ARTIST

M.I.A.

If you read a lot about new music on the Web, odds are pretty good that, at some point between the September 2004 release of "Galang" and the March 2005 release of "Arular," you were struck with the urge to turn your computer off or maybe even heave it out of a nearby window. If you don't read a lot about new music on the Web, the preceding sentence indicates how bewildering and draining the chatter about M.I.A. became. "Arular," M.I.A.'s first album, leaked well before its official release, allowing journalists and downloaders plenty of time to dissect it and bat ideas back and forth, taking in the sounds, words, and absolutely all of the context before average music fans were able to develop their own opinions.

Maya Arulpragasam spent the early years of her life in a...
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