Santigold [extended]

• Santogold [Downtown, 2008] A-
• Master of My Make-Believe [Atlantic/Downtown, 2012] **
• Spirituals [Little Jerk, 2022] A-

See Also:

• Santogold

Consumer Guide Reviews:

Santogold: Santogold [Downtown, 2008]
From a punky ska base, she comes up with a pop-dance amalgam that's edgy and friendly at the same time. An established fringe bizzer at 32, she supposedly tried to make a commercial record before finding herself in thrall to her muse and her collaborators. But from here she sounds like someone for whom it's no more provocative to begin the signature "Creator" shrieking like a seagull than to set "Lights Out" to a melody so fetching it would have been considered a sellout back when "new wave" meant pushing the envelope. Right now her main message is just to do all this. If enough people like it, she has the aura of someone who might push the envelope. A-

Master of My Make-Believe [Atlantic/Downtown, 2012]
Deep in neither beats nor conceits ("Disparate Youth," "Go!") **

Spirituals [Little Jerk, 2022]
The longtime biz pro born Santi White in Philadelphia in 1976 released her first and formerly best album at 32. After a six-year layoff not counting the 2018 outtakes venture that gave her time to have twins, this is her fourth and her sharpest, transmuting the atmospheric midtempo rock-as-electrodance she's long fiddled with so engagingly into something more ominous, almost as if she's observant enough to notice that she's living in history. From the "My Horror" opener's "Here I come, there I go/I can't feel it's like I'm paralyzed" to the "Fall First" finale's "I slam the brakes but you say no way/But before you know we're there," she sounds very glad to have a companion in a struggle by no means devoid of satisfactions. A-