Kala is Fucking Brilliant

I put off buying M.I.A.'s new album, Kala, for a while. I heard tracks on her myspace page, and it sounded too cacophonous. I was also a little irritated at the critical acclaim that M.I.A. had received. I felt like the Western media was praising her because she was a cute Malaysian woman making exotic music. But then I heard "Paper Planes" and my opinion changed. The track uses the Clash's "Straight to Hell" which is one of my favorite songs ever. "Straight to Hell" is about the struggles immigrants face in the West, done with brutal honesty. "Let me tell you about your blood" sings Joe Strummer. "It ain't Coca Cola, it's rice." The chorus is just as blunt: "There ain't no need for you. Go straight to hell, boys." M.I.A. reinvents the song from the immigrants perspective, turning it into an idyll about riding on paper planes. That is, until the chorus. "All I wanna do" she sings before she is cut off by three gun shots followed by the ringing of a cash register. The menace is clear, and it is both frightening and exhilirating.

There are other brilliant tracks - she pairs up with a group of young aboriginal rappers on one track, she quotes Jonathan Richman and the Pixies, she teams up with an African rapper, even Timbaland makes a (lame) appearance. The songs are noisy but lively, incorporating aspects of African, East Indian, and European music and making something that is truly global, truly multicultural. Besides that, it is a lot of fun - it's like a party on wax. When I walk around with Kala on my headphones, I can't help but bob my head and rock out. It sounds fresh, hopeful, and alive. I fucking love it. Go M.I.A.