Two years before her megahit Paper Planes made her a global celebrity, M.I.A. (or Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam) combined electroclash, baile funk, peng teng, dancehall, grime and ragga in 2005 to make Arular - a debut album named after and inspired by her freedom fighter father Arulappu Richard Arulpragasam. Released by XL Recordings and partially produced by awful man Diplo, Arular was nominated for the Mercury Prize and went on to be listed by Pitchfork as the 54th greatest album of the noughties.
Arular is also the 421st Greatest Album Of All Time according to Rolling Stone magazine, so Christopher Macarthur-Boyd and Liam Withnail have listened to it and now they’re going to galang it up. Featuring hot takes, digressions and cross arguments on subjects such as System Of A Down, Justine Frischmann, Justine Frischmann’s father, Peaches, Pineapple Express, and the state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing of the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan government. All that plus TWO Secret Poshos, Unhinged YouTube Comment Of The Week, and Tattoo Woohoo/Tattoo Boohoo. Enjoy An Album. Enjoy!