22 Feb 2008

Hot New Talent Alert: Santogold

There's something about Santi White. She has that thing that stars are made of.

Spin magazine labels her the next "future pop-princess" but that is really not a good way to describe this Brooklyn gal who serves up a lot more spunk than true pop princesses like Kylie ever will. Her latest project is Santogold, which is essentially a band name for a solo project. She worked with people like Diplo, Switch, Mark Ronson and production pal John Hill on Santogold's forthcoming debut LP.

Santi White emerged on the Brooklyn punk art scene together with her band Stiffed in 2004. Inspired by artists ranging from Devo to The Smiths, White saw in Santogold the opportunity to play with different styles of music. "When I started Santogold I really didn't know what it was," White says in an interview with Fader. "I just knew that I wanted to do whatever I wanted, because I hadn't."

"I do want to be a pop artist in the sense that I want the most people
possible to know my music," the singer said in an interview in 2007. "But I want to take pop music back from the
wasteland it currently resides in."

Check out the excellent "L.E.S. Artistes" in the player below. It is a new wavish tune on which Santi White presents a raw emotion and authenticity that is inherently more rock than pop and totally refreshing.