I first discovered M.I.A. in one of my mens’ magazines 2 or 3 years ago. Corny, I know. It is actually kind of pathetic, the high percentage of my limited pop culture knowledge that is pulled from those tabloid rags. Eh, it’s better than watching any of the TV shows that cover that kind of crap.
Back to M.I.A.: For once an artist (beside the Fugees) who actually has a sound basis for her Political stage name and lyrics. Her background is very interesting, from a political point of view. You can check it out on Wiki. The part that I was intrigued by, which was also covered by the story in GQ (I think it was), is that her musical talent was discovered while traveling with Elastica, basically as a roadie.
She had been commissioned to do some art work for the group and had directed one of their videos. While travelling on tour with them, one of the warm up acts let her mess around on a drum machine. One of the tracks she recorded was “Galang, ” which became an almost instant club banger, in the U.K..
I find most of her work repetitive and at times, as obnoxious as it is interesting. So I generally take it in doses. Overall, though, I really dig it. The song I’m sharing is another one of her fairly popular songs, “Bucky Done Gun.” This particular mix is the “DJ Marlboro Funk Carioca Remix.” Carioca is the Brazilian slang for someone from Rio. I’m not sure why, but she tends to lace her songs with Brazilian Portuguese (not this song, though). This track is cool for several reasons. First of all, the lyrics seem to be more random than Beck’s stream of consciousness babble. Second, this mix provides the perfect sound to fill that vacant spot in your New Years party playlist. The one that you were saving for just the right “bouncy-bass, piss of the neighbors, amp the energy” track. It has some solid house style riffs, and a tough beat, built for low range subs. Just the right thing to give everyone that second wind they need, to keep partying like it is 1999. Hahahaha. Here is link, to listen. It should now work in all browsers.