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Published on 8/28/08
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Central Park SummerStage; Sun 20
Now that the Next Big Thing buzz has died down, it’s easier to hear Santi “Santogold” White for who she really is: the avant-pop Gwen Stefani. That’s a somewhat facetious overstatement, of course. But the Brooklyn singer’s vocal affectations and adventurous music—an invigorating, albeit slightly hipper-than-thou, mishmash of dub, new wave, postpunk and ska—sound more like Stefani’s solo work than anything by the artist to whom she’s usually compared, M.I.A. On her great self-titled debut, Santogold puts on LES airs without sacrificing the hooks. Nothing matches the delirium of “Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya),” the bonkers sassfest she cowrote for Ashlee Simpson, but the nyah-nyahing tracks “Shove It” and “Unstoppable” come close.
So do her gigs. Joined by a pair of sidekicks who could pass for aloof Harajuku Girls (they don’t backup dance so much as pantomime, look bored and intermittently chirp), Santogold gives her shows something akin to a raucous performance-art vibe. If that sounds pretentious, it’s not: She could step up her game a bit in terms of showmanship, but Santogold’s intensity keeps the proceedings engaging whether she’s barking her way through aggro dancehall (“Creator”), unleashing banshee wails (“Anne”) or donning Debbie Harry drag (“I’m a Lady”). As this is her only scheduled local gig this summer, it’d be foolish to pass up. Because this shit? It really is b-a-n-a-n-a-s.
