#Santogold

[itsmyfriendisaac]

♎ September 25th: The Creator, Santigold.

[luckythings]

[th3-0bjectivist]

Dear listener, I understand that having a white dude on Tumblr recommending excellent black music makes about as much initial sense as me suggesting that you upgrade your home to cutting-edge VCR and landline phone technologies. Given the current racial tensions in the US right now, all I ask is that you give this white boy’s recommendation the old community college try. This week the focus will be on Santigold, a cross-genre artist that deserves way more attention than is afforded to her. I’ve been listening to Santigold’s music for nearly a decade, and I’ve said it before, but you guys can keep your Cardi B’s and your Nikki Minaj’s because when I’m hungry for excellent music, I come to the table for something rare, experimental, smart and versatile. Santigold delivers all of that, and more. Smash play on Look At These Hoes from her 2012 album Master of My Make-Believe, and if it pleases you, join me for rolling fields of gold below.

A genuine music industry trailblazer, Santi White started off her career as a mere A&R (her job was to find promising new artists and bring them in to sign contracts) for Epic Records. This Philadelphia-born multitalented maven started collaborating with musicians, and then in 2001 became the lead singer in a ska band called Stiffed. The best part of this group’s music was the vocals and lyrics, and after disbanding in 2005 or so, Ms White embarked upon her solo career. A solo career that has lasted nearly two decades to this year. There’s an island vibe to her music, and I’m not just talking about the style. Her music feels different than anything mainstream in terms of raw brain-power, exceptional flow and overall depth of meaning. She makes music that thinks as much as it works to go against the mainstream grain. She deserves respect and legitimate accolades for sticking to her guns and staying genuine through her career, rather than selling out and producing the equivalent of another WAP just for the sake of raking in millions from people with questionable taste in music. Along with having a sultry mezzo-soprano voice (my personal favorite lady voice type) her style is a mishmash of hip-hop, new wave, punk and electro. If you listen to her jams and don’t find your head and body bobbing to her beats, I believe I can officially pronounce that you have no actual soul in your body! If you spend any time at all studying the deeper meaning behind her jams, you will find complex themes of resilience, perception of reality and an overall complexity of character which few, if any ‘similar’ artists can even approach without immediately appearing to be outside of their mental depth. Just below you’ll find the music video for L.E.S. Artistes from her 2008 album Santogold. Enjoy!

As the first song on this post strongly suggests, Santi White ain’t no booty hoe. She’s highly educated, she’s a mother, and in terms of eloquence of execution… she’s an absolute industry badass. You owe it to yourself to take a deep dive into Santigold’s catalog and I implore you to revere artists like her as the mega-talents they truly are. Image source: https://tomtommag.com/2012/05/brooklyns-golden-child-santigold/

[possible-streetwear]

SANTIGOLD - NICE AND DIRTY ART

[cellulardreams]

Santogold Santigold by Lauren Gardner Via Flickr: Oh I loveeeeeeeee them: www.myspace.com/santogold

[sanctuaryfound]

Santigold - Santigold LP (VMP gold nugget)

[blastyourspeakers]

"I want you, do you want me too?"

[ylkcheeeks]

i just think that L.E.S. Artistes and Los Ageless.

[ainslee3000]

today’s repeat song

[rosemarysealavender]

Santigold - My Superman

[nowisthewinter]

And to think the animated movie version of Nimona was almost this close to being shelved if Netflix had not picked it up.

Yes, it’s good. It’s very good. I’ll let other people talk about the plot points, the characters and the pretty nifty soundtrack. (Santogold? Yes, please.) 

I am here to talk about the animation.

Watching this movie made me realize what I don’t like about Pixar movies lately. Yes, Pixar’s the king of realism. And, yes, Nimona is way more design simple compared to Pixar. But the one thing Nimona has over Pixar is how the characters move. 

Pixar characters don’t really move. Yes, they walk. Yes, they gesture. Yes, they will do things.

But they don’t “act.”

For example, there are many parts of Nimona where you could turn off the sound and still follow the story like it was a silent movie of old. The characters’ body language and facial language tell a story on their own. They fill up a whole screen with their mannerisms. This is Buster Keaton. This is Charlie Chaplin. This is Harold Llyod. 

You don’t really get that with Pixar. And while that was fine years ago because everyone was striving for realism and Pixar was showing everyone how to animate hair, now, it’s.....boring. 

Realism isn’t the end goal anymore. It’s a one trick pony that really should be out to pasture. Now people want to see what else you can do with animation. Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse showed that there are a wide range of styles you can pull from. Even taking ideas from Impressionism, Modern pop art (Check out Jean-Michel Bisquiat) and commercial art (See Bollywood film posters for example). Nimona is now showing how much acting range you can get from their animation. I’ve already watched it twice. Once for the story. The other just to watch the characters “act.” I’ll probably watch it a few more times because that animation, THAT ANIMATION!

I want more of that. Take notes, Pixar. 

[utronabalcone]

santigold - santogold (2008)

[vsthepomegranate]

Santogold (detail) (2009)

Cover Art by Isabelle Lumpkin

[heinous-eli]

Here is a list of 10 Black artists/bands you might enjoy if you're millennial indie trash like me, roughly in order from better to lesser known and accompanied by a single song rec. There are, of course, more than 10 Black indie artists I listen to and even more that exist (and lots more songs just by these artists/bands!), so please do drop your recs in the comments.

(and yes "indie" means very little but whatever you know what I means it's vibes OK?!?)

Artist: Solange Jumping-off point song: Losing You Yeah, she's Beyonce's younger sister and fairly famous, but hear me out: I feel like she is perceived as overexposed as a result and therefore is sometimes dismissed as an artist. She really is fantastic and has her own thing going. I honestly don't think her singing voice sounds anything like the other Knowles's. Her style is definitely unique, too.

Band: Bloc Party Jumping-off point song: Flux You may know at least one song by them, even if you don't realize it. They've been featured on video games like Need for Speed Pro Street, FIFA 06, Burnout Revenge, and Guitar Hero 3, as well as TV shows like Skins, Waterloo Road, and How I Met Your Mother. The frontman, Kele Okereke, has also released his own solo stuff.

Artist: Santigold Jumping-off point song: Disparate Youth Formerly known as Santogold, she's opened for acts ranging from The Beastie Boys to MIA and Bjork, plus she was name-dropped by Beyonce in Break My Soul (The Queens Remix).

Band: TV on the Radio Jumping-off point song: Young Liars They've been one my faves since the first day I heard them ~20 years ago and have stayed in the rotation ever since.

Band: Alabama Shakes Jumping-off point song: Don't Wanna Fight The band is on indefinite hiatus for a lot of reasons ranging from messy to objectively awful. That said, what a fantastic and highly influential band, especially considering how relatively short-lived and recent its existence was.

Artist: Ekkstacy Jumping-off point song: i walk this earth all by myself For the record, Ekkstacy himself has expressed annoyance at the comparison. But! The first time I heard him, I immediately was reminded of Bloc Party in a good way, and I'm not the only one.

Band: Black Kids Jumping-off point song: I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You The first time I came across this band, I was convinced the band name was indie irony, like the band Girls. I was wrong. Also, the lyrics to their aforementioned biggest song is accidentally a transmasc mood.

Artist: Toro Y Moi Jumping-off point song: Talamak I've seen a lot of artists live, and his slot at Desert Daze is one of the best performances I've ever seen. The music is danceable and the lyrics poetic and thoughtful, yet unpretentious.

Artist: Yuno Jumping-off point song: No Going Back A man after my own heart, he mentions HIM’s Razorblade Romance and AFI’s Sing The Sorrow among the albums that have influenced him.

Artist: Blood Orange Jumping-off point song, more normal song edition: You're Not Good Enough Jumping-off point song, trippy glam edition: Uncle ACE This is the artist and song that inspired me to write this list, because I absolutely cannot get enough of both of these songs right now, so he gets two song recs. Fun fact: Dev Hynes has collaborated with Minimalist icon and ye olde meme Phillip Glass.

[cellulardreams]

Santogold by Lauren Gardner Via Flickr: Oh I loveeeeeeeee them: www.myspace.com/santogold santigold

[poriferan]

4 albums i’ve been listening to recently tagged by @suturesque 😁🫶

santogold by santigold seychelles by masayoshi takanaka floral green by title fight and what’s tonight to eternity by cindy lee

i tag everyone that listens to music today. and @malware1 @lindamanz420 @skatalite @blinditem @everydayilearnmore