M.I.A. represents catapult into a political theatre through her music. How small change for someone can become a method of expression for someone halfway across the globe.
"Like do you know that cost of A.K.'s/ Up in Africa/ 20 dollars ain't shit to you/ But that's how much they are/ So they gonna use the shit just to get far"
"Bamboo Banga" is the opener, and tends to sway precariously between sounding disturbing and chilly or irreverent and fun. Interspersed between the rapping is what sounds to be Tamil music, buttressing lyrics about coming back with "power, power" - knocking on the proverbial American Hummer.
"Now I'm sitting down chillin on gun powder/ Strike match light fire, who's that girl called Maya/ M.I.A. coming back with power power."
If the political gets too much, "Jimmy" takes all the seriousness away with its lilting rhythms and disco beats derived from a Bollywood number. Even the video is a golden diva dance with Arulpragasam dancing about with twenty hands like a Hindu Goddess in one scene, and a small shiny tee in another.
"Paper Planes" is the song to Slumdog, and is another political paean to poverty and freedom. The apparent violence of the song is mellowed by the fact that M.I.A seems to cock a snook at the people who find her threatening. In 2006, she faced problems in obtaining a visa to the USA. She recorded Kala while traveling through countries as diverse as India, Liberia, Jamaica and Japan - using live instrumentation, layering to create a sound extremely unique and difficult to pinpoint geographically.Through many of the songs in her album, she seems to be laughing back at the US and its sometimes stifling culture of paranoia.
Kala is a more well rounded album than Arular, and M.I.A. comes across as a more confident performer - willing to speak her mind and use the widest range of musical expression to do so. The album might hypnotize with its music and leave the listener thinking this is only an album with big sounds - yet one has to be patient, and dig deep into each song, to find hidden meanings, and where M.I.A. is coming from. It's this spectacularly spontaneous and irreverent pop artistry that led TIME to pronounce Maya as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. You don't have to agree with all of her political views - yet its tough to escape the addictive beats of her music.
Listen to a track from the album here:
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