Considering the amount of media antagonism M.I.A. has received since the release of Arular, Kala could either have been the sound of M.I.A. cowering at media skepticism or returning more confident than ever. But as she boasts on album opener “Bamboo Banga,” M.I.A. is “back with power;” M.I.A. has stripped down the streamlined production of Arular in favor of relentless, uncompromising beats that match the intensity and eccentricity of her lyrics. Take “Bird Flu,” for example; M.I.A. effortlessly jumps from bashing the music industry to poking fun at the United States’ decision to revoke her visa over a beat of pounding African drums, squawking chickens, and shouting children; it’s a wild cacophonous mess that only an artist as confident as M.I.A. could pull off...