M.I.A.: Arular Vinyl 2LP

This sentiment pops up often enough in my reviews that it's bordering on self-parody, but seriously, do y'all REALLY need me to sell this record? Really? I mean, its not like anyone has ever, you know, written an article on girl before, or talked about her on the internet or anything. You should already own, like, seven of these. So far, Arular is the bang-alang-ingest record of the year - if you like your dance music even the slightest bit "different," this shit is the shit. "Galang, Sunshowers, Fire Fire," and "Bucky Done Gun" have hit 12" already, but it's nice to have them all on a handy 2LP for the crates, along with slow-burner "Amazon," the tweaked electro dancehall of "Pull Up The People," and more. All 12 tracks are blaze to blaze, with something to drop in almost any DJ setting - if you've been bumping a promo (or an illicitly downloaded version of the LP) for the last few months, it's not even too much of a bummer that the b-more sampling "URAQT" got left off (psssst it's supposed to make the Japan pressing, rare-spotters).

• black double vinyl pressing
• gatefold sleeve
• music label: XL Recordings 2005

reviewed by Nick Catchdubs 05/2005

 

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