M A Y A

女戦士M.I.A.による第3次音楽革命勃発!衝撃の3作目『マヤ』のアナログ盤!(2010年作品)過激なミュージックビデオで物議を醸した「Born Free」収録!
リリースの度に進化を続け、音楽革命を起してきたM.I.A.によるサード・アルバム。プロデューサーにはM.I.A.と相性バツグンのディプロ、元メジャー・レイザーのスウィッチ、進化系ダブステップ・プロデューサーのラスコ、スレイ・ベルズのデレク・E・ミラー等が参戦!

Rolling Stone (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "M.I.A. packs every track with left-field surprises: the ghostly Suicide organ on 'Born Free,' the gospel chant of 'Tell Me Why,' the Bowie-style robot sheen of 'Space.'" Spin - "[T]he sneakily titled 'Lovealot' is perhaps the riskiest gambit yet from the 32-year-old artist....[M.I.A.] has always been mercurial, volatile, elusive.... Mojo (Publisher) (p.52) - Ranked #35 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2010" -- "[I]t's a provocative, confused and contradictory splurge....Wonderful." Paste (magazine) - "At its core, MAYA boasts a handful of great -- and truly subversive -- ideas....Like the rebels she so often lionizes, Arulpragasam is conducting hit-and-run warfare on modern pop..." Clash (Magazine) - "With schizophrenic aplomb M.I.A. has unleashed her most adventurous and uncompromising album so far."

There are moments during MAYA when it seems like M.I.A.'s next move might involve walking into a laundromat, filling the dryers with bricks and silverware, pulling the fire alarm, blaring a drop-forge beat from a tinny boombox, and recording the result. Much of the singer’s third album is situated to prove, if anything, that motherhood and a comfortable living situation have not softened her. She does so with a load of mostly unorganized noise produced alongside Switch, Blaqstarr, Rusko, Diplo, John Hill, and Derek E. Miller. Clever-clever wordplay, assaultive sound effects, and ear-fatiguing beats are amplified at the expense of singalong hooks and swinging, energizing rhythms. “Steppin Up,” heavy with assorted needling drills and buzzing guitar, anchored by stilted percussion, could be a cover of a Flight of the Conchords M.I.A. parody: “I light up like a genie and I blow up on the song/Rub-a-dub a-dub dub, rub-a-dub a-dub dub/Aladdin, no kiddin’, boy I need a rub.” Sift through the stray wheezing, piercing, and squawking of “Tekqilla,” and you’ll hear a reference to her son’s father (the son of the heir to the Seagram’s fortune) with “When I met Seagram’s, sent Chivas down my spine.” The most willfully grating track, “Meds and Feds,” carries an oppressive industrial beat, liberally echoed handclaps, yet more cheap guitar buzz, and her most XTRMNTR-era Primal Scream-like lyrics (“While we become workers, you become golfers -- the modern day coppers”). All that said, there is a brilliant -- if brief -- EP in here. “Born Free,” owing much to Suicide’s “Ghost Rider,” is, nonetheless, one of M.I.A.'s most creative, instantly satisfying songs. It rapidly works itself into a blitz of relentless drums, prodding keyboards, and a vocal that is elatedly baleful and anthemic. “Lovalot,” a sinister production, is made all the more riveting with M.I.A.'s droning, slippery delivery, in which “Obama” can be heard as “a bomber” and “love a lot” can be heard as “love Allah.” While it is the quietest song on the album, it is also one of the most tense and unsettling of the lot, demonstrating that M.I.A. really does not need all that cluttered bluster. ~ Andy Kellman

Boprn FreeのＰＶがあまりに過激なため、ＹｏｕＴｕｂｅでの公開が禁止されるという先行バズも成果を上げ、リリース前から話題騒然だった今作。とはいえディプロとスウィッチ、ラスコ、そしてM.I.A.主宰のN.E.E.T.と契約したブラックスターという制作陣に、サウンド面は前2作を踏襲した想定内に収まるのかと思ったが、PVに負けじと中身もワイルドだった！　何しろグライムやダンスホールの影響を見せたかと思えば、チープなエレポップやハード・ロック調のギターが飛び出したり、往年のガバばりにドカドカ鳴るビートがあったり、聴き心地も曲単位で目まぐるしく変化する。まるでアイデアの原石をまんまブチ込んだような作りで統一感にはかけるが、そんな過激さこそが本作の醍醐味で、胸がすくほど気持ちが良い。
bounce (C)青木正之