Santogold is solo and hitting her stride
The Mount Airy singer-songwriter is opening for M.I.A.
When we last encountered Santi White, the Wesleyan-educated songwriter from Mount Airy was fronting Stiffed, the superb ska-punk-pop band whose full-length debut,
Burned Again,
was one of the standout releases of 2005.
That was then. Now she's Santogold.
"That record came out way after it was made, and the label was a joke," says White, who now lives in Brooklyn, and is the daughter of the late Ron White, a former adviser to Mayor Street. "All the momentum was lost."
But since going solo as Santogold, White has nothing but momentum. Working with songwriting partner John Hills and collaborating with a host of hip DJ producers including Diplo, Mark Ronson and Switch, the buzz for her debut album - due in early 2008 on Downtown Records - is burning as brightly as "one thousand West African suns," according to Rolling Stone, who put Santogold on top of its artists-to-watch list. Earlier this fall, Björk felt the heat and asked White to open for her at Madison Square Garden.
The excitement is over a handful of infectiously energetic songs that can be sampled at www.myspace.com/santogold and which marry White's pop savvy songwriting moves with the electro beat sensibilities of the likes of Philadelphia's Diplo (known for, among other things, his work with Sri Lankan agit-prop MC M.I.A., who Santogold opens for at the Electric Factory), as well as the retro R & B stylist Ronson, who included a Santogold cover of The Jam's "Pretty Green" on his Version CD.
"I was doing my New Wave, punk-rock and dub thing, and I started mixing it up with these progressive electronic producers," White says. The impetus for the change in direction came after getting together with a bunch of Philadelphia-based artists, like Spankrock and Amanda Blank, "who were really inspiring."
"The thing about Philly as an artist is it's a great place to figure things out," White says. "But because it's so small, to make something happen in the business you have to leave. But I really rep Philly in my heart."