Jesus walks with M.I.A.

It was only a matter of time before this happened...

"Bird Flu," suspected to be on M.I.A.'s sophomore album, "Kala," is a certified banger. It's on the Brit/Sri Lanka rapper's Myspace page and, of course, ripped onto a number of blogs, including this one. But it's not been officially released in any way.



That hasn't stopped a remix of the unreleased song — truly an "only in the music blog world" phenomenon. That said, the track uses the chain-gang chant of Kanye West's "Jesus Walks" to do exactly what a remix should: Make the song just as good, just in a different way.

Highly recommended:



Bonus track: a silky smooth mash-up using T.I.'s 2006 instant classic "What You Know." Takes the song from something you play while cruising in your Land Rover to something you play while lounging on the porch on a hot day.

No M.I.A. in the U.S.A.

M.I.A. was set to play this weekend's Sasquatch festival in Washington, but the fest has announced that "unexpected delays" in the processing of the Sri Lanka/London MC's artist visa has forced her to cancel.


M.I.A.'s set on the first day of the two-day festival was likely to be one of the more compelling, with her new album allegedly coming out this summer. She has no other shows planned until Lollapalooza in August.

M.I.A. -- Bird Flu (MP3)

Obviously, Arcade Fire, Bjork, Neko Case, Hold Steady, Grizzly Bear, The Blow and Viva Voce will pick up the slack Saturday, but M.I.A. was going to add variety to the mostly straight-up indie rock bill