Friday, May 06, 2005



M.I.A. asks - How do you get British people in a room and make them dance to bloody reggaeton?
M.I.A.s album Arular finally dropped here a few weeks back, and I picked up a copy yesterday. Clincher was hearing the track U.R.A.Q.T, which is not included on the US pressing of the CD, due to sample clearance problems, apparently. It is on the UK/Aus/NZ versions of the album, tho. Sample in question is credited to Quincy Jones (unless there's another sample in there I aint picked yet).

What's it sound like? Insert handy blog quote here... " it rocks hard and deftly (loudly!) melds grime, ragga, dancehall, electro, breakbeat, and hip-hop, throwing in riffs that vary in intensity from sensible pop to hardcore bass." Thank you. In short, this aint subtle.

Of course, if you US indie bloggers who've been giving heat on M.I.A. really want that tune, you could go to her label's website and download the vocals and do your own remix of it. Strangely, the indie music bloggers have gone quiet on M.I.A. now that she's on US TV and magazine covers - surprising, given she's touring there at present. No longer underground enough for you?

You can also download some of her artwork, which is just as well - she does some cool art, but the shocking jumble that is the cd cover is just hideous (download it and make your own cover). One blogger noted that her label XL Recordings was disappointed her album hadn't cracked the top 50 album chart in the UK on release, and suggested perhaps the reason for that was the messy cover art.

You can't clearly read her name or the album title, there's just too many fiddly little elements going on. And the CD comes with an outer cardboard cover sleeve that you have to slide off to get into the CD - the cardboard sleeve features the exact same cover art as on the cd case - what a waste of packaging, not very 'green' of you, M.I.A! You aint saving the Brazilian rain forests doin' that sheeet!

She's been getting great reactions from US crowds right from her first show Stateside late last year, saying that "… [The British] don’t have an arena [for] the tempo of my songs. There are no clubs that play reggaeton, baile funk, dancehall all in the same room. They just don’t dance there. They stare! Or they get really pissed, rock out to a guitar band, and then come home. How do you get British people in a room and make them dance to bloody reggaeton? That’s like a 10-year program to me." - M.I.A.

buncha relevant links....

Via Brooklyn Vegan - Listen to fan-made M.I.A. remixes

Download M.I.A. vocal tracks to make your own remixes (or just because)

Listen to Galang: Real | Windows

More videos here. Shockingly bad camera work on her recent live tv appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Show, and links ot the Piracy Funds Terrorism mixtape. Plus Galang/Sunshowers music vids.

M.I.A. interview in Australian paper The Age, and another at The Guardian.
M.I.A. live on KCRW (listen or watch) from May 2. She's currently doing shows Stateside, like the Coachella Festival.


Funky cold money
The US producers of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here contacted Tone Loc to see if he'd appear as a contestant. His reply was to fax them a copy of his 2004 tax return, showing more than $1.5m in post-tax earnings.

Tone Loc credits George Hamilton for showing him how to build a well-diversified portfolio of commercial and residential property. Via Pop Bitch.

HEY MARTY
Illicict Clothing hold a retrospective exhibition of the work of the late great comic artist Martin F Emond, opens tonight at Illicit HQ Basement, 202 K Rd from 8pm and runs til 27 May. Plus there's the CD launch too (from 10.30 ish at K Rd Ballroom), more at Illicit's site. Throw up ya goats!

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