There are overworked beatscapes and confounding lyrics, sure – but also multiple sublime, fully formed songs.
Those naysayers will declare this a fine return to form. From this desk, it is the only step forward for someone whose has proven herself so far ahead of the curve that everyone from Madge to Versace have come knocking on her door.
Matangi is her most exhilarating and mulch-faceted album.
Her child-like rhymes may seem like she’s only toying with playground politics but she knows exactly where her strengths are; Matangi is a tribute to those talents and it’s an unmitigated thrill.
M.I.A. never overthrew the prevailing pop order ... With her usual free-trade beats sounding more velvety than spiky, Maya Arulpragasam's fourth album finally makes peace with this.
MATANGI is a total blast, one catchy, tough, clever, airtight, hyper-current track after another for a solid hour of off-the-hook fun that synthesizes everything that worked about Arular, Kala, and /\/\/\Y/\ while discarding those ideas that didn’t.
Like the woman who made it, Matangi is hugely inventive and a bit exhausting: if it's hard to take in anything other than small doses, you can't help but be glad it exists.
M.I.A.’s most consistent work since her debut ... Yes, her myriad ideas are still tumultuous, but there’s precious few other musicians out there attempting such an ambitious and impassioned collage of words, rhythms and concepts.
It does look like M.I.A is returning with vengeance. While '/\/\ /\ Y /\’ had interesting ideas at its epicentre, ‘Matangi’ manages to realise them, predominantly via the medium of infectious limb-jerking beatfoolery.
Though a marginally lesser album than predecessor MAYA, Matangi is nevertheless dynamite.
It might be billed as a rap record, or even a dance album, but it honestly sounds like nothing else that has come before - and in that respect it is typical of all M.I.A. records.
Frankly, Matangi is the best M.I.A. album since at least Kala. So, if Yeezus earned an allowance for its lack of self-awareness and occasional ignorance by being a great album, Matangi earns the same allowance
For all its contradictions and eccentricities, Matangi (the title links MIA with her near-namesake deity, a ghetto-dwelling Hindu goddess of music) feels more fully realised than the previous albums.
Like its creator, Matangi is flawed, frustrating, and occasionally confusing, but it's also intermittently brilliant and completely unique.
She’s reminded us exactly why she’s important: she’s a hyper-intuitive artist with a mongrel sensibility who bows to no one.
The result is an album with more ideas crammed into it than most other releases this year put together. It may not always work, but when it does, M.I.A. can still sound like the most exciting pop star on the planet.
Matangi again establishes M.I.A. as one of the most fascinating figures in modern music, but the personal voice underlying her material remains aggravatingly half-baked.
Her signature chaotic, frantic kitchen sink of noises permeate every song. There isn't much shift from album to album. She's found what works and she sticks to it.
Poppy but pugnacious, familiar and yet dizzyingly foreign, Matangi is a contrarian work from an artist who lavishes us with liminality, with contradictions.
Matangi is a welcome return to form that consolidates on the agenda set out in MAYA.
Matangi is not without charms, but unlike her most potent releases it sounds less interested in pushing and prodding the culture forward and more content to soar safely above it.
M.I.A. is good at circumventing dance music clichés, often through sheer polyrhythmic excess it’s hard to stay still during effusive bangers like Y.A.L.A., Matangi and tribal-trap anthem Warriors.
Throughout the album, Arulpragasam proves she's as adept as ever at blending different sounds and cultures into a mix that is unmistakably hers
It’s unfortunate that for a record that’s taken so long to make and that has so much artist-driven hype behind it, the most interesting part about Matangi is still just its story, not its songs.
Even the best moments on it feel a bit rote and too reminiscent of her finest hours on the first two albums, as if she hasn’t been able to advance her creativity much further.
This is way easier to digest than maya with the same level of quality, plus it’s just full of bangers. I can’t really come up with a ton of thoughts about it, just kinda slaps.
Matangi is a great reflection of M.I.A.'s discography with eccentric melodies never heard before in the pop world and at the same time more elegant and captivating vocals. Matangi brings several themes related to Hinduism, including reincarnation and karma, it's a characteristic in the lyrics, with the songs mixing western and oriental styles. The only problem I have on this project is that sometimes M.I.A.'s creativity it's so huge that the album sounds less cohesive in my opinion and there ... read more
This was definitely a surprise.
M.I.A. never really returned with a vengeance, but this album keeps the energy from her past albums while also making this her most accessible work. This was surprisingly very enjoyable.
Favorite: Bad Girls
Least Favorite: Lights
This is way easier to digest than maya with the same level of quality, plus it’s just full of bangers. I can’t really come up with a ton of thoughts about it, just kinda slaps.
This album is addictive. I thought it was alright the first thing time I listened to it, and a few days later some of the songs had gotten stuck in my head. I then decided to listen to the album again, and it was even better the second time. All the songs are good, and constantly in my rotation when I'm exercising or just listening in the car. Some of the songs are chaotic and crazy with really high energy, others are slick and catchy. I think that this is an amazingly catchy and creative ... read more
1 | Karmageddon 1:34 | 87 |
2 | Matangi 5:12 | 90 |
3 | Only 1 U 3:12 | 90 |
4 | Warriors 3:41 | 84 |
5 | Come Walk With Me 4:43 | 79 |
6 | aTENTion 3:40 | 86 |
7 | Exodus 5:08 feat. The Weeknd | 85 |
8 | Bad Girls 3:47 | 95 |
9 | Boom Skit 1:15 | 90 |
10 | Double Bubble Trouble 2:59 | 89 |
11 | Y.A.L.A. 4:23 | 87 |
12 | Bring the Noize 4:35 | 91 |
13 | Lights 4:35 | 77 |
14 | Know It Ain't Right 3:42 | 88 |
15 | Sexodus 4:50 feat. The Weeknd | 91 |
#10 | / | Idolator |
#10 | / | TIME |
#11 | / | Spin |
#12 | / | NME |
#15 | / | Clash |
#24 | / | Paste |
#26 | / | Pigeons & Planes |
#32 | / | Complex |
#46 | / | Pitchfork |
#47 | / | Rolling Stone |