M.I.A.: Kala (2LP) [XL RECORDINGS]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set spreads the original twelve tracks across four sides. Kala went platinum in Canada and gold in the US and UK, and "Paper Planes" earned a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Original 12-track album

About the album

Kala was supposed to be made in America with Timbaland. When M.I.A. couldn't get a long-term US work visa, she simply took the studio on the road instead, recording in India, Angola, Trinidad, Liberia, Jamaica and Australia, and gathering sounds outside the studio as she went. She named the album after her mother, whose struggles run through the record.

Maya Arulpragasam made most of it with the producer Switch, with Diplo and Timbaland (on "Come Around") also on board. "Bird Flu" thunders with Tamil drums, "Boyz" bounces on a carnival rhythm, "Jimmy" flips a Bollywood disco hit, "Bamboo Banga" borrows from Jonathan Richman and Ilaiyaraaja, and "Paper Planes," built around The Clash's "Straight to Hell," became the song of the summer and then some. Funk carioca, African folk and Australian kids The Wilcannia Mob all find room.

Kala topped the Billboard Electronic Albums year-end chart for 2007, and Robert Christgau called it his favourite album of the 21st century. M.I.A. made a world record by literally going round the world, which is the most thorough approach to research we've come across.

Also at Kops: more M.I.A. on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On XL Recordings (cat# XLLP 281), the 2007 album.