6 x 7: One of My Favorite 7 Albums of 2010

M.I.A., Maya
16 Tracks, Rap/Hip-hop/Electronica

Are you sick of me yet? I think I'm sick of me...but not sick enough to stop with this mad, "blogging every day and ranking stuff" shit.

I think M.I.A.'s third album was one of the year's most critically misunderstood releases. I admit when I first got it, I thought "What is this crap?" But then I kept playing it...something about the music kept drawing me back to it even though at first a lot of it turned me off.

The turning point was a solo road trip I made in July to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Grand Mesa and then back to Denver. I had Maya on in the car almost the whole time. I began to recognize it's genius--the layers of syncopation, the way M.I.A. seamlessly interwove raps, world music, electronica, dub and rock to create this kind of sonic universe that envelops you, takes you in and takes you for a ride. I do admit that I have trouble following the storytelling on some of the songs--M.I.A. likes overdubs, prefers to rap in a thick Sri Lankan patois and that makes her hard to understand sometimes unless you've got her on the headphones and you're concentrating, but my point is that I WANTED to concentrate on it and how much music makes you do that now a days? The theme is easy to pick up though...these are songs about love and connection (or the lack thereof) in the Age of the Internet. How apropos.

I think this is one of 2010's best.

Favorite tracks: "It Takes A Muscle", "Caps Lock", "Believer".

If You Like This, then You May Also Like: Tricky, Massive Attack, Dizzie Rascal, The Streets.

Peace...