As Santi White she's a successful music producer and pop songwriter. As Santogold, she is an "artiste," and one, it seems, with a bit of a point to prove. Lyrics here (e.g. Sit tight I know what you are/mad bright but you aint no star - Creator) suggest that White has become somewhat disillusioned with the industry "machine," as it were. Having just released a cover of The Clash's Guns of Brixton (re-titled Guns of Brooklyn) with producer Diplo, her appreciation for all genres of music and her ability to move between them remain in striking evidence. Punk, hip-hop, dub, reggae and good old fashioned rock all feature here, and in no minute way either. Debut single Creator successfully combines African rhythms with submarine-like electronics to grabbing effect. L.E.S Artistes is a perfect example of down-tempo new-wave electro-indie. Say Aha's reggae backdrop melts into a surreal "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" style break while Lights Out and I'm A Lady are clearly punk-rock influenced. The result is impressive, admirable, but does raise the question of who this album is aimed at. If no-one, then what we're dealing with can hardly be termed pop. For someone with White's pop songwriting experience, labelled "The queen of all pop in 2008" by NME, this isn't as catchy as it should be. The overall listenability is tarnished by the likes of Shove It's tuneless derivative chorus, Unstoppable's 3mins33 of relentless repetition and a redundant remix of You'll Find A Way. The fact is, this could more accurately be described as "anti-pop" - the appeal of pop music with an entirely different set of ideals… and credibility! Again, admirable, and even more ironic then, or perhaps wholly apt, that it should receive such commercial success.
