M.I.A. "Paper Planes"

During my recent unfortunate bout with the sniffles, I spent a day in bed in which I logged maybe 37 minutes total of MTV viewing (after passing it at least that many times during some relentless channel surfing). In those 37 minutes I must've seen the various random promo commercials for M.I.A. a good twenty times. Was it good timing on my part or relentless advertising by a channel that years ago showed music videos? Probably both. But it's both rare and unnerving when MTV and I are on the same aesthetic wavelength. M.I.A.' s album Kala is not only uber-cool, but it is also the only essential party music released this year. And of all its lovely treasures, for me the track "Paper Planes" shines the brightest, not solely for its use of the Clash's "Straight to Hell" sample, but for morphing it into a sonic gesture that almost makes you forget Joe Strummer had anything to do with it. For M.I.A., it's a call to arms in a whole new era of combat rock.

M.I.A. "Paper Planes"