MySpace Trawl – M.I.A
Despite this feature running for God knows how long and covering all sorts of odd and colourful musical genres, we have sadly been neglecting something quite big – female solo artists. Now it’s not because hecklerspray hates women or anything.
Hell, we love women so much that Thursday afternoons at our HQ are 'bring favourite pole dancer/ female vagrant to work' time. Unfortunately, there has never been anything that has ever really inspired us on the female solo artist scene. Hooray for people like Regina Spektor and Kate Nash who are different, but they're big enough without us writing about them. Other massive female artists include KT Tunstall and – if you’re an American – Reba McEntire, but you don't need an explanation about why we don't write about them. However, we are relieved to have found a female artist with a no holds barred attitude to what she’s doing. M.I.A.
Where do we start with this one? Already a critical darling two albums in, there really isn't a straightforward way of describing the work of M.I.A. She literally picks and chooses what she wants and creates music that at first is somewhat confusing. Her music style contains elements of grime, hip-hop, ragga, dancehall, electro, and baile funk. Yup, baile funk. We have no idea what this is either, but fuck it, it sounds awesome.
And why not do stuff that no-one else is doing? With her current album Kala, the worldwide influence can be clearly heard in what is so far one of the best albums of the year. Recording in different places around the world including Japan, Australia, Trinidad and Jamaica, each country’s own style clearly shines through. The track Jimmy in particular is almost a Bollywood orchestra of sounds with a sly hip-hop beat mixed in underneath. On paper it sounds like a load of crap, but M.I.A has a creative mind which pulls this idea off extremely well.
To listen some of the most creative tracks drawing in influences from across the world, you really need some M.I.A in your life. Not only is she the most unique female artist out there, she is also pretty handy with some paintbrushes and colours. Her own artwork often accompanies her album sleeves and back in 2002, she was nominated for the Alternative Turner Art Prize award. And if you are a total pervert, she is a pretty lady too. Happy now?
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