Mixed Media

If you've been a faithful Riff reader, you've heard a lot about M.I.A., otherwise known as Maya Arulpragasam: from the YouTube debuts of "Bird Flu" and "Boyz," to the arrival of advance copies of the new album, to her streaming all of Kala online. So, the album arrives in stores tomorrow: what's the final verdict?

With Kala named after Arulpragasam's mother, it's illustrative to look back at Arular, her 2005 debut, named after her father. The first singles, "Sunshowers" and "Galang," featured similar downtempo dancehall beats, with edgy lyrics that seemed to invite analysis as part of the London-born singer's Sri Lankan heritage and her father's participation in militant Tamil activism: "shotgun, get down / too late, you down." My experience with the full-length was a kind of gradual awareness: certain tracks grabbed my attention at first (the rollicking freestyle of "10 Dollar") while others took time to adjust to (the aggressive Baile funk of "Bucky Done Gun"). As time went by, the album seemed to capture both a forward-looking electronic sound (partially thanks to its edgy producers, including Diplo and Richard X), as well as a political mood informed by both anger and ebullience.

So, two years later, M.I.A. is back in action, with production duties mostly taken over by Switch, a UK electronic artist and DJ whose chopped-up style teeters on the bleeding edge of dance music. Again, the first singles, "Bird Flu" and "Boyz," featured similar triple-time beats and lyrics with obtuse references to violence and politics. But as Robert Christgau pointed out in Rolling Stone, the rest of Kala doesn't seem accessible, with jagged beats and even more eclectic references: Bollywood, didgeridoo, The Clash, The Pixies, Baltimore house. While he calls this an "art music," it may be helpful to remember that Arular's catchiness was by no means immediate, and tracks like "Bucky Done Gun" seemed brittle and abrasive at first. M.I.A. has a tendency to shift the world to her point of view, and while Kala forces your ears to adjust to its pressurized depths (and vertigo-inducing heights), I'd buy stock in Kala sing-along futures.

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In another depressing sign of just how uncomfortable America continues to be with all things queer, the Hollywood Reporter's "outing" of host and producer Merv Griffin is sending shock waves through the industry and the press. On Friday, the Reporter printed a story in its online edition headlined "Merv Griffin Died a Closeted Homosexual." Then, apparently buckling under pressure from "Hollywood titans, advertisers, and lawyers" (reports Michelangelo Signorile on his blog), they pulled the story, which has since reappeared under the new title, "Griffin Never Revealed Man Behind the Curtain," with significant revisions. (See the blog Queer Two Cents for an outline of the revisions, Canada.com for a reprint of the original story, and Towleroad for a timeline of the events). Reuters picked up the story and just as quickly dropped it, saying it "did not meet our standards for news." (See this page, where the Reuters story apparently was at one point.)

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When you're a true fan of jazz music, you don't take the music lightly. When you listen to recordings by jazz greats, you study each song; you learn each note of every solo.

The jazz drummer Max Roach was one of those greats that you study.

His passing this week prompted a lot of conversation between my friends and me about how awesome Roach was on the drum kit and how much we've been influenced by his style and ideas. One of my musician friends sent out this email today:

It seems like whenever one of the greats passes away these days, it never gets the press and back story it deserves. Max Roach's composition "Drum Conversation" was on a random old record that my folks had in their collection and it was the main reason I picked up the drums in the first place. After Max, drummers were considered musicians. Please raise a glass for Max, we owe him a huge debt.

Well, here I am, raising my glass. To Max Roach.

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Canadian "supergroup" New Pornographers made two really good albums, and then made a great one, 2005's Twin Cinema, where the unique aspects of their 47 (or so) members seemed to gel magically. Cinema's power-pop was oddly familiar and comfortable, but sounded like nothing else: Fleetwood Mac? The Cars? Whatever it was, each track on that album seemed to top the previous one for sheer joyfulness, erupting into blissful codas of "hey-las" in three-part harmony. Even the contributions of the shambolic Dan Bejar (who usually annoys me) seemed charming. It was my #2 album of the year, just behind good old M.I.A.

That's why Challengers is such a disappointment. The unified perfection of Cinema seems to have spun out and disintegrated, like a hurricane moving over cold water. Opener "My Rights Versus Yours" is nice, but it's a pale imitation of Cinema's "Bleeding Heart Show," with a groove that never seems to get off the ground. Neko Case's voice is still awe-inspiring, and on the title track, there are glimpses of her greatness, but the song's awkward phrasing seems to strangle her. Bejar gets track 4, "Myriad Harbor," and it's a terrible Pixies rip-off. Next. Relief comes on track 7, "Unguided," with bandleader A.C. Newman on vocals, but it still sounds like a Cinema track played at half-speed, and at 6:33, it's three minutes too long.

Okay, I'm looking like a negative jerk, let's find something good to say. Track 9, "Go Places," again lead by Case, has a swaying bar-room charm reminiscent of the Pogues, and track 11, "Adventures in Solitude," starts as a lovely, quiet ballad, with a delicate refrain of "we thought we lost you," although its rocking climax never really rocks.

A quick look around the intertubes shows there's people who think Bejar is the best part of the band, and people who think this is their best album. The NPs definitely reward multiple listenings, so perhaps further attention will uncover Challengers' appeal. But right now, I'm not feeling it.

Challengers is out 8/21 on Matador.
Hear mp3s at Stereogum here; I tried to check out their official website but my work internet censors are preventing me from doing so. Huh.

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