M.I.A.'s new record Maya is worth a listen

Got the new M.I.A. record, /\/\/\Y/\, (for Maya, her name) not too long ago. It's been out a couple of weeks and is definitely worth a listen. When else are you going to hear a recording artist rhyme "tight jeans" with "Mujahideen"? It's generally a solid record, a good mix of (mostly) dancy songs with a few slow ones for good measure, continuing in her unique style.

The highlight for me comes with the song 'Born Free' which heavily samples and pays homage to the amazing and seminal punk/electronic act Suicide, specifically their song 'Ghost Rider'. She turns one of the most depressing bands ever into a positive and defiant song more in her style, which I think anyone else would fail at, epically. But she pulls it off amazingly!

I haven't looked at the lyric sheet, and I'm curious if she makes any note of the brutal smashing of the Tamils last year by the government in Sri Lanka, where she spent a bunch of her childhood. The whole thing seemed more or less suppressed by the Canadian media apart from some solidarity demonstrations, including one in Toronto where some Canadian-Tamils blocked the Gardiner expressway for a few hours. But no substantial coverage. Al Jazeera and some alternative press had some good stuff on it. Here's an article on the government admitting they bombed a hospital in a designated safe zone after having denied it, for example.

I was happy to hear her on CBC a couple of years back when David Cronenberg was also a guest, and she basically challenged him on-air to defend his filmmaking practice, which was awesome, though he shrugged off the challenge.

Anyway, if you check this new record out I'd suggest avoiding 'Internet Connection', definitely the worst song on the record. Apart from being boring, nauseatingly repetitve and sophomoric,  it sounds like she sampled "Who Let The Dogs Out" or some bullshit, and it's intro'ed by what really sounds like her just making fun of East Indian call centre employees, though maybe there's somethng I'm not getting there.

Don't let that dissuade you from checking out the rest of the record!