M.I.A. -- "Galang" on XL

dominic

Beast of Burden
Heard this record this weekend. Thought it wonderful. UK garage with pop chops. 100% sugar content. Anyone familiar with it?

Also, heard last night that my favorite NYC dance band Kudu got signed by XL recordings
 
I saw the video for this about a month ago and totally loved it.

If there's a noughties version of 'pump up the jam' by technotronic, then this is it :D
 

nick.K

gabba survivor
it came out way over a year ago on the Showbiz Recordings. the single was produced by either Ross or Stewart from the Fat Truckers who own the label. M.I.A. is one of those people who'd be at 'the' parties a couple of years ago, living with with Justin3 Frishm^nn (elastica), and duely knows the cool music bizz crowd so I'm not surprised by her success at XL or the hipness of her collaborators on the album. The label's pulling out all the stops to make her the next big thing - dizzee bombed in the shops, but they know where their cred is strong: bloggers, filesharers; the underground critics - so they've cannily put out a mix on the MP3 scene with Hollertronix's Diplo, cheekily titled M.I.A and Diplo - Piracy Funds Terrorism, it's a preview of the album that blends in her influences. A shame they dropped Wiley and sunk so much into her cause they'll be sure to ditch her if the marketing budget and sales don't tally.
 
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captain easychord

Guest
don't really hear the UKG in it to be honest. sounds like a pretty straight up dancehall beat.
 

nick.K

gabba survivor
stelfox said:
there's plenty of grimy influence. i'm bored with her already, though.

agreed, I wouldn't call her versatile so I'm not expecting much and it's the grime bounce that attracted me. and as Jim Daze rightly pointed out it doesn't sound that great in clubs cause of how it was mastered.
 
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captain easychord

Guest
stelfox said:
there's plenty of grimy influence. i'm bored with her already, though.

how? not trying to be snide here, i just don't hear the garage influence.

that 'boom---boom-bap--boom---boom-bap' sounds like it was lifted directly from "limb by limb".
 

Logan Sama

BestThereIsAtWhatIDo
This music, nor MIA have ANYTHING to do with Grimey Garage or that whole scene. So don't be confused into mis-representing the genre by including this in it. Cheers.
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
captain easychord said:
how? not trying to be snide here, i just don't hear the garage influence.

that 'boom---boom-bap--boom---boom-bap' sounds like it was lifted directly from "limb by limb".

yeah but she's done a lot more than just galang and trust me, quite a bit of the programming (ie the *tone*) *bites on* grime. i'm not saying she has anything to do with grime. she doesn't but she's quite happy to dine out on it, dancehall likewise. i'd like to be able to say that she has fuck all to do with ragga, but unforunately she has, using terms like galang, the aollo aollo rhythm on that piracy funds terrorism mix. doesn't stop me finding her stuff to be little more than fashionably opportunistic crap, though
 
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hint

party record with a siren
art school crew in full effect

justine frischman is co-writer as well

I prefer "sunshowers" to galang

I agree that the grime influence is not really there - these sounds have been used in dancehall and drum and bass for years. the tempo is also closer to dancehall than grime.
 
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captain easychord

Guest
stelfox i've heard 4 or 5 tracks and with the exceptions of sunshowers they ALL have that dancehall shuffle. maybe some of the tones are techy but i think a lot of that has to do with the fact that she's using the roland groovebox to compose all of her music (notice the similarity to the kind of textures peaches uses.... right down to some of the same distorted drums .... wouldn't really call HER grime either.) you're right though when you say she's "dining out" on it. i mean, she's almost 30, she was roommates with JF for fuck's sake, she was probably into britpop until last year... :rolleyes:

either way, serious dilettante art-school bizniss inna da place. the current critical discourse seems to hold her as the paragon of world music.... don't really get how 'world music' can be ecapsulated in one person anyhoo.... : as long as we both agree she's shite. cheers!
 
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mms

sometimes
nick.K said:
it came out way over a year ago on the Showbiz Recordings. the single was produced by either Ross or Stewart from the Fat Truckers who own the label. M.I.A. is one of those people who'd be at 'the' parties a couple of years ago, living with with Justin3 Frishm^nn (elastica), and duely knows the cool music bizz crowd so I'm not surprised by her success at XL or the hipness of her collaborators on the album. The label's pulling out all the stops to make her the next big thing - dizzee bombed in the shops, but they know where their cred is strong: bloggers, filesharers; the underground critics - so they've cannily put out a mix on the MP3 scene with Hollertronix's Diplo, cheekily titled M.I.A and Diplo - Piracy Funds Terrorism, it's a preview of the album that blends in her influences. A shame they dropped Wiley and sunk so much into her cause they'll be sure to ditch her if the marketing budget and sales don't tally.


there has been a hand painted only avaliable at ruff trade single for a while too,
isn't steve mackey involved as well, geezer from pulp, my mate shared an office with him some time ago and he was playing the diwali riddim album when i went there once, that was odd.

i rate the b side to sunshowers but not really feeling the rest of it tho i'd like to hear more about her old man who was apparently a tamil tiger, and they're very interesting.
 

DavidD

can't be stopped
It may seem, erm, opportunistic for me to say this on dissensus where the talk is pretty anti-MIA but I don't really dig her stuff at all. And the MIA/Diplo thing is hella overrated.
 

nick.K

gabba survivor
DavidD said:
It may seem, erm, opportunistic for me to say this on dissensus where the talk is pretty anti-MIA but I don't really dig her stuff at all. And the MIA/Diplo thing is hella overrated.
hella overrated, she looks right, that's all
 

DavidD

can't be stopped
"Galang" will probably make my singles list, but it won't be in front of scores of other dancehall or grime tracks.
 

Matos_W.K.

Active member
one of my seven or eight favorite singles this year, easily. who CARES whether she ripped someone off? [haha cue loads of more-indignant-than-thou replies]
 

Woebot

Well-known member
sfj sent me this, and i understand catchdubs' crew have some hand in it. so i probably ought to tread carefully however, i was not terribly impressed. she seems likely to sell to people who don't know what they're buying into. justin= fri%hman! it's not exactly what you call pedigree is it?

beyond these kind of slightly facile credibility issues (ok so what at the end of the day) i thought the beats were poorly produced, sounds like a promo to me (!) and there was a dearth of half decent tunes. and actually there's something mildly dishonest about the whole project that slightly rankles.

as for logan sama's comments. well yeah i don't hear the grime thing at all (it's a dancehall rip-off isn't it?) but it's yet another good reason that the grime artists need to get their act together and put the stuff out.
 

mpc

wasteman
the kids love it. ross orton remix is good. good mainly due to ross orton (fat truckers). elctro ragga.
 
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