the thread where we list things we dislike about M.I.A.'s ARULAR

I do think that "Galang" is wildly, massively overrated as far as her performance on it is concerned. The beat develops into a total monster but her vocal is completely uninvolving; she's way more convincing on every other song on the album.

4)Also, why is the hidden track after Galang (on the US version) not just a separate track and what's its name?

You are insane.

I also can't decide whether the sameyness of the album is a good thing or a bad thing.

Also Freedom Fighter Skit.

I like some of the PFT versions better than the Arular originals ('Sunshowers', 'URAQT' and 'Fire Fire' in particular).

And the paucity of lyrics on "Pull Up The People."

The glissando that Nate mentions reminds me of Siouxsie Sioux sometimes (this is not a bad thing).

yes yes yes!! I'm also reminded of the Slits in places.

Wow, what did you do, write my name down for future reference? Your memory is incredible. And yes, i have noticed a distinct reduction in Killing Joke references.

Also, whoever said MIA's vocals sound "uninvolved" is OTM.

It's a sample of the "Rocky" theme!!!!!

i say the brilliant holler-wailing at the end of 'Galang' refutes this

In case my above ranting wasn't clear; the backing track for "Galang" steadily builds over the course of the track but her vocals are completely static throughout the entire song with a slight bump-bup in energy when she starts singing at the end which is STILL done in a complete flat-affect manner that doesn't even serve as a good juxtaposition with the increasingly active backing track. This is highlighted by the fact that her vocals on "Pop" are active and charasmatic as hell.

Her dancing on the "Galang" video is quite laughable. It's not synched up properly or something.

she was on "morning becomes eclecctic" this morning btw, and it was interesting.

i hate nick harcourt's voice.

I have observed that I tend to prefer the songs where the sense of M.I.A.-as-M.I.A. is less overwhelming (e.g. "Bingo", "Amazon" and "U.R.A.Q.T." over "Pull Up The People", "Fire Fire" and "Sunshowers") but I haven't been able to transform this into a maxim yet.

tracks which are better on Arular: 'Bucky Done Gun', 'Amazon', '10 Dollar', 'Galang', 'MIA'

I know someone who pretty much thinks exactly like Tim about Arular, ie disagreeing with the MIA-haters but also thinking that Arular, despite sounding incredible at its best, doesn't work as an album. I'm not actually sure whether I agree because although I love it, I certainly don't think it's Best Album Evah!!! - I don't know whether the flaws he focuses on are the same as the ones I overlook in favour of the insanely catchy hooks, or whether his (and Tim's?) dissatisfaction is due to something else entirely. Essentially, I find myself putting the CD on to listen to on a track-by-track basis, and rarely listen to it as an album, but I'm not sure that this matters.

Yeah the album works really well as individual tracks, it'll be great for compilations I imagine (I'm planning a CD for a friend that starts with "Amazon" and then goes into "On & On"). There are no real weak tracks I reckon but the overall er "vibe" starts to bug me a bit and some tracks seem more connected to that than others. I'm aware that this vibe might be something I'm inferring which is not *necessarily* there.

Jess was right when he said M.I.A. was more likeable before all the socio-political/self-conscious positioning context stuff came into the picture.... when she was a phenomenon one could consider alongside Miss Dynamite or Lady Stush or Alesha from Mis-Teeq rather than as something quite distinct or separate, by virtue of politics or critical self-reflection or whatever.

The interesting thing about Reynolds suggesting the album is basically a journalistic critical response to "shanty house" urban diaspora etc etc in music form is that this is precisely where the album fails for me... or, rather, when it succeeds most, it's paradoxically because the "knowledge" aspect falls away in favour of a less self-conscious 'pop' engagement - "Amazon" is probably my favourite moment on the album because its take on urban diaspora is more Mis-Teeq than it is DJ/Rupture, more about synthesising disparate influences in the service of the song-qua-song than establishing a position in relation to a particular style (likewise I maybe like "Hombre" more than "Bucky Done Gun" because the former feels like a failed stab at reggaeton, which is more interesting to me than the latter's fait accompli perfect replication of baile funk). But these observations are so dependent on the listener's position ultimately - what would "Bucky Done Gun" mean to someone who had never heard baile funk?

It's interesting though that I find it so difficult to avoid thinking about these things, to just rate it in terms of the "fun factor" - before hearing the album I expected I would be able to. This is teased out on that K-Punk thread on Pop but I guess the answer is that enjoyment is never not contextualised in some form of another (ie. you never hear a record not in relation to other records; the sets of relations are just different from listener to listener).

i think it's the best thing i've ever heard now that i've been told so enough times!

this makes a lot of sense to me: the songs I keep returning to are the ones where MIA is more like a magpie collecting the shiniest elements of whatever genres take her fancy at that moment, and in that sense Richard X is the perfect collaborator for her (no coincidence that '10 Dollar' and 'Amazon' are my favourites, as well as the equally overtly-pop 'URAQT'. Though ironically I see 'Hombre' and 'Bucky Done Gun' the other way round from you - the latter, with its Rocky sample and that astonishing, electric cut-up stutter vocal towards the end strikes me as more of a magpie moment than 'Hombre'.

I like the tension throughout between these two poles, though, as if MIA's continually torn between her desire to make an authentic 'scene' album (to 'fit in', though she can't decide exactly where she wants to do this), but also her desire to showcase all the tricks she's learnt from other scenes. It really is a total 2nd-gen immigrant record!

Also, I'm not really into "10 Dollar" at all. The beat is great but I'd rather listen to everything else on the album, including skits, except for "Bingo".

I like this song a bit more after hearing some of the Brazilian stuff, but when I first dl'ed it I thought it was an inexcusably cheesy try at electro with a totally stock beat.

Which doesn't make me like her any more, but it's mildly interesting. $30 a week though? Really?

'We're not going to play "Galang" on our radio because it's not coming out of whatever, whateve, whatever, and the indie

The words here read like they were written for the Las Vegas Weekly Arts + Culture section. Oh wait, they were!

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/2005/05/05/images/cover050505.jpg

I want this guy to review Li'l Jon IMMEDIATELY.

The ideal summer song has several attributes. It has to be lighthearted. After all, no one wants to be driving with the top down, headed for the lake, listening to a tune about how our society is evil and responsible for all the ills of the world. (OK, maybe Goth kids, but they don't drive with the top down.) It must be insanely popular, so there's no escaping it. I'm talking "Macarena"-level popularity, to the point that it drives any other thought from your head. It requires some sort of dance or moves attached to it, again like the "Macarena," because summer is about nothing if not shimmying, gamboling and cavorting. And clapping. Clapping certainly counts. And it absotively needs to be something that can be sung along to, even after several beers around the fire. Only one song in recent memory fits that bill, only one tune has seized the hearts and souls of a nation, only one melody proved to be unlodgeable from our craniums. OutKast's "Hey Ya."

Why did they have to release it so damned early?

HMMM.

What a douchebag.

"unlodgeable"

wow, anonymous fuckheads know my name!

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

(4 stars) At least she's hotter than hell ;), May 17, 2005

Reviewer: H.R. #1 "gloerax3" - See all my reviews
Galang is the strongest track here and I'd agree with many that it is no musical revolution. I enjoy it due to the fact it's a WORLD disc and I like World music alot. It's definitely different and I had seen the video for GALANG on the IMF Satellite channel. She's hotter than hell in my opinion so I'll give her a break. ;)

And with those criticizing Revolution, America was created on a violent Revolution so I have no idea what they're talking about. When you live under brutal oppression you revolt which none of us in America understand anymore. Thank God we don't have to revolt here like others but people need to study what goes on in certain areas of the globe.

Sometimes simple beats are good and this is better than alot of the major Rap trash here without any meaning at all.