Santigold

Author: Toren Hardee

Santi White - widely known as Santogold and, more recently, as Santigold, due to a lawsuit filed by infomercial jeweler Santo V. Rigatuso a.k.a. Santo Gold - brought her fresh, energetic, contemporary pop to the Pepin Gymnasium on Saturday night. The performance, though brief, was potent and well-polished, and the presiding feeling was one of a successful concert as attendees left the venue sweaty and pleased.

Santigold's stage ensemble consisted of, in addition to Santi herself, an active and energetic DJ and two robotic backup dancers clad in sunglasses and metallic silver wind breakers. Like space-age, hipster counterparts to the British Royal Guard, the dancers stood stock still until each song reached a critical point, at which point they added some necessary flair to Santigold's otherwise simple stage aesthetic.

The ten-song setlist consisted almost entirely of tracks from her sole full-length release, the 2008 self-titled debut "Santogold." Popular favorites such as the impeccable, sweeping "L.E.S. Artistes" and the wild, M.I.A.-comparison-inducing "Creator" appeared, as well as other highlights from the record, such as show-opener "You'll Find a Way" and "Shove It." For the latter, Santi began the song with a remix emphasizing the "Brooklyn / we go hard" lyric, acknowledging its usage in Jay-Z's relatively popular single "Brooklyn Go Hard" from his upcoming album "The Blueprint3." "Get It Up" appeared as the obligatory inclusion from "Top Ranking," Santigold's acclaimed 2008 pan-genre collaboration with Diplo.

Santigold's stage presence was warm and gracious, enthusiastic and crowd-pleasing, contrasting with the fierceness and the sarcasm present in her lyrics ("L.E.S. Artistes," for example, is a sharp indictment of the Lower East Side art scene). In a sense, the detachment and unfamiliarity of the backup dancers emphasized this aspect of the music, while Santi herself smiled throughout the concert and often leaned forward glowingly, engaging the front row of the crowd. She admitted that this show was her first college gig, and thanked the audience repeatedly for their support and enthusiasm. And she livened the atmosphere by inviting five (or what ended up being more like seven or eight) audience members up onstage to dance during "Creator."

It is easy, listening to "Creator," to see how comparisons are so quickly drawn between Santigold and M.I.A. Like some of M.I.A.'s material, "Creator" has those distinct yelping vocals and a global feel that almost borders on something tribal, or at least indigenous. However, listening to Santigold's tracks beyond "Creator" or "Unstoppable" (the show's closer), it is clear that the connections between the two artists are mostly superficial. Most of Santigold's songs are performed with more melodic vocals, and have a totally different set of influences and reference points than M.I.A.'s, whose mostly consist of international club music. Santigold's recordings, though they avoid generic categorization in a similar way, sound more polished and even retrospective, evoking ranges of female musical icons, from Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Nina Simone to punky riot grrrl outfit Sleater-Kinney.

Her experience as a producer prior to her solo recording career has undoubtedly lent her this ability to dabble lightly in numerous influences and create a body of work as cohesive and streamlined as her self-titled debut. As well as working as an Artists & Repertoire agent for Epic Records (giving her the necessary connections in the music industry), Santigold produced and collaborated with artists such as GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan and R&B singer Res. Interestingly, her r