Freeload: M.I.A., “Shells”

story THE FADER

No matter how far out she gets, M.I.A. continues to be in our brainspace. The latest example of synchronicity would be the new net-plate from her How Many Votes Fix Mix EP. It’s called “Shells”—as in things that wash up on the beach from exotic lands or maybe as in inherently valueless baubles which people hoard as if, through the power of make-believe, they could trade them for actual goods and services. (ha ha—if this turnaround on Wall Street doesn’t hold up, the whole shell-based economy may not be such a joke after all). It also samples (or maybe just sounds like) the weird-ass Angolan Tarrachinha track called “E Lola” which Eddie STATS featured on last week’s Afrohall/KuBass mix for Ghetto Palms. We bet you six black cowries she heard that shit the same place he did, a dedicated Angola-madness site called Kuduro Files—although if you like it you can now go directly to a spin off site that only features Angolaton-tempo stuff like this. Anyway, she owns the beat, making the aggro track poppy with a Belle Stars sing-song. It’s probably (definitely) too weird to be a “Paper Planes” sleeper hit but if you are Mayaphiles like us it’s worth copping the EP on iTunes.

Download: M.I.A., “Shells”

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