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Smile UK Store - Santogold
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List Price: £11.99
Our Price: £7.98
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: Warner
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 5051442830828
Label: Warner
Manufacturer: Warner
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Warner
Release Date: 2008-05-12
Studio: Warner
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Editorial Reviews:
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Don't call Santi White an R&B artist: on her debut album Santogold, this former music biz A&R and pop songwriter for hire is challenging race stereotypes and playing fast and loose with genre, mashing up dub, punk, and electronics to make an energetic, anger-fuelled music that blurs the lines between the dancefloor and the moshpit. Comparisons to MIA hold some water, especially on the bullish "Creator" (it's worth nothing that Santogold features production turns from sometime MIA collaborators Diplo and Switch). For the most part, though, Santogold's debut follows a quite different path. "L.E.S Artists" is stirring new-wave pop that builds to grand, tearful choruses reminiscent of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, while "You'll Find a Way" and "Say Aha" are propulsive ska-pop numbers that hark back to its creator's previous band, Bad Brains-influenced punks Stiffed. But it's not just skilful genre-skipping to recommend this record, though: White is the rare vocalist that can sound empowered and vulnerable within the space of the same song, and it's her force of character that places Santogold ahead of the pack. --Louis Pattison
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: If you like M.I.A and Missy Elliott...
Comment: I brought this album after seeing Santogold perform a mash up with Roots Manouver, I have not been dissapointed. At first her voice has a similar same sound to Nelly Furtado but the originality of the music makes her stand out. If you like the party, rave, feel of M.I.A then this is definately a good investment, there is an element of ska and rave to all the tracks, ones to skip straight to are Creator and Lights Out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Labels For Less
Comment: The Wolf first encountered Ms White and her cohorts on the estimable
Mr Holland's variety show 'Later' early in 2008.
Some months later, given a knock-down price at my local music emporium,
Santogold has eventually found its' way into my range of hearing.
My somewhat obsessive-compulsive nature usually leads me to peel
extraneous sticky labels from CD cases as soon as I am able.
Mrs Wolf believes this to be one of my most annoying habits as they are
particularly difficult to remove from paws when dropped lazily on the
floor of our cave.
One such adhesive irritation, admittedly only half-read, may have displayed
the words "pop", ""of" and "queen' (the term "undisputed' may also have been present).
If I am wrong about this matter I apologise for my inattention. If memory serves
me correctly however "pop", "of" and "queen" references seem to me to be both
misapplied and innacurate.
I honestly can't remember the last time I was left feeling so despondent
by a new musical experience.
(Actually the last time was probably Kelly Osborne's 'Sleeping In The Nothing').
This is dull, uninventive retro-electro-pop of the worst pedigree.
Ms White barks, yelps and ululates her way through this dismal collection,
paying scant attention to matters of tonal and dynamic control and quality.
The perpetrators' intention had doubtless been to create a work of
sophisticated urban cool. In this they have failed to a miserable degree.
Historic lowpoints include 'Creator' followed closely by
'I'm A Lady' and the truly execrable 'Anne'.
Surely three of the most horrible songs you will hear this year.
On the basis of more warmly inclined reviews you may still wish
to explore this album but don't say I didn't warn you.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A golden spew of sound and lyric
Comment: This album caught my attention because Amazon put it in my recommended buys and I immediately loved the cover. On impulse, despite having heard nothing about or by Santogold I bought it and was not disappointed (my favourite impulse buy to date). The record is a mix of sounds that I am unable to accurately categorize though my best attempt would put it between modern R&B and Electronic influenced pop (dirtier though). There is the modern R&B cockiness found in the lyrics of songs like "Unstoppable" and "Creator": "me I'm a creator/ thrill is to make it up/ the rules I break got me a place/ up on the radar." However, this is backed up with heavily synthesized sounds which put it apart from mainstream R&B as it currently stands. Other songs such as "Lights Out" reveal a hot bass line with a sweet voice and fewer ambient electronic noises - you'd almost think they were by different artists. This album sounds great and I don't own anything like it, frankly I don't think there is anything like it (the nearest I could come up with was NYPC but they aren't that close) and I suggest you buy it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Unclassifiable pop genius!
Comment: If you put Blondie, dub reggae, punk, new wave, disco, dancehall, electro, pop and ska in a blender and pressed the button, you'd come out with something approaching Santogold's debut. If that sounds horribly arty and pretentious, though, don't fear; this is also a brilliant pop album, topped off with buckets of Brooklyn cool courtesy of Santi's Ronettes-meets-Debbie Harry voice. There's great hooks aplenty and you'll be humming these songs all summer. Yeah, okay, it's so undoubtedly trendy I expect to hear it the next time I go in Topshop, but Santogold is so much more than your average NME-endorsed chancer and far far more than (as some have claimed) a weaker version of her pal M.I.A.- and if you don't know who that is, you ought to search for 'Kala' and add it to your basket NOW. If you want to hear something fresh and exciting but still danceable and very enjoyable, you can't go wrong with this near-flawless effort from the amazing talent that is Santogold. Never thought I'd find myself agreeing with the NME but she might just be 'the Queen of all pop in 2008'!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Your horizons... Broaden them.
Comment: I purchased this album for two reasons. Firstly, for the one song 'Creator' from the VO5 adverts. Secondly, and tied to the first reason, I thought to get the album because I found her voice and style on 'Creator' very similar to that of M.I.A. Reviews also compared and made references between the two artists and I very much admire M.I.A's work.
At first listen, i was disappointed. It sounded very rock/punk to me with the exception of a couple of tracks. But I pressed on, as always to get my money's worth, and listened to the CD all day to gain a full immersion into the music of Santogold.
I am pleasantly surprised. The tracks which at first impression sounded rocky and exhausting turned out melodic and upbeat. It is not the usual style of music I enjoy but there is something I indeed like about it. For instance, the mild reggae feel of 'Shove It' and the ska punk element in 'Say Aha'. It has a retro electronica sound about it and consequently, being an 80's baby myself, delivers a nostalgic effect. Other examples of this include 'My Superman', 'Starstruck' and 'Anne', all of which hold a sort of dark, melancholy synth-pop sound.
The best track of the entire album has to be 'Anne'. It is reminiscent of Bronsky Beat's 'Smalltown Boy' and epitomises this mid-80's synth genre.
Tracks which I personally find weak include 'Lights Out' and 'I'm A Lady'. They are definitely much too indie-pop for my taste. In fact, I deleted them from my Windows Media Player but unfortunately cannot off the actual CD. Shame. Another disappointment was the fact that she did not provide lyrics with the CD. Knowing what an artist is singing about always seems to elevate a track.
In conclusion, I would recommend this album. In comparison with M.I.A, the 'Creator' track and very vaguely 'Unstoppable' is where the similarities end. However, in the M.I.A vs Santogold debate I would still opt for the former despite what some reviews may say about Santogold having a more diverse repetior (and in one case "more talent and a wider artistic range") than M.I.A. She's my personal preference (maybe because she's Indian and a British artist).
So if you're more of a Rio Funk and World music meets House & Garage type, I might suggest to allow Santo.
But it never hurts to broaden your horizons...
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