Monday, November 4, 2013

M.I.A. goes global with 'Matangi'

 M.I.A



M.I.A.'s music and style draw influences from the Asian subcontinent; her songs often aim for confrontation.




M.I.A. revels in righteousness on her latest CD. In the defining track “Boom,” she alludes to her appearance with Madonna at the 2012 Super Bowl, where she famously flashed a middle finger, to assert herself as a world-class dissident.


“Brown girl/brown girl/turn your s— down/You know America don’t want to hear your sound,” she raps. “Let you into the Super Bowl/You tried to steal Madonna’s crown/What the f— you on about.”


It’s the standard confrontational stance for this 38-year-old rapper. From the start, M.I.A. has pushed an image as a rebel with a political cause.


Though born in the U.K., M.I.A. (Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam) moved with her family to Sri Lanka at 6 months old and stayed until she was 11. There, her father joined a group affiliated with the radical Tamil Tigers. M.I.A.’s early life was marked by poverty, terror and displacement, but, as an adult, she moved to L.A. and married a son of the billionaire Bronf- man family.


The image stuck — and her Super Bowl move only invited more suspicion or yawns.


M.I.A.’s new lyrics retain her outsider’s view, portraying her as a firebrand the world isn’t ready to handle. If only her music had the shock and subversion to back it up. On this, M.I.A.’s fourth CD, she isn’t breaking any new ground. It’s the same old mix of pinging Hindi flourishes, loping hip-hop beats and percussive lyrics.


Once again, the music globetrots around the Asian subcontinent, with sorties over to Arabia, the U.K., the U.S. and even Jamaica. Hindi hip hop, British electronica, American rock and island reggae find themselves Cuisinarted into an international brew with a steady beat.


Yet, for music meant to be played in clubs, it has a particularly tinny sound, with not enough bass to envelope and shake as it should. More, M.I.A. hasn’t found fresh ways to ride the beats with her flow. She has a repetitive, needling whine.


This wasn’t a problem when M.I.A. first appeared.


Her debut CD, “Arular,” released eight years ago, brought fresh beats to hip hop, giving credibility to Hindi filigrees that had already become trendy. She went on to cook up hot hooks in singles like “Paper Planes,” from her second album, “Kala,” making her a potential pop star.

But that was then.


At this point, M.I.A.’s rants and world travels just seem jet-lagged and sad.


jfarber@nydailynews.com



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