go ahead

Let me tell you something of Santogold, firstly, she has been in the industry for quite sometime already. Having worked with artists such as Res and most recently Ashlee Simpson. She helped the-now, Ashlee Wentz pen Outta My Head, Mrs Wentz’s first single off her third album. Also working with Mark Ronson on the records of Lily Allen and the like. 

Now, she is gonna burn in the glory of her own spotlight. I meant that in the most positive of ways. Having taken the bulls by its horn, Santogold who is actually Santi White, has released one the most intriguing and original indie records in a long time.

Her self-titled debut rages on with a constantly pleasurable concoction of rock elements, hip hop beats, electronic blips and indiepop. She almost reminds me of a black Liz Phair on tracks such as Lights Out and Say Aha. It is almost a throwback, to the kind of psychedelic rock we used to get from great classics such as the Mamas and Papas. 

To say the least, getting compared to M.I.A. is inevitable, having worked with Diplo results in this comparison. This is evident in the track Creator, her next single after L.E.S Artistes. The song pulses with the ease of Diplo created beats and mix techniques which brings to mind the M.I.A. sounds. But this works for Santogold as she puts her own spins with the vocals and rap on this song. Which comes up as polished and amazing and truly Santogold-ish. 

L.E.S Artistes pays tribute to the woes of struggling artists and also pays homage to these artistes in New York, with L.E.S standing for Lower East Side. This song pushes the rock element of the album. As she sings about getting the worth that she gave up for, driving guitar rifts and a heavy drum percussion rips through the song as the chorus kicks in. Amazing is say.

Now is album is not short of haunting indie melodies. My Superman charms the listener as the song and lyrics swirl in the eardrums as she coos “you are my Superman…” haunting definitely. So is Anne a mid tempo track that slowly and steadily puts this album to a conclusive end with its dub beats and low keyed singing from her. It does almost sound like she is singing jibberish on certain parts of the song.

Having listened to Santogold for quite awhile now, i can honestly say, i did not think much of the album at first. But now i take that back. For one the album tracks are not as long as i’d want them to be, but given the fact that songs are well written and beats laid out thoughtfully, the album does shine through.

Part of Santogold’s appeal, would be the fact that she has a certain amount of grit in her that appeals to a new kinda of audience. Her audacity to mix such diverse genres of music into one album shows off how talented a producer she is. She is definitely the one to watch in a string of strong artists debut this year. 

Go take a listen.

battle

BATTLE OF THE SEASON FINALES.

Due to the almost unexpected writer’s strike, we have shorter TV show seasons. Shows like Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty (just to name a few) has already ended their season. Hence i dub these few weeks, the battle of the season finales. Big networks are ending these big shows for the summer, to only bring them back during the fall. 

But fear not, summer season will have their summer shows and big hits (i hope). There is is return of super cult hit Weeds and the much anticipated (not by me) return of a all new Beverly Hills 90210, America’s favorite zip code. Pushing this out is the CW. I wonder how would that pan out.

Now back to the battle, I have watched three season finales of the three major tv shows. Namely, Gossip Girl, Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy. I would have to declare that my verdict as to who wins this battle hands down is:

GREY’S ANATOMY.

Just as i thought Grey’s was slowly losing its appeal and spark, they give us this extended season finale. Which was at once, heart wrenching, frustrating, somewhat happy, funny and down right a tear jerker. I did not cry though. But i’m sure many people did.

Into its fourth season is and still going strong. The writer’s really are the true gems of the whole show. They have written such a good story arc for this season. Tension and humor was mixed into this seasons Grey’s. The fact that the whole Meredith, Derek and Rose love triangle was enough to kill already. Then there were the medical stories and characters thrown into. And last and most importantly, the sex factor of the show, still is juicy and oozing. 

The fourth season’s finale really did culminate into alot of answers answered at the same time, new things to look forward to in season five (which has already been ordered by ABC, so YAY!). But some things were left kind of open ended and i do forgive that. Because of the extended time for this episode.

Not discounting the other major finales. Gossip Girl’s finale was quite expected, we finally saw the demise of Georgina Sparks (whom i will miss) and alot of reconciliations. One thing i would give to writers would be the throwback of Chuck Bass to his old ways. But i did think to myself whilst watching “is Chuck really bending is old ways for Blair”. Needless to say, “a leopard can never change its spots”.

As for our dear Betty, i must say, the finale was done in typical Betty fashion. It was a galore of open endings, huge humor and light drama. Betty’s love life gets more complicated as the Meade Empire slowly spirals into the hands of Wilhemina. Thats all i will say, except, let’s wait and see what happens next. Can’t wait!

As summer is ushered in, so are the summer tv shows. Hopefully Weeds will not disappoint… 

 

newfound discoball

Since Roisin Murphy’s brand of intellectual disco royally failed to garner the attention it deserves, chart wise and publicly. I do hope this relatively new artist will. The artist in mind is newly discovered, Antigone from the UK as well.

 

Antigone

She is not really a new singer. Antigone has been garnering praise and a strong following in the underground music scene, in the form of Etherfox. Which had songs in renowned compilations such as Hed Kandi and even was hailed by DJ Pete Tong.

Now she is taking on her own solo project, calling herself Antigone. Easily, her sound is disco-pop with intellect. Kind of like Roisin Murphy. Her EP More Than Man has been getting heavy club plays and is touted as a “serious contender for the best summer anthem of ‘08″ according to her myspace.

I personally feel that she has a strong sound and is really the one to watch in terms of the Pop-scape. More Than Man is definitely a catchy and danceable track. If you go down the list on her myspace tracklist, she puts in an “Album Tickler”. I must say her debut (which comes out mid June ‘08 ) sounds damn promising.

Hit her myspace to listen to More Than Man and read up about her: 

www.myspace.com/antigoneland 

 

 

 

bookend

okay besides song, lyrics and melody, i also like books. well, who doesn’t. if i do get bored of books i turn to magazines. both are main and important staples to my life. and i do mean it. and of course there is amazing invention of laptops too. 

so i have gone through many books but never thought of writing a proper review for one. i think attempted to, sometime back. with the book extremely loud and incredibly close. but it stops there. so i thought i’d start something of a section here. whatever books i read i’ll try to review here.

For my premiere post for this little section, i have decided to try my hand at the book Monster Love by Carol Topolski:

Monster Love weaves together a story of Love, in the most monstrous way possible. It sets aside characters that slowly and steadily traces the murder of a young girl called Samantha by their parents, Brendan and Sherilyn. Set in suburban London, the story slowly moves itself to its imminent end to which i shall not divulge.

I must say though, Monster Love does have an interesting take on the way its being narrated. Starting off with the most small of characters, it being Charlotte their immediate neighbor. Then slowly moving in on heavier characters like Brendan and Sherilyn itself, then to their respective families.

The fact is, Monster Love has this engaging quality to it. It definitely engages the reader from the get go. If you do have the chance to finish it in the span of one day, please do. The unfolding of events in the book do on certain notes get a bit tiresome and draggy. But this will be made up for by the strong prose and written language of Carol Topolski.

All in all, i would say that Monster Love was a good read. The ending though a touch bit anti-climatic and predictable, but has a good build up to it. Characters do come off strong and very vivid. I would definitely recommend this book.    

 

crash and burn

sometimes you do wish that things would go your way, always. but it does not, then you crash and burn. like those air crash documentary they feature on television. 

my ways are going nowhere

There is something to be said of Madonna’s new offering to the general public. That something is a mix of positive and negative. Which is prevalent in any Madonna release. Or in any case, an album release. Sure Madonna has pushed boundaries time and time again with chameleon-like effort, she has changed her looks and her sound. So how does one bounce from the hugely successful Confessions on the Dancefloor? Here are my two cents:

Hard Candy

Okay, this being Madonna’s last record for Warner Bros’, before making the jump to LiveNation, the Queen herself has said that she wants to go out with a bang. A Bang she made sure she did, roping in heavyweight chart hitting producers of the moment such as Timabaland, Pharrell and Danja just to name a few. They have for one created an album that is essentially dance but an upgrade from Confessions, minus the political intonations. If Confessions was a ode to 80’s dance music, Hard Candy would be its upgrade, Urban dance music.

Hard Candy opens with Candy Shop. A come hither song urging her listeners to come into her candy shop where she has turkish delights and where her “sugar is raw, sticky and sweet”. Its definitely club worthy, the beats pulses in and out of the ear drums with infinite ease and gusto. This can be played in clubs for sure. Then comes 4 Minutes. Which i was never a big fan of in the first place. Madonna just sounds weird throughout the song.

Give It 2 Me is the supposed next single of Hard Candy. I can see why. Its a very catchy track with a great back beat. The lyrics are a no brainer, with the Queen singing about her dancing on the dancefloor on any given night. I think this is a Pharell produced track with his signature voice popping in and out at the end of the track.

Heartbeat is one of the more funky tracks off Hard Candy, it kind of reminds me of old Madonna circa her True Blue days but with an Urban twist. Miles Away then carries on the album with a sort of mellow feel but heavy on the beats track. She’s Not Me and Incredible are the heavyweight tracks of Hard Candy. They both clock in at six minutes each. But out of the two I’d much prefer She’s Not Me. The surprise being Pharell’s falsetto singing at the back. Incredible, a song about sex with Guy Ritchie is long and too repetitive.

Beat Goes On and Dance 2night are great dancefloor fillers. They work easily on the dancefloor especially Dance 2night. Spanish Lesson one of the more out of place track and clocking in the least time on the album should just have been left out. Capping off Hard Candy are slower tracks like Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You and Voices. Both tracks see Madonna take on a serious note. But both with a heavy beat production.

All in all, Hard Candy is a heavy album, heavy in beats. Reviews has come in both negative and positive. For me i would say that i enjoyed Hard Candy as an Urban record of today. But definitely did not enjoy it as a Madonna record. But i do applaud the Queen for taking a chance on being young again. This for me is sort of a rebirth for her again. Afterall she is Madonna the Queen of Pop. She sure as bloody hell can do whatever she pleases.

Let’s see what she comes with next. All Hail the Queen, of Pop that is.

top-notch

Annie has been one of the known few artists who released one of the most interesting dance album of 2004. Anniemal was fresh and an interesting take on the electro-pop scene. Her song infectious song Chewing Gum had people literally chewing gum and listening to her music.

Now four years on, Annie is back with new material and a bigger label backing. Set to return with her brand of top notch quality pop in the later part of the year, Annie has given us a taste with her first single I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me. On first listen, I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me, is quite reminiscent of Chewing Gum.

Its not what you’d expect for someone who is signed on to Island Records. But it maybe a sign of things to come from her second album. The video however is quite catchy and colourful. It almost reminds me of a Girls Aloud video with the choreographed dance steps. But somehow its different. I do find the video complimenting the song. See to judge:

I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me.