Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 13/10/08
Label: XL Recordings

One name noticeable by its absence from the Mercury Prize nominations was that of Maya Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., and her really rather splendid "Kala" album. Her failure to secure a place on the shortlist was made all the more curious in light of the album's high rating in any number of 2007 end-of-year polls, while her Transatlantic success should be enough to shame the legions of guitar-totin' indie-schmindie under-achievers.

"Paper Planes" serves to remind quite what a talent M.I.A. truly is. Built around a hypnotic sample of The Clash's haunting "Straight To Hell", M.I.A.'s rapping juxtaposes violence with commerce and, as recent events have shown, the results of both are pretty much the same. All told, this is one of many highlights from an album deserving a place in your collection and points are only docked thanks to it being a re-release.

    by Julian Marszalek