Santogold [Audio]: Ahead ofthe game

Tue 6th May, 2008 in Features

STREAMING AUDIO INTERVIEW

Hailing from Philadelphia, Santogold is the latest – œit’ girl to arrive on a wave of hype. The singer’s self-titled debut album shows off her smarts as a songwriter; pitching sharp lyrics against a backdrop of new wave, reggae, dancehall, punk and pop. What could’ve sounded confused comes off as infectious and inspired.

Despite the recent flurry of attention, Santogold is no new kid on the block. She previously fronted the cult-punk outfit Stiffed and has been flirting with next-big-thing status for years. The late, great Disco D saw her potential and the two gelled famously in the studio. An illustrious list of collaborators followed, among them Switch, Freq Nasty, Spank Rock and Diplo. However, Santogold is quick to stress she ran the show on her album, and no amount of producer star power was going to cloud her vision.

Ahead of her appearance at the Coachella Festival, the affable Santogold tells FasterLouder’s Jack Tregoning how she manages to defy comparison.

Santogold’s Santogold is out now through Downtown/Inertia.