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M.I.A. – Maya (XL Recordings/Interscope)

“Brilliant, zeitgeist defining. Oh, and trashy and self-indulgent. That’s M.I.A.”

She’s an icon of our multi-cultural, Internet connected world. She’s Mathangi Arulpragasam. We know her, of course, as M.I.A. Sri Lankan by birth (her dad reputedly a Tami Tiger), London bred, M.I.A. is a citizen and an artist of the world. And when she’s good, she’s quite good.

At times on her third album Maya she’s quite good indeed. And on occasion she’s bloody awful. Most of the awful parts of Maya are dispensed with in the first few tracks. Maya opens with the sound of fingers clicking away on a computer keyboard and proceeds to claim the connections between everything from Google to the government (or governments, I suspect). It’s the kind of statement M.I.A. delights in – brazen and provocative. “Steppin' Up” begins with what sounds like a chainsaw. Its dancehall groove is seductive, but the lyric’s blasé braggadocio is pretty basic toaster/rap bullshit. “XXXO” improves matters as M.I.A. rides Blaqstarr and Rusko’s compu-funk with lyrics about love in the computer age (“You want me be Somebody I’m Really Not”) that offer a first flash of how thoughtfully provocative this artist can be.

“Teqkilla,” unfortunately, nearly sabotages Maya with over six minutes of Rusko’s production gimmickry, complete with an oppressive-with-repetition electro-mechanical “wooo” at the end of each phrase on the chorus. The words? Mostly a bunch of drivel about liquor.

After that, things get good. Co-produced with Switch, M.I.A.’s “Lovalot” is first-rate electro-hop, M.I.A. insisting that she only “fights the ones that fight me” and exploiting a sly homonym (lovalot/love Allah). It’s sung in the Sri Lanka meets Brixton patois that her strongest numbers generally employ. “Story To Be Told” combines dancehall and chill-out electronica to good effect. Diplo’s production on “It Takes A Muscle” strikes a Bob Marley “Exodus” cut and M.I.A. sounds curiously like a cross between Liz Phair and Millie Small.

Various rock motives inform several tracks. There’s a Springsteen synthesizer-ballad mood behind ‘It Iz What It Iz” and the lyrics refer to a “speeding motorcycle;” who knew M.I.A. was a Daniel Johnston fan? “Born Free” rocks to a sample from Suicide (avatars of electro-punk). It has something of Patti Smith’s “Piss Factory” defiance and an aggression that suggest Peaches. Less successful is her collaboration with Sleigh Bell’s Derek Miller, “Meds and Feds.” Miller’s super-compressed mock-metal wears thin fast and just makes you wonder what M.I.A. might sound like with a real, live rock n’roll band.

“Tell Me Why” proves that M.I.A. can pull of a hip-hop ballad with the best of them - not too many artists could address romantic frustration and cultural alienation so effectively in the same song. “Space” reminds of the Talking Head’s “The Overload” as M.I.A. sings “gravity is her enemy.” It is pretty clear that neither gravity nor much else gets in this artist’s way. Only her ramshackle self-indulgence can do that. Fortunately, her worst tendencies are on display primarily on three of Maya’s first four cuts. The rest of Maya delivers on the continuing promise of one of the new pop century’s most intriguing artists.

Reverberating: 8.1

Sun Kil Moon – Admiral Fell Promises (Caldo Verde)

“Glum perspectives, travelogues, magnificent atmospheres”

Over the last twenty years, as a solo artist and with the bands Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon, Mark Kozelek has produced a significant recorded legacy. I’ve long been an admirer rather than a devotee. It’s the latter that Kozelek tends to attract with his moody, introspective, atmospheric songs. The Red House Painters were categorized as slowcore or sadcore by many fans and critics. Uh, color me crazy but I don’t find such tags especially helpful. With Admiral Fell Promises, however, released under the Sun Kil Moon attribution, despite being a solo recording, Kozelek has made me a fan.

To be sure, the songs sound like standard Kozelek fare. For Admiral, however, Kozelek accompanies himself on nylon string acoustic guitar in a picking style that’s rooted in flamenco, Bert Jansch (Nick Drake), and Piedmont-style blues. Playing in this style, with its inherently melodic qualities, his dour chronicles of life at loose ends are enhanced narratively and melodically compared to his past straight-up folk strumming. Kozelek’s guitar work lifts these songs and underscores their occasional, mordant wit. The “grey clouds, muted sun” of “Half Moon Bay” pervades the album’s sensibilities. Some songs refer to dreams and dream states (“Half Moon Bay” and “The Leaning Tree”).

“Third and Seneca” is both travelogue (count the cities Kozelek mentions) and mope fest (“the words we share dissolve as they’re spoken”). “You Are My Sun” brightens things a bit. An offspring of John Lennon’s ‘Julia,” it profits from a buoyant chorus and some nifty tempo changes. Kozelek’s grim mirth shines in the title song with its references to enslavement and its request that “if you go tomorrow, choke me till I’m Blue” of his beloved. “Australian Winter” mixes Celtic and Flamenco moods seamlessly as Kozelek observes, “the ocean below me is loneliness.”

“Church of the Pines,” like the opening track “Alesund,” refers lyrically to Kozelek’s haphazard creative process. Admiral Fell Promises closes with “ Bay of Skulls,” Kozelek’s bleak hymn to the varieties of predation in nature.

Okay, sounds glum. But these songs have a dignified beauty. Kozelek’s guitar work and downcast, double-tracked vocals create a mood that’s as inspiring as it is melancholy. There are albums like Nick Drake’s “Five Leaves Left” or Vashti Bunyan’s “Lookaftering” that are just made for cold, gray days – days when you want to curl up with a cup of Joe and some mood suiting music. Admiral Fell Promises joins such company.

Reverberating: 8.4

First Aid Kit – The Big Black and The Blue (Wichita Recordings)

“Beautiful sibling harmonies, elemental tunes, the sound of America … from Sweden”

Upon first impression, the Soderberg Sisters could have you believing they have lived hardscrabble lives in the American South. Nope, they are from a suburb of Stockholm. And they are all of seventeen (Klara) and twenty (Johanna), respectively. They call themselves First Aid Kit and on The Big Black and The Blue they demonstrate that great American music can come from anywhere. I suspect, too, that a certain wintry Nordic melancholy only enhances their songs of love and loss.

I’ve seen First Aid Kit compared to all of the leading lights of American nu-folk. Natural, I suppose, given the YouTube popularity of their version of Fleet Foxes’ “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song.” Listen carefully, though, and those Joanna Newsom comparisons seem a bit ridiculous. Johanna’s husky singing is closer to Neko Case and when she harmonizes with Klara’s more fragile voice their blend is uncannily like the Everly Brothers. There’s a break in their voices, too, when they reach for falsetto that is reminiscent of Kate & Anna McGarrigle. These are strong, iconic influences that the Soderberg’s reflect in stride.

Their songs tend toward slow to mid-tempo performances, and the lyrics (in English) vary wildly from the deeply poetic to the slightly contrived. But those harmonies always convey meaning that the words only suggest. When FAK spurns a Bible-thumping suitor in “Hard Believer” you get the idea that these young ladies aren’t God-fearing or afraid of much else. They do wrestle, unsuccessfully, with embracing the deity on “Heavy Storms” (“I wish I could believe in something bigger”).

Elemental themes (“Heavy Storms”) and strains of folk-fatalism (“I Met Up with the King’) abound, along with familiar lamentations on love. Sweden’s proximity to the sea suffuses the neo-bluegrass sounds (the close-to-yodeling ) of “Sailor Song.” And tidal imagery is central to the lovely “Waltz for Richard.”

There’s a touch of Rubber Soul era Beatles on “Josefin,” which exemplifies the Sister’s ability to construct wonderful, rangy melodies over two or three chords.

Sung and played almost entirely by the Soderberg Sisters (a drummer, Charlie Smoliansky, appears on five tracks), The Big Black and The Blue could profit from an up-tempo track or two and the songwriting can be inconsistent. But their debut augurs well for First Aid Kit’s future. They already write and sing with maturity beyond their years. The Big Black and The Blue may only hint at what First Aid Kit will deliver down the road.

Reverberating: 8.0

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