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April 25, 2008

Santogold Brings Unexpected Sounds, Fully Expected Awesomeness

thumbnail icon: Santogold Brings Unexpected Sounds, Fully Expected Awesomeness

You can't blame people for thinking Santogold's long awaited debut LP would come on M.I.A. style: there were the preadvertised producers (Kala cohorots Diplo and Switch), the panglobal beat-infused live shows, and the regular stage accompaniment from, well, you get it. Even last year's leaked tracks like "Creator" and "You'll Find A Way" seemed Arulprgasamic. But careful ID3 tag students noticed the "You'll Find A Way" leak was actually the Switch and Sinden remix, and that we hadn't yet heard the real version. That real version is the sort of stylistic curveball the whole LP brings: instead of beats with a grimy sexy electronic touch, "You'll Find A Way" proper comes on groovy new wave verses with post punk hooks that'd make Kele Okereke blush. Still expecting a Maya retread? Get set to eat crow (or, maybe gold glitter). Don't be surprised what you discover and get a full Santogold stream at mtvU. It is very good.

Posted at 1:21 PM
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6 Comments

Thank god someone actually gave this girl a break and gave the album a listen. I was equally surprised at just how good the album ended up being. I, personally, find her to be much better than M.I.A.

Posted by: Baker at 04/25/08 3:16 PM | Reply
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I think the CD is fantastic. Glad to finally see somebody else agrees. I've read nothing but reviews panning her as an MIA clone. LIke you, I can see why they'd draw the comparisons, albeit superficially. Clearly, the album didn't warrant their full attention.

Posted by: Ana at 04/25/08 4:44 PM | Reply
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Yes. See: "LES Artistes," "Lights Out," and "I'm a Lady."

Posted by: kathryn at 04/26/08 12:08 AM | Reply
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Yeah, it's similar to M.I.A., but more like M.I.A. meets Karen O. Good stuff.
Some shameless promotion: I wrote a post about her in my blog too! Check it out and bookmark it if you digg.
http://propagationreverberation.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Felicia Chen at 04/30/08 7:00 PM | Reply
Score = -2 Vote up Vote down

Yeah, it's similar to M.I.A., but more like M.I.A. meets Karen O. Good stuff.
Some shameless promotion: I wrote a post about her in my blog too! Check it out and bookmark it if you digg.
http://propagationreverberation.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Felicia Chen at 04/30/08 7:01 PM | Reply
Score = -2 Vote up Vote down

This is badass. It's a shame anyone would blow this off as a M.I.A. clone. Both styles are rad for sure, I mean you could put it in the same genre. I call it long-overdue-ladies-who-aren't-divas-rocking-using-technology-is-fresh. Or just LOLWADRUTIF? Ok maybe not.

Posted by: GM at 05/02/08 5:22 PM | Reply
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