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| Santogold | 
 enlarge | Artist: Santogold
Label: Warner
Category: Music
List Price: £11.99
Buy New: £7.98
You Save: £4.01 (33%)
New (33) from £6.74
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 538
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
EAN: 5051442830828
ASIN: B0017XFBQ2
Release Date: May 12, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-7 of 7 | | « PREV | | |
Your horizons... Broaden them. May 15, 2008
8 out of 16 found this review helpful
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...
Well worth a listen May 14, 2008
5 out of 11 found this review helpful
Santogold has been the subject of a fair amount of what could be called hype recently, which means I approached this LP with a certain amount of scepticism. While this record isn't the pop revolution some journalists would seem to think, it is an enjoyable and generally interesting one.
This isn't as "genre bending" as some have said, but it is fairly varied in that tracks like "You'll Find A Way" are in a quite Yeah Yeahs Yeahs / The Kills type vein, whereas tracks like "Creator" are very M.I.A.-ish (someone she's often compared too - in my eyes Santogold is more interesting, actually). Tracks like "My Superman", on the other hand, are more reminiscent of good 80's pop than anything else, for me.
This mix is a good thing, and keeps things interesting enough to make this LP well worth sticking with, and if you like the above mentioned groups, you might well like some of this LP. On the down side, this isn't doing anything THAT new, but it is still doing it well, and is well above the very run-of-the-mill stuff clogging up the charts these days. This in itself makes this worth 4 stars - because it has genuinley good tunes (tracks like "Lights Out" and the current single "L.E.S Artistes" are examples of simply great pop tunes) and doesn't desperately try to be something "cool" for the sake of it.
So - a good pop album, with some actual depth - but don't expect this to blow you away, just take it for what it is - a good set of tunes (with a few weakish tracks...). All in all, well worth checking out above much else out there at the moment. I am still left wondering though - when will the 80's throwback stop...?
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