Caught in the Net - MIA in action over Sri Lanka

Two weeks ago, 'The New York Times' listed Sri Lanka as the No 1 travel destination of 2010. This honour stuck in the craw of the Sri Lankan-born rapper MIA, who felt the paper should be paying attention to somewhat more pressing issues in the troubled country. After responding on Twitter (twitter.com/_M_I_ A_) with the words "Fuck New York Times!!!", she posted a series of disturbing pictures from the country to illustrate her point. Then she put up a video for a new protest song, "Space Odyssey" (twitvid.com/B54ED). The Fader (thefader.com) spoke to her publicist, who said: "The song and video were made Monday night for $100 after the New York Times, as she says, "fucked up so hard". Check her tweets – she obviously finds it reckless and ignorant of the paper to not even scratch their own walls on what is reality in Sri Lanka." Lyrically the protest is rather oblique but musically it is quite intriguing. Made with the British dubstep producer Rusko, the sparse, laid-back and dubby track (with Animal Collective influence) suggests an interesting new direction.

Ernest love letters

Ernest Gonzalez is a producer turning out experimental electronic and ambient music based in San Antonio, Texas. In February, he releases an album on The Friends of Friends label (fofmusic.net). Called 'Been Meaning to Tell You', it is a joint music/art project which will be available on digital and vinyl formats and comes with a book/PDFs of accompanying artwork (depending on which format you buy). The whole project serves as a love letter to Ernest's wife Devyn and the music is a lovely cascade of beats and bleeps, electro sounds and live instrumentation – it also comes with a second collaborative album of remixes. Sample it all at beenmeaningtotellyou.com

Don't tell me it's online!

Rap is known for its public "beefs", but it gets awkward when the dispute is between a rapper and his mother – especially when it's taking place on Twitter, as the artist formerly known as Lil Bow Wow (now "Bow Wow") has learned. His mum (@MsTCaldwell) has been chastising him and chatting with the rapper's celebrity friends on Twitter. His own campaign (@bowwow614) to stop her was, alas, to no avail. See the drama unfold at tinyurl.com/ycxu7ko.

Beauty and the beat from Hebden

In November, we heard the sublime propulsive techno of "Love Cry", the first offering from Keiran Hebden's new Four Tet album 'There Is Love In You'. It was a pretty good opening salvo, and the LP, his first as Four Tet in over four years, arrives next week. On Monday, Hebden posted the record on fourtet.net where it will stream in full until its release. Full of beautiful noises and small beats that stick with you, early listens suggest it has been worth the wait.

All go for Shlomo

Another artist on the Friends of Friends label is the up-and-coming electro producer Shlohmo, who I mentioned a few weeks ago. The label discovered Shlohmo while he interned at the web radio station Dublab. Based in LA, the station is a non-profit collective that has been broadcasting independently online since 1999. As with many interesting web radio set-ups, such as Woxy.com, the online format allows them greater freedom to play music they like without the considerations of commercial radio stations. Their DJs play an eclectic and broad cross-section of music streaming continuously at dublab.com. Also on the site is their MP3 blog where they give away songs by artists featured on the station.