M.I.A. Down In The Hole

A new video, "S.U.S. (Save UR Soul)," directed by (a very pregnant) M.I.A. and featuring Blaqstarr mashup/covering Tom Waits' "Way Down In The Hole," which various artists have covered as the theme song for HBO's "The Wire," with M.I.A. crooning about her laptop. On the video's lo-fi look, from the YouTube credits: "cheapest video ever made , i spent $9.95 on it."

On Myspace, M.I.A. blogs:

Me and Blaqstarr found the image at the end from a Joy Division video and thought about the election and thats how people want you to see the world , black/ white , good/ evil, jesus/devil for you the words are Obama vs Mc Cain for me its terror vs genocide simple maths so we put it on at the end to show how far we've gone and how far we've come, i have to start staying at home more because i dont think i can fit through my front door anymore but i want this to do the traveling for me.

• [passionchamp]

  I happened to remember that I needed to write my rent check once I started this video… then as I was filling it out, I realized I was filling out check #666. Just a coincidence I thought I’d share.

• [SamSam]

  Man, The Wire was a good series…

  Oh, this version of Way Down is pretty sweet too.

• [bananachair]

  Does anyone know where I can download/buy this song?

• [Keir]

  that was nice, she’s got a good eye. and i like the idea that her and blaqstarr hang out and watch joy division videos on youtube.

• [Andrew Ferguson]

  It looks like she borrowed more than a bit from the video for Fredo Viola’s ‘Sad Song’:

  http://fredoviola.com/media/opus/sad_song/

  It remains one of the most beautiful music videos I’ve ever seen, and the fact that it was created solely with 15 second clips from an old Nikon 3 megapixel camera makes it all the more impressive.

• [The Unusual Suspect]

  Much that is good flows from Tom Wait’s music.

  This was no exception.

• [ridl]

  That was a Wonderful Thing. Thanks for putting some sweet, sweet groove in my day.

• [medra42]

  I’m always being told that I worry about the wrong thing.. but is anyone else bothered by the fact that the right-most video player is a different size from the rest?

  Other than that, the video is pretty neat. Wish I liked the cover better.

• [Baldhead]

  This is by far the best song I’ve heard from her. Of course this means I actually listened to most of it as opposed to thinking “wow this is crap” less than a minute in. Must be the Tom Waits detail.

• [agent seamalt jones]

  A juxtaposition of MIA, with classic Tom Waits lyrics. It is much like seeing two rooms in my apartment simultaneously. For the record, I like this prospect.

• [ridl]

  I am officially on an M.I.A. binge now.