M.I.A.'s debut, Arular, was the quintessential post-9.11 pop album, in that the sexy swagger of post-electroclash diva pop was mixed with elements of Third World anti-war/pro-guerrilla sentiments, with sounds of explosions edging into the beats and vague allusions to the PLO mixing in with otherwise lighthearted fare. In other words, the mood was light but intentionally/unintentionally confused, as though assimilating these things was no big deal. In this sense, Kala is a radical shift: Whereas Arular was recorded in her London bedroom, M.I.A.'s new album was tracked all over the world, and it lends the album a darker, more serious tone. How serious? There's something about the use of gunshot effects in this record that isn't played for laughs or empty braggadocio the way it is in, say, an N.W.A. or Biggie tune. And although it was anyone's guess what the titular "$10" represented on the Arular track, Kala's "$20" is, as the song goes, "the cost of an AK in Africa." That particular tune throbs with a bassline lifted from New Order's "Blue Monday," with a chorus break from the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind." Oddly enough, the result doesn't sound like a Pitchfork-reading magpie job so much as the sound of the end of the world, where moments from the world's pop culture just float by and meet up as odd bedfellows.GENRE | HOTT ENDTIMES JAMS
VERDICT | BONERS EVERYWHERE RISE IN PROTEST
LABEL | INTERSCOPE
RELEASE | 8.20.07
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