Time to wallow in the MIA

MIA in Miami, by Malik Meer of the NME: “Unlike the doubters in the UK, they don’t give a shit that she’s not ‘road’ (since when was escaping a civil war in Sri Lanka, being the daughter of a freedom fighter and growing up on a racist housing estate not ghetto enough?). Nor do they dismiss her as a Nathan Barley fashion fad because she went to St Martins and was encouraged to work her 505 groovebox by Peaches. Or refuse to play her records on Asian radio ’cos she ain’t ‘Asian’ enough.” (I’ve heard Friction & Nihal play MIA though).
Though I excised the comment on the “meta-bloggers” (that would be too much of a self-reference), I thought this was a nice coda to the recent MIA conversation. Signed to Dre’s label, it seems that the US has no truck with the microworries about MIA’s context; the pop proposition is what counts.


Elsewhere, Maximo Park’s soon-to-be-released lp is pricking up these ears. Yes, it’s on techno revolutionaries Warp, yes, it references the Jam, Dammed, Marr & Morrissey and god knows what else of post-punk, but none of these things matter. What a joy it is to hear something new yet so convincing, delivered with such intent, that worries about its retroness are for once irrelevant. The jittery Geordies seem to be setting themselves against the comfy shoes and easy options of modern consumer society. Get off the sofa and apply some pressure yourselves.


And further evidence that Rock has beaten Dance in the umpteenth round of the pointlessly divisory contest – E-monkey factory Fabric now has nights that cater to fresher sets and settings. This Friday, for example, has Art Brut, Black Wire, Jacques Lu Cont and the Infadels doing live sets in among dj sets from Trash jocks. Didn’t Fridays used to be d&b mania night?