The Crap Stack: M.I.A., Heavy Heavy Low Low, Trai'd

Here at Spinner, we receive more CDs than we can possibly listen to. Sadly, many of them, whether good or bad, get consigned to The Crap Stack, where they languish until they're eventually carted off to become shiny silver landfill somewhere. However, in our version of Musical Lotto, we've instructed a staffer to rescue -- completely at random -- three discs from the pile and give them a proper and fair reviewing. Will the chosen CD be crap-tastic -- or just plain crap? Read this week's entries from Spinner intern Adam to find out:

M.I.A.: 'Paper Planes' (CD Single):
Since the release of the 'Pineapple Express' trailer, this song has gotten huge. And with good reason, too -- M.I.A. is a total badass. Arguably the poppiest track on her 2007 album 'Kala' (it's certainly the most accessible to mainstream audiences), 'Paper Planes' has it all: a catchy and danceable beat, a singalong hook and a sound unlike anything else coming from the indie world today. M.I.A. gives off the vibe of a real rebel: She is sexy and dangerous in all the ways that punk used to be. Take a quick glance at her Wikipedia page and you'll see that she is the real deal (in other words, if Katy Perry puts gunshots in her next single, it probably won't seem quite as cool).

Heavy Heavy Low Low: 'Turtle Nipple and the Toxic Shock' (Album): With a title like this, we're in for something special. It would be an unfair description to simply label this album as "spastic hardcore" because this is a band that clearly has a lot of ideas to explore. The album's third track, 'How Many Dad's Must Eat Themselves' (good question, by the way) starts with vocalist Robbie screaming "Focus!" The rest of the group doesn't follow his advice. At times they are thrashing with rusty chainsaw guitars, the next minute playing amelodic surf-rock licks that sound like the soundtrack to an evil Nintendo game (and this is all within the 1:30-or-so average running time of each song). It sounds like these guys had a lot of fun making this record, and I had a pretty damn good time listening to it. As a bonus, there is also a killer Black Flag cover that would make Henry Rollins proud.

Trai'd: 'Gutta Chick' (CD Single): Is this the future of hip-hop? Ringtone rap like Trai'd and Soulja Boy? It should be noted, by the way, that the actual name of the non-radio edit is 'Gutta B----'. Maybe I'm lame for not knowing what this slang even means, but that doesn't make it any less stupid. The beat is boring and his flow lacks any sort of rhythmic creativity. If this song becomes huge like 'Soulja Boy,' then all hope is lost. They might as well write some computer software that churns out hits like these. I can't imagine it would be very hard.

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