Even more so than her arresting 2005 indie debut, "Arular," M.I.A. comes off as a globetrotting activist on sophomore effort "Kala," draping myriad Third World sounds over club-happy beats. She's a revolutionary leading a class war on "Paper Planes" and pounding the door of a Hummer on "Bamboo Banga," all while disguising a political message with richly textured electronic sounds. She quotes the Pixies, samples the Clash and turns a Bollywood show tune ("Jimmy") into a string-driven scorcher. Elsewhere, she squeezes a groove out of the crisscrossing rhythms of "20 Dollars" and lets the murky, African bassline of "Mango Pickle Down River" envelop her. Amazingly, she still does this all with charmingly home-made-sounding production values. Perhaps that's why superstar producer Timbaland sounds out of place on "Come Around," his sex-obsessed verses momentarily killing M.I.A.'s multicultural buzz. —Todd Martens