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ACL Fest review: Santigold
There are a few different ways to do the beat-heavy electro-pop/hip-hop that Santigold (born Santi White) traffics in. There’s the school that’s heavy on artifice and separating the artist from the audience (think Janelle Monae’s outer space android schtick), and there’s the performer-as-cultural-lightning rod approach, which worked pretty well for M.I.A. before she popped out a Seagram heir and pretty much forgot what a Tamil Tiger ever was.
Problem with those schools is once a crack shows in the persona - ie, a real person with real flaws becomes visible - the art’s origin and motivation gets all turned inside out. White avoids any such problems by ditching artifice entirely (well, except for a pair of largely expressionless but cartoon-ish dancers best described as Robert Palmer’s video backing band girls crossed with Jerome from Morris Day and The Time) and just rocking the party. She gets you to clap, asks if you’re having a good time and smiles big and wide at you as fluffy hooks buffeted by deep bass rumbles come tumbling out of the speakers.
Saturday’s show came at an interesting time for White, who is three years removed from a solid, realized debut album. About to release a new LP, the set was split nearly in half between sturdy, bouncy hits like “L.E.S. Artistes” and “Lights Out” and new material that suggests a move toward both U.K. grime (double-time raps and vocals with dirty, busy production) and, curiously, Miami bass (no explanation needed or given). It’s music that sounds made for dark, cramped clubs, where the bass can roll around a packed room and cause a crowd to half lose their minds, instead of soundtracking beachy beer commercials. It’ll be interesting to hear how those songs present on record, but it was fairly obvious the hooks on White’s next record will reveal themselves through repeated listens rather than pleasantly smacking you in the face right away.
The distinctly contrasting material blended fine in a live setting (a good sign), thanks certainly to White’s obvious enthusiasm and a stage show that at various points featured White being dragged around on stage, a backing band with matching plastic Elvis wigs, prop sledge hammers, pom-pons, parasols, three costume changes and one of those two-person horse costumes that sidled up on stage for no real reason at all. Holding it all together was White, grateful and joyous at the chance to have a crowd of more than 10,000 (Coldplay followed her on an adjacent stage) join her on the next steps in what looks to be a constantly evolving, surprising career.
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Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: ACL 2011
Comments
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By Holly Hanson
September 17, 2011 11:32 AM | Link to this
I thought she was amazing. Coldplay seemed quite bland after her show.
By Jackie
September 17, 2011 3:00 PM | Link to this
Great show! Everyone’s energy was through the roof!!! Does anyone have video footage of her performance during Creator? I was hopping around like an idiot onstage, and I’m dying to see a video of it!! lol
By Kat
September 19, 2011 11:26 PM | Link to this
This show was fantastic! My group of friends all agreed that this was the surprise break-out for us, and one of our fav shows of the entire festival!