M.I.A.

M.I.A.

Arular (XL)

That precious little village girl gathering water from the stream won't hesitate for a second in replacing her antiquated wooden pail with an assault rifle. As capitalism attempts to subjugate its remaining tribal outlanders, M.I.A. fires back with the realities of resolute children at war: "Growing up, brewing up, guerilla getting trained, now look out, look out from over the rooftop." The Sri Lankan refugee and Londoner, still consumed by civil unrest in her homeland, pays homage to her rebel soldier father with an album that's as playful as it is explosive. Wiring Mantronix motherboards with trick switches designed to lure imperialists into folly, songs such as "Pull Up the People" and "Bucky Done Gun" contain just enough Dixie Cups cutesy to fool fat fucks into dancing toward their own demise. Embracing reggae soundclash as a springboard for her defiant affirmations, M.I.A. symbolically illustrates the similarities between Jamaican Maroons and Tamil Tigers on "Fire Fire." Revealing that "somewhere in the Amazon they're holding me ransom," the 28-year-old firebrand rallies troops with "Bingo" marching to the beat of an entrancing steel drum pattern. Fortifying her monstrous singles "Galang" and "Sunshowers" with further molten munitions, Arular is primed for worldwide insurrection. (Thursday, March 17, 11pm @ Elysium)