Home Taping: Santogold

Nik KershawSantogoldI discuss the Philly songstress’s 80s-tinged eponymous debut with MOG outsider, the Girlfriend (aka Jill).Me: Santogold have been described as the future of music.The GF: By who?Me: Santogold.The GF: She said it herself?Me: Yeah. "I'm breaking boundaries, creating new genres!" So, when I heard the music, I thought, “I'm back in the 80s here, I'm back in short pants.” Why is she talking about the future?The GF: Yeah.Me: But when I heard Lights Out, I couldn’t deny how good it was. I put my cynicism aside...The GF: It’s a cracking song. Me: It is. I think it means, don’t worry, we’ll turn the lights off, everything will be all right. We’ll have sex, or something.The GF: Why the hell do you have to turn the lights out when having sex?Me: My six-pack is gone. The GF: You need to be drunk to have sex with the curtains open?Me: No, my washboard stomach. That’s gone.The GF: No, it’s not.Me: Thanks.The GF: You never had one to begin with. Me: Touche.The GF: You know, the song could also be about being in a dorm room, at bed time, and you’re told, “Lights out.”Me: That’s a more literal interpretation. I think she’s saying everything’s going to be okay. Don’t worry. Deep down we all want to hear that. I don’t know, I could be completely wrong. It could be about turning the lights off in a dormitory and going asleep. Going for the private school market. The GF: I like the way she manipulates her voice [in “I’m a Lady”]. She's like Bowie. I think it’s another cracking song.Me: Yeah, very strong, very feminist, which is hard to get right. But I'm amazed at how mainstream she sounds. She should say in her interview, “Breaking boundaries? Balls to that! I’m out to make shitloads of cash!” The GF: I think she’s trying to be Karen O [on "L.E.S Artistes"].Me: Only it's made for mainstream kids.The GF: And she'll get away with it. 'Cause not a lot of mainstream kids know the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Me: True. When the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are back working in [grocery store] Spar, they’ll wish they had followed the same path.The GF: Karen O will never be working in Spar!Me: “Is there a special offer on your baked beans, Karen?”The GF: No fucking way!Me: “Yeah, two for the price of one, love.” Karen’ll wish she’d written that big mainstream hit as her pension. An upbeat Christmas song, or something.The GF: Karen O will commit suicide before working in Spar.Me: Not a very romantic death.The GF: The point I’m trying to make is, this album is, “okay, what is going to sell here?” It's a big mishmash of all the popular genres of the minute, the 80s thing, the Jamacian thing, the hip-hop thing, the MIA thing. Me: Whatever the MIA thing is.The GF: Yeah. Me: I don’t like the message [in “Shove It”]. “Stick your hope where it don’t shine.” It’s frightening. We’re too old.The GF: Speak for yourself!Me: Too old to rebel in that way, I mean. “Up your arse, mate!” That’s what she’s saying in this song.The GF: I could say that, as well.Me: To who?The GF: To you.Me: About what?The GF: We don’t have the time to list everything. Me: What about the album, so?The GF: The alternative stuff she does is terribly annoying. It's 'switch it off in the middle of the song' stuff. Me: But her mainstream songs are brilliant. The GF: Yeah.Me: Santogold has to face facts. When she tries to do street, it sounds forced. Probably 'cause she's a rich kid jetsetter type. But she can write great mainstream pop songs. I'd love to hear an album full of the those next time. She is the female Nik Kershaw, not M.I.A. Leave the M.I.A stuff to the genuine nutters.The GF: Like M.I.A.