SONG OF THE DAY [#304]

'l.e.s. artistes' | santogold

here's a breath of fresh air for you. philly native shanti white, a.k.a. santogold, drops her self-titled debut on april 29th. and it's really good, dare i say great? yep, i dare. it's great! [i've had it on repeat all morning].

though the comparison to m.i.a. are perhaps inevitable, they really don't pass muster once you actually listen to the album. for all its modernity, 'santogold' seems firly rooted in 80s 'indie rock' with only trace elements of r&b/rap present. santogold herself cites acts like the pixes as an influence [tell me that's not a pixies-esque bassline on 'i'm a lady'] and there's more than a passing similarity to missing persons dale bozzio in santogold's vocal delivery of 'l.e.s. artists,' which, in my opinion, is a definite single of the year candidate.

i expect the online fishwraps will start foaming out the mouth and hyping santogold out the wazoo as we get closer to april 29 [hey, wait, that's only three days away! where does the time go?]. as always, take what the say with a grain of salt, but that doesn't lessen in any way what a great debut this is.

→ santogold: l.e.s. artistes | video
→ santogold: i'm a lady [w/trouble andrew]