Tony

I liked NOW. Color not so much. Who knows where they are going from here.. I can't tell anymore.

You have to give it a few listens, a lot of the songs do grow on you. I've never found her music awesome on first listen, it takes some time to appreciate but she always has those few tracks that you love right from the first listen.

And yeah, she's based in the UK.

It really is a great album. More dance/club orientated this time around, but still some sick beats and rhymes. She's quickly becoming my favourite hip-hop artist. <3

Make sure you listen

Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam (Tamil: ??????? '????' ?????????????; born 18 July 1975),[1]? better known by her stage name M.I.A., is a Sri Lankan songwriter, record producer, singer, rapper, fashion designer, visual artist, and political activist.

She attended Ricards Lodge High School, which is in Wimbledon and in an interview said it was a school 'full of liars and BSers.'- Josie Crandley.

An accomplished visual artist by 2002, M.I.A. came to prominence in early 2004 through file-sharing of her singles "Galang" and "Sunshowers" on the Internet.[3] She released her Mercury Prize-nominated debut album Arular in 2005. Her second album, Kala, was released in 2007 and obtained Gold status in the United States according to the RIAA. "Paper Planes", a track from this album became a chart favourite in 2008. She has been nominated for two Grammy Awards and an Academy Award.

Her compositions have been noted to encompass various genres, often with political lyricism and artwork. M.I.A. has described her music style as being "other".[4] In addition to her work as a graphic designer, providing artwork and photography for releases and as a director of music videos, she has also experimented with documentary film and in 2008 released a collection of her fashion designs. She is the founder of the record label N.E.E.T.

In 2009, Time magazine placed M.I.A. in the Time 100 list of "World's Most Influential people" for having "global influence across many genres".[5]

Her music is best described as alternative electronic hip-hop/rap. She's most famous for "Paper Planes" which was featured in Slumdog Millionaire.

Her new album "Maya" leaked recently and its an awesome listen from start to finish. Different from Kala, but a good different. Favourite songs from it are "XXXO", "Born Free", "Steppin' Up", "Lovalot" and "It Takes a Muscle".

Any other fans? What did you think of her latest album?

01/10? D'espairsRay World Tour 2010 "Human-clad Monsters"? D'espairsRay? Italy? Milan

Going to this one. AND I CANT FUCKING WAIT My first "real" J-Rock band concert.

So on the actual physical CD, they have a cut off version of Sunrise? Why? Is this a pressing error or something?

My rating:

COLOR - 6.5/10

Sunrise - 7/10

Flower - 7/10

Definitely their weakest single release to date. Very generic and unimaginative but not unlistenable. The most progressive thing here is the beat they use in Sunrise, which is pretty cool. There are some enjoyable moments in the other tracks as well. Its just too much on the pop side, specifically Color. They need to restore the balance of light and heavy they had mastered on NOW.

Does anyone feel they're trying really hard to land on a major label?

I'm addicted to the other songs off the Mass now. >__< I take back saying this single wasn't as good as their first!

If you have a broken heart - "New Heart for Christmas" by Kill Hannah. Very good song.

I started liking this band after I heard their snow white butterfly single. The awesome Fall to U and clever noise were an awesome mix - almost two complete different sounds on one single with an awesome intro track too. Their other releases were hit and miss to me though.

Quick review of the tracks:

Selfish - Nice track, best off the single. Catchy riffs and nice melody.

Honey - Nowhere near as good as Selfish. The heavy guitar part of this song sounds a bit like Fall to U. Don't think I'll be listening to this much. It's badly arranged IMO, it just sounds all over the place.

3rd song - Not bad, but nothing stands out about it. I think this was supposed to be the "clever noise" of this single but it falls short. It's by no means a bad song though.

IMO this band tried to replicate their best single, but it didn't work except for the lead song which is awesome. So I'll like it for that one song.

I preordered the limited edition, which has sold out at YesAsia too now. Can't waaaait, but I dunno if I can resist downloading it cos it will take a least a week to reach Australia. Plus with new years maybe a day or two longer.

Alterna and Scheat (the songs) were much better than anything off this album I reckon.

I'm pretty sure they want to take that path - its pretty much why they've been shipped off overseas already. I hate an cafe though, and don't hate this band though - dunno why?

I agree that Gentou is the best song.

Haha, yeah. That is a pretty good mix.

I like this band, good gothic/punk sound. Need a few more of their releases though, only have a single or two.

SuG, probably the fastest indies band to gain ridiculous popularity released their first mini-album, I Scream Party, yesterday.

After a few listens:

Love Scream Party - Decent opener, maybe not as catchy or as good as Alterna/Scheat but still decent.

Toon Daily Liveshow - Hate this song, very bad.

Gentou - Sounds a bit like Scheat. Not too bad nevertheless.

Oreshiki Continue - Not bad either. Nice heavier catchy song.

Primal - Nice ending song. Maybe a bit long though.

So, 4 out of the 5 songs are decent. Not a bad effort from this band. Overall it's a little less poppy then their first two singles, a bit more punky and synthy. No doubt it will rake in a whole new fanbase.

I'll have to get that Queen of the Damned song. They also have a song on the Zoolander soundtrack called "faces" which is really good.

haha they are embarrasingly bad.

Lynch are heavier than this band. The Mass is more like lynch. while their first single reminded me of slower girugamesh.

By far the best indies band around now. I can see this band being as big as D'espairsRay is. Industrial is very popular in Europe, so if they spread their music there they will be big, which I hope they do!

Favourite songs are - favourite song, chainsaw and representa.

They are overrated, but pretty much any new poppy rock VK band is going to be popular these days because of An Cafe. Their music isn't too bad though, I did like Scheat and Alterna. We'll see what their mini album is like.

Love meth! Their first single was just beyond awesome for a new indies band. The Mass was good too, but it sounded more generic to me. I hope their new single is more like their first, or a mix of both, because I did enjoy the mass (song).

Blue is awesome, one of my favorites from them. That's probably one of their heavier songs, you might like "Red Stars" too off their new album, similar to Blue.

Here's Video Kid:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/t6fku6

I'm going to up a sample song now, I think a lot of j-rock fans would like this band.

One of my favorite bands ever probably. If you like synths, pop and a bit of rock/industrial, this band is for you.

Anyone else a fan of theirs?

If anyone is interested, I can up a sample song.