Pages tagged “m.i.a.”

M.I.A.'s latest music video, a low-budget collaboration with Blaqstarr, begins with the Genesis-inspired lyrics of Tom Waits' "Way Down in the Hole." The first shot, all in black and white, is a close-up of Blaqstarr's face. He sings, "When you walk through the garden / you gotta watch your back / ...If you walk with Jesus / he's gonna save your soul / but you gotta keep the devil / way down in the hole." The image monopolizes the screen until a crack of thunder shifts the focus to M.I.A. (her femininity emphasized in repeated, simultaneous close-ups of her lips--pictured above).

Diesel announced today that Sri Lankan singer M.I.A. will be performing at Diesel xXx in Brooklyn. The multi-city concert will take place on Oct. 11 at venues across the glo-- wait, what? Isn't she supposed to be retired? We've been crying tears of unfathomable sorrow ever since Ms. Arulpragasam announced to the world that she was quitting music forever, effective immediately, last month. We wrote the headline "M.I.A. Officially Retires" at the time, but it looks like we need a new one. How about "M.I.A. Is a Big, Stupid Doo-Doo-Head That Can't Stop Toying With Paste's Feelings"? You think we would have learned after the Jay-Z debacle.

Music lovers the blogosphere over have been nervously refreshing sites ever since M.I.A's startling retirement announcement at Bonnaroo. In terms of the stages of grief, we may need to bulldoze right on through to acceptance and pour a 40 out, because she has indeed confirmed that she's bowing out of the music game. That this comes right on the heels of a resurgence in interest in "Paper Planes" thanks to Pineapple Express seems somehow less-than-coincidental.

Breaking updates in M.I.A-gate: the British hip-hop star born Mathangi Arulpragasam has responded to Sri Lankan rapper DeLon's accusations that she's embracing terrorist imagery: "I don't support terrorism and never have. As a Sri Lankan that fled war and bombings, my music is the voice of the civilian refugee. Frankly, I am not trying to start dialogue with someone who is really just seeking self-promotion."

"Yeah, I got more records than the KGB, so uh, no funny business"
-Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam

If Sri Lankan hip-hop maven DeLon is to be believed, M.I.A. might not have been kidding when she said "All I wanna do is (bang bang bang bang)...and take your money." On July 29, he posted a remix video diss of the British rapper's "Paper Planes" on YouTube that claims M.I.A. used imagery from the Liberation Tiger Tamils of Eelam (LTTE), a Sri Lankan terrorist group.

[Above: Perennial nominee Alex Turner (here representing the 2006-winning, 2007-nominated Arctic Monkeys) accepts a Mercury. His project The Last Shadow Puppets is up for nomination this year.]

For many award events, the fervency of surrounding discussion seems as influential as the actual bestowing of accolades. The Mercury Prize, given to the best album by a British or Irish artist made in the previous year, is no exception.

Did you hear the one about the blogosphere that cried retirement? There was this creative artist, see, who canceled her European tour by announcing her last show at McCarren Pool and then went to Bonnaroo, anyway. In Tennessee, more rumor-fodder for the HTML-happy: She proclaimed that her last show for a while—or maybe ever. "I’m glad I’m spending it with all my hippies," she exclaimed.

M.I.A. will literally be missing in action (sorry, we couldn't help it) from Europe this summer after recently canceling her June and July tour dates. She sparked cancellation rumors last Friday at her show at McCarren Park Pool by announcing the tour was off, but did not confirm it until earlier this week.

Ever since November of last year, everyone's favorite bamboo banga M.I.A. has been, well, M.I.A. There was a brouhaha over MTV censoring her “Paper Planes” video, and she's also selling Converse with a zombie Ian Curtis, but as far as live performances go, we’ve been going through some serious M.I.A. withdrawal.

Well, the wait is over. Via a news post from her seizure-inducing website, M.I.A. is heading back on the road. Joining her for part of the tour will be Holy Fuck.

The two groups will meet up in late April for a few North American shows, and then part ways in early May, only to reunite like old friends later in June for a few shows up north.

M.I.A. and Holy Fuck:

April
25-27 - Indio, Calif. @ Coachella
28 - San Diego, Calif. @ 4th and B

May
1 - Austin, Texas @ La Zona Rosa
2 - Dallas, Texas @ Palladium Ballroom
5 - Nashville, Tenn. @ City Hall
6 - Atlanta, Ga. @ The Tabernacle
8 - Detroit, Mich. @ Fillmore
9 - Chicago, Ill. @ Aragon Ballroom

June
2 - Toronto, Ontario @ Sound Academy
2 - Montreal, Quebec @ Metropolis
6 - Brooklyn, N.Y. @ McCarren Park Pool

M.I.A.:

April
11 - Poughkeepsie, N.Y. @ Vassar College
12 - Providence R.I. @ Brown University *
26 - Indio, Calif. @ Coachella

May
12 - Milwaukee, Wisc. @ Turner Hall Ballroom
13 - Maplewood, Minn. @ Myth
14 - Lawrence, Kan. @ Liberty Hall
17 - Denver, Col. @ Fillmore Auditorium
18 - Salt Lake City, Utah @ The Depot
23 - Portland, Ore. @ Roseland Theater
24-26 - George, Wash. @ The Gorge (Sasquatch!)
27 - Edmonton, Alberta @ Edmonton Event Centre
28 - Calgary, Alberta @ MacEwan Hall
30 - Winnipeg, Manitoba @ Burton Cummings Theatre

June
14 - Manchester, Tenn. – Bonnaroo

July
1 - London, England – Roundhouse

Holy Fuck:

April
1 - Bristol, England - Thekla
2 - Manchester, England @ Night & Day
3 - Birmingham, England @ Barfly
4 - Liverpool, England @ Korova
5 - Glasgow, Scotland @ Stereo
6 - Norwich, England @ Arts Centre
7 - Brighton, England @Digital
9 - Belfast, Northern Ireland @ Speakeasy
10 - Dublin, Ireland @ Whelans
11 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Motel Mosaic Festival
12 - Nuremburg, Germany @ K4
13 - Weinheim, Germany @ Café Central
14 - Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow
15 - Berlin, Germany @ Magnet
16 - Cologne, Germany @ Gebaude
17 - Paris, France @ La Maroquinerie
18 - Bourges, France @ Bourges Festival
19 - Hasselt, Belgium @ Polsslag

July
05-09 - Oslo, Norway @ Oya Festival

Related links:
M.I.A. on MySpace
Holy Fuck on MySpace
Paste Quick Hits: M.I.A. - "20 Dollar"

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

Hyped-to-the-moon-and-back album makes case for musical electro-globalization

Records as breathlessly buzzi?ed as Arular should generally be approached with trepidation, since hype hath a way of expectations. skewing. Moreover, so much has been made of M.I.A.’s (nee Maya Arulpragasm) revolutionary (terrorist?) sensibilities—as if the insurgent fantasies of groups like The Clash or Rage Against the Machine never waved this banner from their imaginary AK-47s as most yawned in disinterest. While Maya’s experience as a refugee of Sri Lanka’s bitter civil war adds a touch of experiential realism to the perspective, in the end what’s more interesting than the politics is the album’s musical syncretism. As American audiences gradually venture into world-urban music like grime, reggaeton and favela, M.I.A. has become a de facto ambassador for electro-globalization, effortlessly mixing flavors of Kingston, London, New York, Delhi, Ibiza, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro and San Juan.

While almost no album can bear the over-analysis to which Arular has been subjected, the album is a natural launching pad for critical spewage because it’s so fresh and distinctive, particularly on more unassuming numbers like “Amazon.” Whereas so many collagist exercises in this genre become overly arch and unlistenable as their sights cleverly bend toward their own techno-navel, this is an album you can actually dance to, which, at the end of the day, is a huge plus. If you can stomach the haphazard allusion to the PLO and the overuse of the word “revolution,” the genuine pan-tropical funkiness (sampled steel drums!) of the music is the thing that makes Arular more than just grist for lefty, hipster-chic circles. It’s not the mind-blowing masterpiece the critics are so dizzily carping about, but as a milepost of the current state of world electronica it remains strong throughout.