M.I.A., "/\/\/\Y/\"

(N.E.E.T./Interscope) It’s impossible to talk about M.I.A.’s music without discussing her drama; she’s made sure of that. But Maya Arulpragasam has always swaggered around the music world like the most braggadocios of rappers. Where she once applied an artistic stroke to her propaganda-laden dance-pop, M.I.A.’s latest finds her crudely flying two middle fingers in the face of the same fashionable media that made her a culture star. Less songs and more dense blasts of digital noise designed for maximum impact, /\/\/\Y/\ is beyond reactionary. Like Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music,” /\/\/\Y/\ challenges you to like it. Couching what few melodies she grudgingly tosses out in swaths of effects and bass, M.I.A. makes it clear that she’s not here for your love or your money (“Cuz I got it,” she brags on “XXXO”). Given the corrosive crunch of tracks like “Meds and Feds” down to the eye-taxing cover art and stylized album title, it seems like she’d rather annoy you anyway. Even the lovers’ rock of “It Takes A Muscle” and 22nd century girl-group pop of “Tell Me Why” are pointy enough to go down hard. /\/\/\Y/\ is also among the most genuinely entertaining major label releases of 2010. Go figure. (Originally published on Shockhound.com)