(U-WIRE) MINNEAPOLIS — University of Minnesota graduate student Adam Bahner can attest to the Internet’s power of communication.

MADISON, Wis.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — There was no colored smoke or skimpy outfits. No snakes, high-heeled backup dancers, sequins or lip-synching.
Instead, there was music and a call to save the world.

No doubt about it, M.I.A. is a one-woman powerhouse. A globe-trotting, political activist who can drop a sick beat like the best of ‘em, M.I.A., aka Maya Arulpragasm, the Sri Lankan-born London-based rapper, shows no sign of a sophomore slump on ‘Kala,’ which finds M.I.A. at her most culturally aware and dense in sound. The album is hot, its message hotter — just don’t count on anything as immediaet and dance floor-ready as ‘Arular.’

What’s truly amazing about “In Rainbows,” Radiohead’s apparent record-label-killer, is how much it actually promotes the survival of the record itself — an entity which used to aspire to greatness in the whole, rather than its radio-single parts.

Very solid … very hard to meet expecations for a long-awaited release like this, but they may have done it.