Santogold – The Guvernment Performance Review
On Monday afternoon, someone messaged me asking if I wanted to go to Santogold’s performance at the Guvernment for free. Well, I do love Santogold, why not? After all, I did wait almost a year for her to be an official artist with available material. So, I drag my friend who has no idea who Santogold is (where has he been?). Most people know about Santogold because of 1) TV shows like Entourage who have used her song and 2) the M.I.A. comparison.
Santogold (nee Santi White) was part of a punk band named Stiffed before becoming a solo act. I haven’t heard the music, but I’m looking into it. Before this, Santi was an A&R rep for Epic and left to produce the 2001 Res album, How I Do (love that LP). When I found this out, I understood why I was drawn to Santogold. At the time, Res’ album was so different from everything out there and I loved it. Now listening to Santogold, I get the innovation. People can compare her to anyone they want, but no one sounds like her. Not even M.I.A.
I missed the opening acts (I kinda care, but oh well). She came on around 10:30 and performed an hour set (all her songs plus 2 covers), beginning with “L.E.S. Artistes”. Her set up was a DJ and two backup dancers/singers performing reggae/booty music inspired moves. I have to admit, I was a bit surprised at her performance. I didn’t expect her to sing EVERYTHING. I thought she’d rely a lot more on the tracks or her backup singers. But she didn’t, she sounded great and that’s awesome. It was during her performance of “Anne” that I saw her full talent. If you listen to that track (which I’ve included below), you’ll hear all the different levels she goes through with her voice. All the noise. All the notes (high & low). It’s all her, live.
The crowd was small but decent sized, which made it quite intimate (bonus). I could easily move around the place to get pics of her (ugh, my camera was acting up though). During “Creator”, she pulled people from the front onto the stage. Oh boy. I won’t get into that… but it’s nice that she can move among her fans with ease.
Tags: Concert Review, Electronic Punk, Santogold
I’d probably like to check out a live show by hers. Some of the performances I’ve seen online were pretty good.
I don’t understand the MIA comparison though… it makes no sense.