So
Arular came out today and like a good consumer, the first thing I did after class was head out to Atomic Records to pick up a copy. I wanted the lyrics and writing credits more than anything. Dude at the counter pronounced it
mee-ya, but that's ok. Some things of note:
1. I remember reading somewhere that "Hombre" was produced by Richard X, but the booklet says otherwise. Apparently "Hombre" was done by someone else, while "Amazon" and "10 Dollar" are the X tracks. "10 Dollar" makes a lot of sense now that I think about it. And I wasn't too far off with the "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" comparison, considering the Girls On Top mashup he did between it and that Kraftwerk song. It all makes sense now! Anyway, as far as pop producers go, Richard X is on an unbelievable roll right now. Too bad the guy's output arrives at a snail's pace.
2. Steve Mackey (of Pulp) cowrote and coproduced "Sunshowers" and "Galang", but I think everyone knew that already. Justine Frischmann cowrote "Galang". That's just weird.
3. "M.I.A." is the bonus hidden track and they did that annoying thing where they merged it with "Galang" by inserting a moment of silence in between. Ugh. It's the worst track on here, and I would have almost preferred them to leave it off. I guess the U.K. version is going to have "URAQT" as a bonus, which would have been a hot addition here.
4. After having spent over two months with this album now, I can say that it's held up very, very well. If I had any balls whatsoever, I'd call it perfect (if you ignore "M.I.A"). I just don't do that though, so we'll just have to settle for "feels like a 10, so it's probably a 9". Album of this century so far.
And stop shaking your head. Endless hyperbole is justified sometimes.
