The Cold Cut

Another day in London, another dirt cheap gig to go to. Two days ago, for an unbelievably cheap £5, I went to Club NME at the KOKO, a great night. The format is as follows: some great indie bands (ie New Cassettes and Glasvegas) interspersed between some DJ sets. It starts at 10, and will go on into the early hours of the morning; I only stayed for Glasvegas, but it was well worth it.

This was a band possessing a sound much bigger than the venue, using the patented 'wall of sound' technique, I'm confidently informed. For the uninitiated, this involves a simple backing setup, and vocals low in the mix. The 'wall' is the guitar/bass, which were amped up to the max, and altogether it produces quite a distinctive, impressive sound. Lead singer James Allen's voice is arguably as good as in the studio, and the backing band were all energetic. Take drummer Caroline McKay, a force of nature, who refuses to sit down, whacking her simple kit into submission, and *they* jiggle all over the place- the audience was mesmerised.

The set was short due to their unfair positioning as a support band- they played all the favourites: 'Daddy's Gone', 'Go Square Go' and latest single 'Its My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry', and I was wholly impressed by their performance. I expect to see the four piece filling major festival slots this summer.

At this point, I will point you to their new website, which is a fitting companion to the songs released thus far

Glasvegas- It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry

Image courtesy of bibabidi.com

Mathangi Arulpragasam is a pretty special woman: known simply by the acronym M.I.A. in the musical world, she's a Hounslow, London born rapper/singer of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Yes, that's Tamil, as in the Tamil Tigers; its just so happens M.I.A. is the daughter of Arul Pragasam -a Tamil activist turned militant. Her first album Arular (named after her father- Arular was his political name) is a massively catchy mix of beats and synths which earned her a Mercury Prize nomination last year. Arular was a highly original album, what with its cultural diversity and clever raps; the album was political, too, as the main topics were the poverty and war that M.I.A. had been subject to as a child in her homeland. Growing up in Sri Lanka, her family was constantly on the move due to the unsafe atmosphere created by the civil war between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan army. After relocating to London at the age of 10, she learnt the English language and ended up going to and Arts college, where her interest in music was sparked. Second album Kala comes out on 20th August, and although I might not buy it I will definitely purchase some of the songs: particularly lead singles Bird Flu (very poignant when it came out) and Boyz.

There is more to M.I.A. than her music, though, as interesting as it is. Her foundation in the arts college was not purely in music, and she's released artwork over the last few years which also relates to her interesting childhood. This is evident on her album artwork, videos and website, all of which feature a consistent day-glo style (see her website, myspace page and Kala cover, which is below) which has evidently been strongly influenced by M.I.A. herself.

Kala looks set to be a bit less in your face than Arular, which was impossible not to notice because of its heavy beats and mish-mash of styles; you can forgive her that because she was out to make a lasting impression, and I can honestly say that it worked. Kala should be an interesting album, and if she hasn't toned down the lyrics then M.I.A. can look forward to a second critically acclaimed album under her belt. Hopefully, the songs will be a little bit more melodic, although not so much as to destroy her main selling point: how the hell do you explain what M.I.A.'s music sounds like to your friends?

All these tracks can be downloaded individually or from this project.
M.I.A.- Bird Flu
M.I.A.- Boyz
M.I.A.- Fire Fire
M.I.A.- Bucky Done Gun
M.I.A.- Pull Up The People
M.I.A.- Sunshowers

Kala can be pre-ordered here