(no subject)

[pantryslut]

Just in case you thought Poplicks was all fun and games, Oliver Wang provides some interesting discussion on artist-of-the-moment MIA and her debut album Arular (The website provides a link to his review for NPR, but as it’s a sound file, I haven’t listened to it yet.)

Here is my take on the album and the MIA phenomenon.

I saw the rave reviews in Spin and Rolling Stone and several other places, and so I picked up a copy. I haven’t listened all the way through it yet. That’s OK, because this isn’t really a music review. Though I will say that musically, she’s fun. I’d recommend her album as danceable and pleasant.

Wang and co. are concerned, though (and rightfully, I think), about MIA’s exotification, and the embrace of her politics which, on examination, don’t seem to hold up so well. MIA, see, is the refugee daughter of a member of the Tamil Tigers; she grew up in the London housing projects. She is practically the embodiment of revolutionary chic.

Some critics, like Wang, have suggested that she chooses her political statements with an eye to provocation, not critique. That she’s making agitprop, and sometimes it’s clumsy, facile agitprop at that. And it disturbs them to watch outlets like Spin say things like “This is the sound of revolution. Sign us up,” (Note: quote paraphrased from memory) because she doesn’t offer a coherent revolutionary program, or even hints of one. It’s more like she’s acting out.

Well, it turns out I got no problem with that. But then again, I’m not listening to her for her politics.

The reason I wrote this mini-essay up, though, is this: I’m not entirely sure that the rush to embrace MIA’s album is based entirely on the exoticness of her politics. I think that’s an undeniable factor: she’s the daughter of a violent terrorist/revolutionary! (depending on your point of view) Can we touch her? Yeah, we’ve seen that sort of thing before, and Wang and co. are right to point it out.

But I also think we shouldn’t deny the fact that some of us are starved for music in particular that articulates a political viewpoint that goes beyond “I like to drink and party down.” Something that doesn’t feel like it’s been sanitized and consensus-polled and toned down by marketing flacks to appeal to the widest audience. Those of us who have a hard time keeping our politics separate from their daily lives (i.e. my favorite folks) find it weird to listen to music that’s detoothed. And the flip side of that is, it’s hard to find political music that’s fun, that you want to listen to. Dance to, even. So something like Arular comes along, and it’s like water in a desert. It’s not enough, but gosh it goes down nice.

What the critics are saying is that MIA knows all this, and she’s deliberately positioning herself to exploit this. Could be.

Nonetheless, I’m willing to cut MIA some slack. Not as much as some of the more mainstream outlets have – I’m not going to coo over her lyrics and talk about how, ahem, revolutionary her music is. I am going to take no shame in enjoying it, though.

Comments

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

And the flip side of that is, it's hard to find political music that's fun, that you want to listen to. Dance to, even.

How do you feel about VNV Nation ? There's an ethos there of "yes, the world's pretty dreadful, but we refuse to give up hope" that I find very politically sympathetic, if not exactly specific, and I also find them very danceable in a goth/industrial sort of way.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

I'm not familiar with their music. (Noting their genre, though, when I hear them I'll probably go, "oh, that's who this is!")

[nadyalec.livejournal.com]

check out chumbawamba too-- i love them.