Album Review: M.I.A. - Matangi

M.I.A.
Matangi
Rating: Meh

M.I.A. is in a bit of a limbo state with me at the moment. On the one hand, her first two records Arular and Kala are two of the most forward thinking pop albums of this century, the perfect meld of our Internet culture, seamlessly mixing pop, rap, alternative, electronic, and world music influences into one hearty pop culture stew. With the release of her third album Maya, things started to get a little more rocky for M.I.A. Where the first two records received almost universal critical acclaim, Maya, for most, was an unruly, abrasive, hook-free record that really made you work for the few pleasures that were there. While, for me, it was a a natural progression for her, but one that showed the growing pains. For every track that just plain didn't work, there was another one that was plain brilliant. In the period after this record, M.I.A. seemingly has spent more time trying to piss people off than making music, alienating her record company in the process, and putting the follow up to Maya on hold for a long time. Finally seeing release, Matangi again is a holding pattern like Maya but not really expanding what she was doing during that period. The album feels like M.I.A. is conflicted between wanting to be more experimental and groundbreaking and wanting to be more pop. But instead of feeding off of and being enriched by that push and pull, too often Matangi comes across as scattered, aimless, and, in some situations, practically unlistenable.

Primarily the first half of the record is where M.I.A and her producers lean more towards experimenting with dense layers of beats and samples, which can sometimes be intoxicating and at other times infuriating. Title track "Matangi" lurches into a chunky groove with clomping drums and a collage of nature sounds, vocal samples, and found sounds; "Only 1 U" takes pounding drum machines, bells, and chopped up samples into a hypnotic swirl; and "aTENTion" brings things closest to a club banger with deep bass and DnB inspired percussion. But while the backing tracks are frequently interesting, they tend to add one too many elements to the mix which distracts from the point being made in M.I.A.'s lyrics. Which might be the point, as this is likely the most unfocused set of lyrics I have heard from her. In the past she has focused on political subjects, but was able to intertwine the personal and universal. Here, it seems like she is grabbing at whatever hot political, international, and cultural buzz words she can find, with no real frame of reference. And even throws in bizarre outdated references to Lara Croft ("Only 1 U") and the phrase YOLO ("YALA").

It is telling that the best track on Matangi is the almost two year single "Bad Girls," which still maintains all its glorious swagger and sweep.



I also liked her collaboration with The Weeknd on "Exodus," which is the most straightforward track, settling into a lush groove riding on a sample of The Weeknd's track "Lonely Star." There is a nice sense of drama and mood here that builds over the track, not trying to grab your attention with overly produced beats that feature too strongly in the first half of the record.



"Double Bubble Trouble" is an interesting mix of reggae and trap that is light and fun.



"Bring The Noize" takes the schizophrenic over-stimulation of the front half but somehow holds things together with more finesse, letting the beats and backing tracks work with the raps instead of against them.



While another trap inspired, down-tempo track "Know It Ain't Right" is a subtle palate cleaner from the sometimes oppressive clatter and clanking going on throughout Matangi.



Overall Matangi is just too much of a mess to really recommend. While there are some killer tracks here ("Bad Girls," "Exodus," "Bring The Noize"), the album is often bogged down with an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to production. Sometimes all those bells and whistles show that you are out of ideas rather than coming up with new ones.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.