Smith in his disco homage phase. Both songs associated with The Infotainment Scam album, their highest charting album ever reaching a Top Ten 9th position, most embarrassingly obvious title and ugliest album cover (give me the scribbled montages or horror grotesque comics, any day), and equally obvious old guard post-punk Smith staking out a respected niche position in the EDM rave music takeover of 1990s British pop music. The music on TIS, however, is considerably punchier and offers more edgy rock contrast to Smith's deadpan than these live takes. But they'll do and I like the way this live version of The Fall leans into Disco's monotonously simple bass heavy melodic groovelines and still manages to give them their own stamp of post-punk rumble like old pros. I'd like to think Bryan Ferry would give this his nod. The lead track is a cover of the 1979 Sister Sledge disco masterpiece, "Lost in Music," Smith adding, cynically, ominously, chanted, "the roads of access lead to the palace of excess." His "I feel so alive" isn't entirely convincing either but his shrieks of "hideaway, hideaway, hideaway" are the only time we're sure he's being moved by the music. The B-side, and the actual single of the pair, "Why Are People Grudgeful?" merges reggae great Joe Gibb's "People Grudgeful" and some Lee 'Scratch' Perry. A sort of reggae world music post-punk lament for an illusions-free peaceful coexistence, as fanciful as that sounds today. Or difficult to swallow coming from such a crank as Smith. Post-punk noir disco.
TGIDFHow does it feel to be on your own? Sifting through the rubble, bringing up the dead, reassembling history from below.
"Y.A.L.A," M.I.A. (2013)
In as much as punk rock is in your face, taunting, angry, and snotty M.I.A. is punk rock. She turns YOLO ("you only live once") inside out, like a Hindi mind trick, now YALA ("you always live again"), but with the same urge to throw caution to the wind. M.I.A. was defining "bangers" before "bangers" were "bangers bangers."
Post-colonial Sri Lankan/Global South, immigrant as global refugee, dancefloor toaster with swagger and lots of sauciness: "Where is my mind?" Pioneer in world beat electronic music genre. That her electronics sound like cheap home electronics adds to the rock & roll energy. She's more DIY hiphop than DIY punk.
And maybe most punk rock contrarian-libertarian of all she's now come out against vaccines, which goes with '77 punk's wearing Swastikas for sheer stupid "I wanna destroy the passerby" punk-rock-ness. I mean, if you have a bad experience with a vaccine by all means speak out about it. But your misfortune, terrible as it may be, isn't a credible argument against vaccines; it can't negate the millions of lives saved by vaccines. The health care where I live tries to screen for bad reactions to vaccines. Sounds like a lot of people close to M.I.A. missed such screening measures. Anyway, what I especially don't like about M.I.A.'s latest punk move is how it feels like she's trolling for the conspiracy theory fake news audience. Which actually does endanger public health. So, annoying and disappointing.
But, alas, M.I.A., Bad Girl to the bone, again, again, and again, rocks, always has. "Y.A.L.A."! One thing I believe for sure, it's a banger!