CD Reviews

Santogold

Downtown

By DANIEL BROCKMAN | May 13, 2008

3.0 Stars

As the multiplying number of female major-label artists releasing bloop-bleep manifestos to wackiness attests, Björk’s stunt with the swan outfit was a defining cultural moment. In the wake of Swangate, it seems that female solo artists have two paths to choose from: releasing solid acoustic-based songy songs, or wearing warpaint and DayGlo and delivering vocals in as idiosyncratic a style as possible. It’s not really worth giving examples, because in the case of Santi White a/k/a Santogold’s debut album, identifying the specific reference points spoils all the fun. And anyway, the real reference point here is a bit more arcane: let’s see, an artist emerges out of nowhere with a major-label debut that is exceedingly polished, yet with a foot in a burgeoning underground scene, and with a stylistic diversity that makes every track a different exercise in genre mastery? That’s right, it’s like Lenny Kravitz’s debut all over again. The dubby patches at the two-thirds mark kill a lot of the momentum, but one would have to be pretty jaded to deny the club-banging ecstasy of “Creator,” the new-wave crunch of album opener “L.E.S. Artistes,” and/or the Ashlee-Simpson-covering-the-Police awesomeness of “You’ll Find a Way.”

Related: Risky business, Mixed, nuts, CMJ in one day, More

Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Lenny Kravitz, More

| More

See more deals

view all

[ 02/17 ] Festival Ballet Providence presents UP CLOSE ON HOPE @ Black Box Theater

[ 02/17 ] "Dana Levin: A Classical Realist In the 21st Century," an exhibit of paintings @ Bert Gallery

[ 02/17 ] Mary Poppins @ Providence Performing Arts Center

ARTICLES BY DANIEL BROCKMAN

IN FLAMES CRAFT AN EVOLVING BREED OF METAL | February 15, 2012
Face it: metal bands are just brands, and to the headbanging hordes, you are only as good as your last breakdown — unless you can concoct a memorable musical identity to stand above the competition.

[IN MEMORIAM] WHITNEY HOUSTON, 1963-2012 | February 13, 2012
Whitney Houston, who passed away this weekend of still-to-be-determined causes at the too-young age of 48, made an art out of depicting heroic triumph over adversity in her music

A PUNK PHENOMENON GROWS UP | February 08, 2012
It's time we faced it: the vanguards of rock have gotten really old.

THURSTON MOORE MOVES ON | January 25, 2012
When Thurston Moore takes the stage at Somerville Theatre on Tuesday, he will no doubt stroll through the wispy cloud-spires of last summer's Beck-produced solo effort, Demolished Thoughts (Matador).