Neon Musical Insight

Review by Caitlin Wittlif

Artistic concept albums are not normally associated with accessibility, so the fact that /\/\/\Y/\ is a difficult record to synthesize should be unsurprising. However, after two albums of solid, political hip hop-meets-dance pop tunes, M.I.A.’s latest offering can be a little hard to swallow. There are imposing industrial buzzes and whirs, skipped beats, auto-tuning, and layers upon layers of other technological masks.

This is completely in line with /\/\/\Y/\’s cover art; you can just see M.I.A.’s eyes peeking through a barrage of sound bars, and 3D art covers the rest of her. Still, one of M.I.A.’s strengths is her ability to punch listeners in the gut with her reality. Here, the artist’s heavy reliance on wild, cacophonous noise leaves her identity a bit lost in the mix.

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DOWNLOAD MP3: Rhianna – “Rude Boy” (Diplo Rudeboyz Remix)

After Rhianna’s new video for her latest dancehall inspired single “Rude Boy” dropped earlier thisweek, comparisons to M.I.A.’s video for “Boyz” were quick to follow, in what many are now considering to be a classic case of “biting” artistic style.  With fluorescent background colors, zebra prints, and other familiarities, it became rather easy to justify the accusations.

Producer/DJ reached for his keyboard upon see the video to “Rude Boy” and tweeted: “anyway.. riri is lookin soo damn hawt in this video but its super boyz boyz boyz? yahmsayin?”

Taking matters into his own hands even more so, today, Diplo dropped this remix of “Rude Boy” that is layered with M.I.A.’s “Boyz” beneath. You can stream/download that track above, while below, you can find both videos to each song.

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DOWNLOAD MP3: Sleigh Bells – “Crown On The Ground”

One of the bigger break out bands from last year’s CMJ was a band named Sleigh Bells. A noise pop duo based out of Brooklyn, Sleigh Bells have been breaking on the scene, mostly in part to their bombastic, unkempt sound. M.I.A. was spotted checking them out last October during CMJ at the Market Hotel, so it comes as no surprise that the two have decided to link up for her forthcoming album due out early summer.

Thanks to Diplo’s sporadic twittering habbit, this bit of info was dropped last night:

“All day finishin up these @_m_i_a tracks… Its official.. This team is from the FUTURE!! – diplo rusko switch mia blaqstarr sleighbellz FTW”

To confirm, Sleigh Bells’ manager informed the Village Voice that Sleigh Bells songwriter:

“Derek [Miller] did production work on the album.”

Sleigh Bells also revealed that picture that you see above via their myspace on Tuesday, with a simple headliner that read “WE ARE IN THE STUDIO” — which most likely is to record their debut full-length, being that it is slated to come out sometime this year. On top of that all, Sleigh Bells will also will be acting as openers for a large porting of Major Lazer and Yeasayer’s upcoming tour in late March. Busy year. Dates are below.

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DOWNLOAD MP3: Major Lazers – “Halo” (cover)

Beyoncé may not have won the “Album of the Year” award last night at the 2010 Grammy’s, but that doesn’t mean we don’t love her. Here is a brand new Reggae version of “Halo” from Swith and Diplo’s collaborated project, Major Lazers — along with Elefant Man — that they dropped via twitter last night in spirit of the festivities.

Both members of Lazers are also hard at work on M.I.A’s third LP due out early summer.

Besides throwing blatant outbursts and aiming them dead center at the New York Times, it appears that M.I.A. is actually spending time doing, you know, what she does for a living which is, well… Making some of the best damn music in the world. In a very cryptic manner, Maya Arulpragasam today — via Twitter, once again — posted a link entitled  ”Theres Space For Ol Dat I See” that lead to a trippy, virtual video of M.I.A. dancing, with an audio track playing over it. The quality of the track is pretty shitty to say the least, but a new M.I.A. song is quite clearly something to celebrate, regardless.

“Theres Space For Ol Dat I See” features M.I.A. singing as opposed to rapping, over a clear dubstep induced, glitchy video game beat, most likely from producer Rusko, who has said to be working on her forthcoming album along with Diplo and Switch. M.I.A. plans to drop her third full-length sometime this summer.

DOWNLOAD MP3: Gucci Mane – “Excuse Me” (Memory Tapes Remix)

It seems like every DJ/Producer in the game today is trying to get their hands on a Gucci Mane track to strip, rework, and recreate (in an attempt) to pleasure our ears. Why Gucci Mane? I can’t exactly say, but it’s clear that the charismatic Diplo is a fan as well, who created a Free Gucci Mane mixtape that consisted of remixes from such heavyweights as Memory Tapes, Zomby, and Salem to support the recently incarcerated rapper. The mixtape can be downloaded for free off of Diplo’s Mad Decent website here, while you can stream and download the version of “Excuse Me” from Memory Tapes — who I was lucky enough to chat with this past week — above.

Dayve Hawk — better known as Memory Tapes — made his proper introduction into the music world this past September, with his debut full-length Seek Magic. Widely celebrated, and finishing on many music publications “best albums of 2009″ lists, Seek Magic manages to incorporate a large portion of the diverse influences of Hawk’s past, leaving something for any, and everyone to enjoy. the acclaim may be noticeable, and Memory Tapes may be one of the bigger newcomers in “indie music”, but Hawk still prefers the simple life, avoiding the reliance of auto transportation, or even a landline for that matter. A recluse, thats much more admirable than your average rock star. In the interview below, Hawk discusses everything from his future plans and touring to Janet Jackson.

Neon: How were the holidays?

MT: Stressful (laughs).

Neon: So you’re not the biggest fan of phones or cars, are you?

MT: (Laughs), the phone thing… I’m actually trying to get my hands on one. With driving, I never learned, but now it’s gotten to the point where… I don’t even know (laughs). People ask me and I have no answer. It’s just one of those things that you don’t do for so long that you just get used to it.

Neon: It kind of fits in with your environment with where you’re living in rural Jersey and all…

MT: Yeah, I’ve never been one to go out and do stuff. I’ve always been about if I wanna go out, I’d just go out walking or do something like that. If I had money I’d just buy a guitar pedal or something (chuckles).

Neon: Can you explain the background on the two projects Memory Cassette / Weird Tapes and how they merged into one?

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It’s about damn time! No but for reals, Diplo recently stated that M.I.A. is actually hard at  work with her follow-up to 2007’s amazing mindfuck, Kala, and they’ve actually made progress, with about four tracks already being completed! Pedestrian.tv was lucky enough to score an interview in which producer/ DJ, Diplo had the following to say:

“Been in the studio with M.I.A. working on her new record. It’s like Gucci Mane meets Animal Collective. I think there are a couple of people [producing] but we’re going to finish it off, me and Switch. We’ve done like four tracks already.”

Animal Collective matched with Gucci Mane? Only M.I.A. could pull something off like that.

Oh, and also keep an eye out for Major Lazers very own ‘Adult Swim’ series… imagine what that would be like. Maybe something like this.