Forty-one

M.I.A. – Arular (XL)

The most hyped artists of a particular year are the ones most likely to endure a polarity of opinion. Those seeking to capture the zeitgeist love the artist because it’s cool to do so; those who would be dissident hate the artist because that other group loves them. And when the season (or week) changes, those zeitgeist-chasers will be onto another fresh scent.

And so we have MIA, victim and beneficiary of her own cool status. The gimmicks used in publicising her are both springboard and albatross, with which she will always have to deal. She’s a girl, of Tamil origin, whose dad (missing in action) is a freedom fighter, and she raps.

As much as I would love to, it is neither easy nor necessarily proper to divorce an artist from their context, but in cases such as MIA, such action is almost required if one is to appreciate the music on its own merits – those being great.

The quickest and laziest reference point here would be Missy Elliott. Both deal with a very fun take on rap music and delivery of flow, with little regard for maintaining stereotype. MIA uses her background and resultant obstacles in her life as virtue, as seen in skits such as ‘Ba-na-na’, a light-hearted satire on ethnic minority in the British education system.

Musically, this is a mishmash of beats and rhymes, all infused with her fiery musical personality. The beats aren’t earth-shattering nor the lyrical content particularly profound, but this is a very catchy and smart pop record; certainly better for you than a Beyonce or Justin.

Forty-two


Jason Forrest – Shamelessly Exciting (Sonig)

Forrest (formerly ‘Donna Summer’, until some legal dealings intervened)’s reputation as the ‘nice Kid606’ has been somewhat usurped by the Kid going ‘nice’ himself in 2005. Such encroachment is little matter, as Jason always had quality in spades. While the Kid got slightly boring this year, Forrest… well, the title says it all.

What the two electronic musicians have in common is a ton of ideas – and a seemingly short attention span. However, while Kid606 was known for peppering his tunes with blasts of glitchy noise (and rarely peppered his glitchy noise with tunes), Forrest just has really genuinely varied songs.

It’s a fine line he treads with some tracks though. ‘My 36 Favorite Punk Songs’ is really enjoyable, but one wonders where the point is that a song crosses over into gimmick (as with the Avalanches and their ‘look at me!’ approach to making music. I suppose the main thing is that it is good.

It does seem a bit random and cobbled-together when compared to someone similar like Jackson & His Computer Band, on Warp. I prefer Forrest’s own Lady Fantasy EP to this actually, but it is definitely good stuff, with some nice blasts of drum ‘n’ bass to see us through.

Forty-three

13 And God – Men Of Station E.P. (Alien Transistor)

Kicking off with what would turn out to be the strongest song on their later debut album, this teaser from the team of Themselves and The Notwist is really a rather pleasant diversion.

The title track inhabits that increasingly populated space between Hip Hop, indie and the electronic. And that’s the way I like it. The melodic introduction, with elegiac combination of piano and violin, is propelled along well by the HipHop beat.

There is also an excellent remix of the title track (retitled ‘L’atlas Flexible / Von Gradleute’) by Hrvatski, which alternates between frantic drum ’n’ bass breaks and slower solid beats. These dynamically give way to the former, as they both fall lower in the mix for the piano to come ringing in a triumphant return. The best moment is that point when they synergise and the breaks punctuate the melodies. There’re harps and everything!

Forty-four


Serena Maneesh – Serena Maneesh (Playlouder)

A debut album from a very potentially exciting new indie band, this is both defined and hamstrung by a love of My Bloody Valentine. Granted, loving MBV is never really a problem, but this band’s thrall of the Creation wonders is never really developed into an identity for themselves.

There is a more ‘modern’ production, which makes things louder – but this serves to undermine what made Loveless so great. That album was all about the subtlety of the production; the tender flowers struggling through the dense sonic soil. The sounds that you are never sure are actually there or, if they are, whether they were intentional. And the glory of the sounds of the ghosts in the machine washing over your being.

Regardless of how inferior this album is to one of the all-time classics of the genre, this plucky debut gets a relatively high placing because it is good on its own terms. There are some solid melodies, and the beat on a track like ‘Candlelighted’ is a great canvas on which the guitars can ring out and jam (and it is a decent approximation of Radiohead’s ‘A National Anthem’).

Compared to alternatives like Hard-Fi and Kasabian, this is like Sonic Youth covering Dylan songs or something. There is absolutely no contest, and for that they should be congratulated. If a little glad the excellent new Mogwai album is a 2006 release.