Song of the Day
The Melodians in recent concert appearance.
Sweet Sensation - the Melodians Summer time is ska music time in my home by the banks of the Big Muddy River. I've skanked away many a balmy summer evening to the sounds of of this beautiful 1967 ska classic from the Melodians. Summertime photographs on the video storyboard are, as always, free of charge to gaze in awe at.
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The Artist formerly known as Santogold
A few months back Santogold legally changed her stage name from Santogold to Santigold as a result of a threatened copyright lawsuit by Santo Gold a infomercial jewelry merchandiser. Her real name is Santi Gold.
Santigold's musical oeuvere defies classification in the nomenclature of contemporary musical genres. Some critics attempted to place her music in the hip-hop ghetto even before she released her first album. Others called her an MIA knock-off because she toured with MIA prior in 2007 prior the release of her album.
I don't hear much about Santogold on the MB forum. Her debut album last year has become this year's remix album in the underground club scene. I'm particulary fond of M.I.A. producer Switch's recent remix of
Shove It from her debut album.
Shove It (Switch remix)- Santogold
Most folks don't know that Santigold was school at the Germantown School a Quaker run preparatory school in Philadelphia whose students have one of the highest rates of successful applications to Ivy League colleges in the nation. Santigold went to college at the posh and academically challenging Weselyan University in Middletown Connecticuit. Her father was a Philadelphia lawyer who ended up getting involved in a sordid municipal corruption indictment. Still Santigold's priveleged middle class background and academic accomplishment don't exactly fit profile of a Brooklyn hip-hop homegirl.
Her network of musical associates comes from a grab bag of varied genres. She has plans to record with both David Byrne and the Beastie Boys and has already recorded with M.I.A., the Strokes Julian Casablanca, and Jay-Z and has toured in Europe with MIA, Architecture in Helsinki and Bjork.
Santigold has said she is inspired by 1980s pop music.
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"I felt that a lot of pop music from the '80s had a depth to it, and I hope to bring back some more good pop songs."
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She has also stated her liking for New Wave and added that
My Superman is based on a Siouxsie & the Banshees' song, "Red Light". The singer also cites Blondie, Grace Jones, Devo whom she describes as her "ultimate favorite band" [
Devo the ultimate band? I confess being blindsided by that remark. Don't get me wrong... I love Devo, but it never occured to me that Devo would be
anybody's "ultimate band].
Santigold gets testy with critics and music vendors who hang the hip hop, rap or R&B label on her music simply because she is a black artist Santigold says:
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"Everyone is just so shocked that I don't like R&B. Are you shocked that Good Charlotte isn't into R&B? Why does R&B keep coming into my interviews? It's pissing me off. I didn't grow up as a big fan of R&B and, like, what is the big shocker? It's stupid."
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