M.I.A.'s latest single 'Double Bubble Trouble' now comes with a music video

And it certainly is a peculiar one.

I mean, if 3D-printable handguns, flying peace-sign drones and epilepsy-inducing visuals are your thing, then you're going to love it. Others might be left a little bit confused. The clip is seemingly a commentary on the spreading of the 3D-printing and the effects it might have, and it opens with an advertisement-like line, like a twisted mock commercial: "What if you could make weapons like these in your own home, using what's called a three-dimensional printer? This sounds like science fiction but to some, it's not so far-fetched." Among the things that will be printable (or actually, are already printable) are different kinds of guns which is obviously a risk factor - anyone with the machine can go and print one. Or two. Or a dozen. And there's no control over those. I'm sure everyone can see the problem with that.

The setting of the clip is a ghetto where everybody and their mother seems to be wielding one. M.I.A. also makes references to George Orwell's dystopia novel 1984, but other than that, the message is drowned out by all her trademark hyperactiveness. The guy who blows strings of smoke rings and smoke bubbles is pretty impressive, though.

Anyway, it's an interesting (and moreover, scary) mind game, with M.I.A. delivering yet another controversial message (see her NSA-predicting song "The Message" or the music video for "Born Free", for example). The song itself has kind of grown on me (apart from the last 40 seconds or so), as has the album it's taken from, Matangi. You can check out my review of it over here. Unexpectedly, it has become one of my most-played albums of the year, and I could almost raise it to three stars (I originally gave it 2½ out of 5), but it does still have a fundamental problem: while there are some superb tracks on it, the album as whole is unfortunately rather flawed and uneven, now matter how amazing tracks like "Exodus", "Bad Girls" and "Know It Ain't Right" are. Too bad.





She also appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers, with an equally bizarre performance:






And to listen to an alternative, Spotify-exclusive version of the song, head over here.

M.I.A. and Janelle Monáe announce a joint concert... but with holograms

Mmm yeah. The two innovative left-field music stars will perform onstage together later today in both New York and Los Angeles. Simultaneously. Wait what, at the same time? Yes, with a little help from today's advanced technology, it seems to be possible. M.I.A. and Monáe will be performing separate sets in New York and Los Angeles, respectively, and both will then be joined onstage by the other's hologram (à la Tupac Shakur) while performing two previously unreleased duets. It's all part of the launch campaign of Audi A3, as reported by Pitchfork.

Futuristic or ludicrous? You decide. Sure, it's impressive how much they can achieve with technology these days, bringing together artists who are separated by thousands of kilometres (or say, death) but personally I'm not a big fan of this hologram hype - I think it takes a lot from the whole live aspect of a performance. (Strangely enough, there is a Japanese computer-created hologram 'artist' that's hugely popular over there but then again, this is Japan we're talking about... the strangest of things float their boats.) With living artists it's obviously bizarre but still kind of justifiable, but bringing dead musicians back to give artificial performances is just all kinds of wrong. It's not a live performance if you're watching a 3D video, is it. Urgh. Fortunately it's been announced that Amy Winehouse's father has denied all speculations regarding a similar stunt from their part.

Well, I guess we'll all just have to see how it turns out.

Popheaval's Best of 2013: #10-1

Alright, I think it's about time to list the remaining half of my Best of 2013 listing. If you haven't seen the first half (#20-11) yet, you can find it over here. But now, let's get on with it - here's my top ten of 2013!

So, here's the new M.I.A. track.

After releasing her fourth LP Matangi a bit more than one month ago, M.I.A. announced that she would release a new song that will apparently serve as a Spotify-exclusive bonus track for the album. This morning she tweeted about the song, and it's available on Spotify now. Turns out it wasn't an entirely new track per se, as it rehashes elements - most notably, the lyrics - from the reggae-trap-hybrid "Double Bubble Trouble" (an album track from Matangi). It's called "Trouble Again" so the sample is kind of hinted in the song title. It's still more than just a slightly altered remake, though, so it provides her fans with something new to listen to. Would it have been better had it been a straightforward (and trap-less) reggae adaptation of the original song? Yes. But does it feel cheap? Thankfully no: it is different enough to stand on its own. And after all, it was stated to be 'just' an exclusive bonus song anyway so clearly it wasn't going to be a "Bad Girls pt. 2" or anything. Oh well. Here's the track, it's worth checking out nonetheless so go ahead:

In other news, another Matangi track "Y.A.L.A." was apparently released as a single, and a music video was subsequently filmed. The trippy, drenched-in-colour clip contains some flashing images, but as long as you're not prone to seizures or overly high on mushrooms, here you go:

M.I.A. announces a new exclusive song

Yesterday, eccentric music sensation M.I.A. revealed via her Facebook page that she's got a new song coming out next week. The song will apparently be a Spotify-exclusive, but that's about all we know about it so far - not even a song title has been unveiled. Also, it is currently unknown whether the song will be a stand-alone single (highly unlikely, considering her album was released only earlier this month) or perhaps a song recorded for an upcoming movie soundtrack or something, or if it'll appear as a bonus track on an expanded version of her latest LP Matangi. But next week we'll all be a bit wiser regarding this so stay tuned for more M.I.A.-related news and whatnot.

Hopefully it's a bit more in the style of "Bad Girls" and "Exodus"/"Sexodus" and a bit less like, say, "Y.A.L.A."

Review: 'Matangi' by M.I.A.

Now, I'm not going to lie: I've always had a bit of a complicated relationship with M.I.A.'s albums. There are always some songs that are utterly brilliant and then some songs that just make me want to rip my ears off. It's nearly incomprehensible how she can be such a genius and yet so frustrating at the same time. In that sense, no matter how triumphant moments her albums have, they tend to be a bit flawed and unbalanced. And Matangi, one of the most expected albums of the year, is no exception to that.

On the other hand, it is exactly her unorthodoxness and leftfieldness that makes M.I.A. such a spectacular musician in the first place. It is her unconventionality that sets her apart from the rest of her peers, no matter how erratic it makes her output. Once again, Matangi is a perfect example of this. M.I.A. has a very unique way of mixing and matching different kinds of elements and influences in her music. For example, the album kicks off with "Karmageddon" which features a sitar intro before incorporating a wobbly bassline. This infusion of her ethnic roots and urban beats is a recurring theme in her music that continues on Matangi as well. The song then segues to the title track "Matangi" that recalls the exotic beats of her 2007 single "Boyz". In the beginning the song feels like a geography lesson with M.I.A. reciting a list of several countries before turning to dissing imitators and artists that lack originality: "Look-alike, copycat, doppelgänger, fraud / They ain't got nothing on me, now I'm getting bored / If you're gonna be me, you need a manifesto / If you ain't got one you better get one presto". Sharp-tongued, as usual.

M.I.A. shares new album cover (tracklist also revealed)

M.I.A., who's had a bit of trouble with her record label, has released the (apparently) official album artwork of her forthcoming LP Matangi. I guess she uses social media as a way to get back at her label: first she threatened on Twitter to leak the much-postponed album herself, which finally got the album a release date. Now she revealed the album cover on her Tumblr site. Here's also another version of the album cover on the left while the right one could be a possible back cover. Meanwhile, the album itself is being released on November 5th.

Update: According to my inside sources (alright, Pitchfork) the tracklist for the album has also been (unofficially) revealed. Well, that's music industry for ya - leaks after leaks after leaks. Here it is anyway:

"Karmageddon"

"MATANGI"

"Only 1 U"

"Warriors"

"Come Walk With Me"

"aTENTion"

"Exodus"

"Bad Girls"

"Boom Skit"

"Double Bubble Trouble"

"Y.a.l.a"

"Bring The Noize"

"Lights"

"Know It Ain't Right"

"Sexodus"

So it's 15 tracks altogether. Some of them have already been released earlier in some form or another (most notably the singles "Bring The Noize" and "Come Walk With Me" and especially the massive 2012 banger "Bad Girls"). The rest are still one month and a half away.

Official audio for M.I.A.'s 'Come Walk With Me' released

As the release date of M.I.A.'s forthcoming album Matangi draws nearer, another song is released officially. The song - or more precisely, an unfinished snippet of it - originally debuted on Youtube more than a year ago in 2012 but now we've got the definitive version in our hands. M.I.A. once said that her album was postponed due to the album being "too positive" according to the label (which sounds a bit silly) and "Come Walk With Me" certainly sees M.I.A. at her cheeriest. But is it necessarily a bad thing? It's a very distinctive M.I.A. song - the only thing that bothers me is the excessive auto-tuning - that also samples the sound effect of Macbook's Photo Booth app and has an outro announcing she's "coming back with powah powah". Is she really, well, that still remains to be seen, but here's the song:

M.I.A.'s forthcoming album has a release date now.

FINALLY. Ever since "Bad Girls" in the beginning of 2012 the world has been waiting for album news but M.I.A. has kept us waiting. Now, however, the new album is given an actual release date: the 5th of November. So remember, remember. It seems her fans are not the only ones who are frustrated with how long it has taken: this morning M.I.A. tweeted the following threatening to leak the album - titled Matangi - if it doesn't get released soon.

Well, it worked. Thank god.

Meanwhile, you should get acquainted with her new material that will or will not be on Matangi. First there's the aforementioned "Bad Girls", one of the best songs of 2012 and, in my opinion, way catchier than "Paper Planes". The hypnotic, exotic-sounding anthem features an amazing hook that'll stay in your head for the rest of the day. It's also accompanied by one of the most badass music videos you've seen in a while.






Then there's another new track and a music video to boot. It's more rap-oriented a bit outlandish for my liking but see for yourself:






But there's even more - this video features yet another new M.I.A. track. Yay! The song itself starts around 2:30. Sounding much more promising than "Bring The Noize", "Doobie" is a sinister banger that, together with "Bad Girls", gives a feeling that the new album will be a rather dark one. Apparently, the album release was originally postponed because the record label felt that it was too positive. What a silly reason.