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Album Review
by SashaS
19-4-2005
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| M.I.A.: aural + visual delights offer! |
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M.I.A.: 'Arular'
(XL Recordings)
M.I.A.: incinerating rhymes & beats but no sexpression…
Sandie Shaw pinned down the female artists’ standing in showbiz on her Eurovision Song Contest winning ‘Puppet On A String’, right in the middle of the Western music scene going through psychedelically deep and meaningful phase. The actual genesis of women being pressurised into presenting themselves as obvious objects of entertainment and amusement is older than the Gospels; in modern terms, we have to speculate on the ‘guilt’ of many but Madonna could be the idol to point a [mid-]finger at.
It’s become endemic by now: Britney, Mariah, Beyoncé, any R&B bar, probably, Alicia ‘Lesbo’ Keys. Domestically, ‘sex-is-weapon’ approach is even practised by Natasha ‘I Don’t Do Bikini Shots’ Bedingfield as much as… What is Kylie trying to achieve on her current ‘Showgirl’ tour - status of an erotic icon? Babes in music used to be vixens: sexy without actually needing a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ but, for a number of years, sex-appeal has been turned into self-sexpression…
Sure, there have always been girls in bands only for the gratuitous stripping-for-entertainment, from The Tubes to Wendy O’Williams to no-hopers at the former Greyhound pub on Fulham Palace Road in London. Still, against this FLESH MONGERING that is the mainstream pop, individual females that challenge the stereotypes stand proudly. The fact is that most women are mentally stronger and far more independent than they like to confront the opposing gender with.
The latest babe-with-brains, a ‘crumpet-for-avant-gardists’, is M.I.A. Her debut album ‘Aurular’ is named after her father’s code-name as a militant Tamil Tiger fighter and it means ‘Leader’. M.I.A. is Maya Arulpragasam, a Sri Lankan native who is London bred /based and some topics of her interest include youth and its issues - teenage prostitution, pregnancy, poverty - war, consumerism, cell-phone ‘love’ [‘U.R.A.Q.T’]…
She combines steady cyber-beats with some masterfully delivered rhymes that move as many of your brain cells as of the muscular kind. This is a mongrel-mix, a collage of sounds that ‘paste’ Hip-hop alongside ragga, dancehall and electro, R&B and funk, as well as punk with few ethnic sprinklings… ‘Hombre’ is probably the first true ethnic-rap, a genuine fusion of World Music and Hip-hop, as well as ‘Galang’. Such exoticism is augmented by adrenaline-fuelled ‘10 Dollar’…
Mostly upbeat - ‘Amazon’ bounces out of the speakers, ‘Bingo’ storms out with its bassline - there are four ‘skits’ to lighten up the mood. ‘Arular’ occasionally recalls a female Dizzy Rascal, at others - a sexy Missy Elliott, at the next one - left of Miss Dynamite whilst it opens several unmarked doors. Singles ‘Galang’ and [poppier] ‘Sunshowers’, being minor hits, have introduced some of her huge potential to the mass audience.
The 28-year-old rap-stunner [to use the tabloid-speak] had even a book published, entitled ‘M.I.A.’ in 2002 (Pocko Editions). This combo of brains and sex-appeal can be a hurdle to being accepted as anything more than a feline fatale. Call me names [Curmudgeon? Fatalist?] but we have become that shallow and only pretty tolerant to tawdriness.
‘Arular’ sounds like a carnival, or a riot, at times but on the whole - the most politicised [street] party disc for some time.
8.3/10
SashaS
19-4-2005
M.I.A.’s album ‘Arular’ is released 18 April 2005 by XL Recordings
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