Maya

M.I.A. has always liked to be different. Her first two albums were hard to classify blurring the lines between many genres but at their heart were solid hip hop records. Her sophomore effort Kala dealt with the "second album syndrome" well by bettering it's predecessor in every department, even managing to score a hit. Yes 'Paper Planes' that infectious song that was all over the airwaves managed to smash the charts without the need to sell out M.I.A's creative integrity.

Those who loved 'Paper Planes' will surely be disapointed with her third effort then. For 'Maya' is a complete left turn even for an artist as diverse as M.I.A.. Producer Diplo claimed that the beats on this album 'Gave him nightmares' and he's not far wrong. The heavy distortion of punk rocker Born Free is enough to send chills down your spine (so is the neo-nazi esc video currently circulating the internet) while Love Alot terrorist based message will leave you thinking for a long time.

The album as a whole runs smoothly with the tracks sequenced well to ensure the stronger tracks are kept near the beginning and the end. This is good as some of the tracks such as 'It Iz What It Iz' are easily forgettable but work well as parts of the album. In fact this is one of those albums that is better heard as a full work instead of individual songs.

That is appart from 'XXXO' which is clearly M.I.A.'s attempt to make a second 'Paper Planes.' Unfortunatley it fails being nearly as catchy but not half as deep thus making the song suffer as a result.

The albums best song comes at the end with the track 'Space.' Originally leaked last year under the title 'There's space for ol dat I see.' The song is a relaxing end to the albums large industriel noise. It also feautures M.I.A.'s best vocal performance on the album and is one of the best ways to convince someone that this is the direction she should take.

In conclusion this is a solid album, but not quite worthy of the 5 star rating that I would have given 'Kala'.

Mental album. A bit dancy but good. Best songs are "steppin' up, born free, teqkilla, tell me why, xxxo, space & it iz what it iz". Brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!