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There are moments during MAYA when it seems like M.I.A.'s next move might involve walking into a laundromat, filling the dryers with bricks and silverware, pulling the fire alarm, blaring a drop-forge beat from a tinny boombox, and recording the result. Much of the singer’s third album is situated to prove, if anything, that motherhood and a comfortable living situation have not softened her. She does so with a load of mostly unorganized noise produced alongside Switch, Blaqstarr, Rusko, Diplo, John Hill, and Derek E. Miller. Clever-clever wordplay, assaultive sound effects, and ear-fatiguing beats are amplified at the expense of singalong hooks and swinging, energizing rhythms. “Steppin Up,” heavy with assorted needling drills and buzzing guitar, anchored by stilted percussion, could be a cover of a Flight of the Conchords M.I.A. parody: “I light up like a genie and I blow up on the song/Rub-a-dub a-dub dub, rub-a-dub a-dub dub/Aladdin, no kiddin’, boy I need a rub.” Sift through the stray wheezing, piercing, and squawking of “Tekqilla,” and you’ll hear a reference to her son’s father (the son of the heir to the Seagram’s fortune) with “When I met Seagram’s, sent Chivas down my spine.” The most willfully grating track, “Meds and Feds,” carries an oppressive industrial beat, liberally echoed handclaps, yet more cheap guitar buzz, and her most XTRMNTR-era Primal Scream-like lyrics (“While we become workers, you become golfers -- the modern day coppers”). All that said, there is a brilliant -- if brief -- EP in here. “Born Free,” owing much to Suicide’s “Ghost Rider,” is, nonetheless, one of M.I.A.'s most creative, instantly satisfying songs. It rapidly works itself into a blitz of relentless drums, prodding keyboards, and a vocal that is elatedly baleful and anthemic. “Lovalot,” a sinister production, is made all the more riveting with M.I.A.'s droning, slippery delivery, in which “Obama” can be heard as “a bomber” and “love a lot” can be heard as “love Allah.” While it is the quietest song on the album, it is also one of the most tense and unsettling of the lot, demonstrating that M.I.A. really does not need all that cluttered bluster.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo
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M.I.A., MainArtist - Maya Arulpragasam, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist, MixingEngineer - Imagem Music, MusicPublisher - Sugu Arulpragasm, Producer, ComposerLyricist - N.E.E.T. Noise (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - CMRRA, MusicPublisher
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
Dave Taylor, ComposerLyricist - Neal Pogue, MixingEngineer - M.I.A., MainArtist - Maya Arulpragasam, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Christopher Mercer, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Imagem Music, MusicPublisher - EMI April Music (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - Switch Werd Music, MusicPublisher - Christopher Mercer (BMI), MusicPublisher - CMRRA, MusicPublisher
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
Charles Smith, ComposerLyricist - Robert Gardner, Engineer - M.I.A., MainArtist - Ben Allen, MixingEngineer - Maya Arulpragasam, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Christopher Mercer, Producer - Imagem Music, MusicPublisher - Charles Jamal Smith, Producer - Cherry Byron-Withers, ComposerLyricist - Cherry Bryon-Withers (PRS), MusicPublisher - JB Starr Productions (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - CMRRA, MusicPublisher
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
John Hill, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Dave Taylor, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Neal Pogue, MixingEngineer - M.I.A., MainArtist - Maya Arulpragasam, Producer, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Christopher Mercer, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Imagem Music, MusicPublisher - EMI April Music (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - Rodeoman Music, MusicPublisher - Switch Werd Music, MusicPublisher - Christopher Mercer (BMI), MusicPublisher - Cherry Byron-Withers, ComposerLyricist - Cherry Bryon-Withers (PRS), MusicPublisher - EMI Music (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - CMRRA, MusicPublisher
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
John Hill, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Dave Taylor, Producer, ComposerLyricist, MixingEngineer - M.I.A., MainArtist - S. Davis, ComposerLyricist - Maya Arulpragasam, Producer, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist, MixingEngineer - Imagem Music, MusicPublisher - EMI April Music (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - Rodeoman Music, MusicPublisher - Switch Werd Music, MusicPublisher - Opal Josephs, ComposerLyricist - EMI Music (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - CMRRA, MusicPublisher - Jack Russell (PRS), MusicPublisher - Yound Veterans Publishing, MusicPublisher
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
Dave Taylor, ComposerLyricist - M.I.A., MainArtist - Maya Arulpragasam, Producer, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Christopher Mercer, Producer, ComposerLyricist, MixingEngineer - Imagem Music, MusicPublisher - EMI April Music (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - Switch Werd Music, MusicPublisher - Christopher Mercer (BMI), MusicPublisher - CMRRA, MusicPublisher
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
M.I.A., MainArtist - Wesley Pentz, Producer, MixingEngineer - Maya Arulpragasam, AssociatedPerformer - Henri Overduin, ComposerLyricist - Michael Mulders, ComposerLyricist - EMI Blackwood Music Inc. o/b/o EMI Music Publishing Holland BV (Burma/Sterma), MusicPublisher - CMRRA, MusicPublisher
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
Charles Smith, Producer, ComposerLyricist, MixingEngineer - M.I.A., MainArtist - Maya Arulpragasam, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Imagem Music, MusicPublisher - JB Starr Productions (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - CMRRA, MusicPublisher
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
John Hill, Producer - Dave Taylor, Producer, ComposerLyricist, MixingEngineer - M.I.A., MainArtist - Alan Vega, Composer - Martin Rev, Composer - Maya Arulpragasam, Producer, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Imagem Music, MusicPublisher - EMI April Music (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - Switch Werd Music, MusicPublisher - Revega Music Co. (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - W.B. Music Corp (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - CMRRA, MusicPublisher
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
M.I.A., MainArtist - Maya Arulpragasam, Producer, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Imagem Music, MusicPublisher - Derek E. Miller, Producer, ComposerLyricist, MixingEngineer - Derek Miller (BMI), MusicPublisher - CMRRA, MusicPublisher - Shane Patrick Stoneback, MixingEngineer
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
Robert Gardner, Engineer - M.I.A., MainArtist - Ben Allen, MixingEngineer - Wesley Pentz, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Maya Arulpragasam, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Imagem Music, MusicPublisher - Hollertronix (ASCAP), MusicPublisher - CMRRA, MusicPublisher
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
M.I.A., MainArtist - Maya Arulpragasam, Producer, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Christopher Mercer, Producer, ComposerLyricist, MixingEngineer - Imagem Music, MusicPublisher - Christopher Mercer (BMI), MusicPublisher - CMRRA, MusicPublisher
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
Album review
There are moments during MAYA when it seems like M.I.A.'s next move might involve walking into a laundromat, filling the dryers with bricks and silverware, pulling the fire alarm, blaring a drop-forge beat from a tinny boombox, and recording the result. Much of the singer’s third album is situated to prove, if anything, that motherhood and a comfortable living situation have not softened her. She does so with a load of mostly unorganized noise produced alongside Switch, Blaqstarr, Rusko, Diplo, John Hill, and Derek E. Miller. Clever-clever wordplay, assaultive sound effects, and ear-fatiguing beats are amplified at the expense of singalong hooks and swinging, energizing rhythms. “Steppin Up,” heavy with assorted needling drills and buzzing guitar, anchored by stilted percussion, could be a cover of a Flight of the Conchords M.I.A. parody: “I light up like a genie and I blow up on the song/Rub-a-dub a-dub dub, rub-a-dub a-dub dub/Aladdin, no kiddin’, boy I need a rub.” Sift through the stray wheezing, piercing, and squawking of “Tekqilla,” and you’ll hear a reference to her son’s father (the son of the heir to the Seagram’s fortune) with “When I met Seagram’s, sent Chivas down my spine.” The most willfully grating track, “Meds and Feds,” carries an oppressive industrial beat, liberally echoed handclaps, yet more cheap guitar buzz, and her most XTRMNTR-era Primal Scream-like lyrics (“While we become workers, you become golfers -- the modern day coppers”). All that said, there is a brilliant -- if brief -- EP in here. “Born Free,” owing much to Suicide’s “Ghost Rider,” is, nonetheless, one of M.I.A.'s most creative, instantly satisfying songs. It rapidly works itself into a blitz of relentless drums, prodding keyboards, and a vocal that is elatedly baleful and anthemic. “Lovalot,” a sinister production, is made all the more riveting with M.I.A.'s droning, slippery delivery, in which “Obama” can be heard as “a bomber” and “love a lot” can be heard as “love Allah.” While it is the quietest song on the album, it is also one of the most tense and unsettling of the lot, demonstrating that M.I.A. really does not need all that cluttered bluster.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 12 track(s)
- Total length: 00:41:35
- Main artists: M.I.A.
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: XL Recordings
- Genre: Pop/Rock Rock Alternative & Indie
2010 XL Recordings Ltd 2010 XL Recordings Ltd
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