Photo by: alloveralbany.com
Santi White’s music is a critic’s worst nightmare. What is it? Punk? Reggae? Tribal? Electronic? Pop? There are hints of each found in all of her music, but whatever she is, this non-categorical, genre-mashing, musical nomad did it right on her sophomore release, Master Of My Make Believe.
Better known by her stage name, Santigold (formerly Santogold, she changed the middle vowel in 2009 for legal reasons), the 35-year-old Philadelphia native has seemingly no limits, or rules, in her work, as she breaks all standard conventions of the modern musical template and appears to not know the meaning of the word continuity.
From the title track, appropriately named “Go,” the entire album is a pedal-to-the-metal, high-speed pursuit of alternative music nirvana. Each new song seems to take a hairpin turn in genre, keeping the listener on his toes the entire time and leaving him with his head spinning, drooling for more.
The beats are what define White’s across-the-board sound. From utilizing unidentifiable tribal percussion instruments, to muted, simple and all-out poppy rhythms, they truly run the gamut.
The clear rhythmic highlight of the album is “Disparate Youth,” which offers an absolutely gut-busting beat that puts to shame anything Dr. Dre or those at Death Row have made in years. The song is the single of the year thus far; the beat mixed with a light, catchy, offbeat chorus, teeters on the verge of perfect sonic convergence. The track effectively sets up an Occupy Wall Street camp in your head in that it is absolutely filthy and sticks around much longer than you ever thought it would.
The theme of the album, being that White is the sole decision-maker in her “make-believe” world and she is going to do whatever she wants, is represented well. In “The Riot’s Gone,” the singer croons: “Oh, I’m only dangerous at the whim of my command.” Basically, she’s the only one in control of what she is going to do and she doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.
A couple other stand-out tracks are “God From the Machine,” which could be a certifiable dubstep banger with a few minor tweaks to the bass, as well as “This Isn’t Our Parade,” a fuzzy, hazy laid-back jam that may or may not invoke some inadvertent head-bobbing and humming.
Whatever you want to call her, one thing is for sure: White is a complete musical chameleon, dawning shades of Karen O., the Ramones, hints of Nicki Minaj and vividly similar hues to M.I.A. But, underneath it all, the singer retains her unparalleled sound, unique voice and “Imma do what I want” attitude, which makes for an amazing album to rock out to as the days are getting longer and carefree summer days are on the horizon.
The video for the album’s first single, “Big Mouth,” is a must watch and includes White singing inside of a clock as well as some seriously retro animation that looks like it belongs more in the intro of an early ’90s TV show than a 2012 music video.
