“Careerwise, the recent album M.I.A.’s Kala recalls is Kanye West’s Late Registration — an unexpectedly sure-footed follow-up to a brainy beat-adept’s can-you-top-this debut. And though West is the more universal musician, especially as Americans conceivethe universe, there are also musical similarities: Both albums challenge sophomore slump by risking pretension. But where West hired classically trained […]”
“Given the hundreds of thousands of words hunted and pecked in the service of M.I.A.'s 2005 debut *Arular*, the odds on her delivering more grist for the mill with her followup were probably somewhere between slim and Amy Winehouse. Sure, *Arular*-- which has quietly sold 130,000 copies in the U.S.-- ultimately didn't seem to make much of an impact on the public at large, but the bountiful texts wo”
