Adventures in Wonderlands.
NINE/KALA/M.I.A.
STRIKE MATCH!/LIGHT FIRE!/WHO'S THAT GIRL CALLED MAYA?/M.I.A COMING BACK WITH POWA! POWA!
It may be hard to believe now, but M.I.A. came this close to becoming yet another "pop star[let]" latching onto Tim Shaq Diesel Mosley for some hits. Okay, so that may be an overstatement, but she was all set to stop, collaborate, and listen with Timbo. And then the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services intervened. And Visas became unattainable. And then the lights went out in a little apartment in Bedstuy. "Hungry like the wolf hunting dinner, dinner," M.I.A. refused to sit still, trotting around the globe, hitting a studio here, laying a track down there, letting the organic nature and vibe of the boom-boom-tap hit her wherever it may, and sneak its way into every nook and cranny of her kaleidoscopic sophomore disc Kala. Beats come 100 miles per hour, gunshots ring, and cash registers go DING! as that girl called Maya travels down river on paper planes, hustling beats and feasting on Mango'd pickles. Each "trip" is a sonic revelation, often employing an everything but the kitchen sink mentality; Bird Flu squawks and beats to the rhythm of its own jaunty drums, hitting you like a back spasm, while tracks like Bamboo Banga and World Town take em to da house, a dark, packed to the rafters house in B-More that is. And when the mood is right, the aggression and need to floss the hard shit takes a back seat to deep rooted moments of reflection and vulnerability, Kala's breaths of fresh air if you will. [Peep the aforementioned Paper Planes, the Bollywood breeze of Jimmy, or the slinky, stuttering murmur of The Turn] Said shifts in mood and energy add weight/give credence to Ms. Arulpragasam's declaration that she's "got more records [or tricks up her sleeve] than the KGB." No time for funny business.
KEY TRACKS: Bamboo Banga/Paper Planes/XR2
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