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Santogold Image
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 70 Ratings

  • Summary: The debut full-length album for the alternative rock artist has Spank Rock and Trouble Andrew as featured guests.

Top Track

I'm A Lady
Now won't you run and tell your boyfriend Tell him don't hold his breath for me I got some money I was savin' Got some hearts that I'll be... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 27
  2. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    91
    The album is hardly flawless, but in an era that retro-fetishizes rock and whitewashed pop, Santogold feels both raw and real. [25 Apr/2 May 2008, p.119]
  2. This album is a place to crash, boots to wear, pepper spray to fight back with and charcoal to dirty your hands. If the struggles of urban artists sound like this, these 12 anthems ensure that starving will never go out of style.
  3. 80
    Combining new wave, ska, dub, grime, Baltimore club, and hip-hop in an ear-warping wash of 21st-century psychedelia, Santogold takes listeners on a trip to a hidden black America, where White acts as tour guide through the alleyways of her mind and undoubtedly excellent iPod.
  4. No Doubt-esque ska-pop forms the record's core, but her belting vocal hooks really come into their own on the robotic indie numbers.
  5. Santogold pours all that experience into a bracingly eclectic set full of fuzzy New Wave synths, sticky avant-soul melodies, busted-laptop beats and sing-song vocal chants inherited from the likes of Neneh Cherry and Björk. If you've managed to avoid her until now, you won't be able to for much longer.
  6. Santogold might try to separate formula and art, but her album catches fire when she blasts that distinction into irrelevance.
  7. Under The Radar
    40
    Variously hailed as the future of pop music, the next M.I.A., and the culmination of punk, New Wave, and electronic pop, the most remarkable aspect of Santogold’s debut is how ordinary most of it is. [Summer 2008]

See all 27 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Dec 15, 2022
    10
    This is the only thing I like. Unfortunately, that sentence was only 30 characters.
  2. BartekB.
    May 13, 2008
    10
    Absolutely great album - probably the most fresh 2008's stuff...
  3. AaronF.r
    Aug 28, 2008
    10
    This isn't usually my sort of music so I was pleasantly surprised by this as it is one of my favourite albums of the year now.
  4. JasonA.
    May 6, 2008
    9
    From start to finish this is a really listenable and most excellent album. Very eclectic mix of styles; indie, new wave, dance, dub reggae, From start to finish this is a really listenable and most excellent album. Very eclectic mix of styles; indie, new wave, dance, dub reggae, etc... One song will sound like The Pretenders, another like M.I.A, then another like No Doubt, then another like Tegan and Sara and then 4 others like nothing I've ever heard before. Despite the fact that I'm a dude, I can't stop listening to "I'm a Lady". What a freakin' song! Expand
  5. LeviS.
    Sep 8, 2008
    9
    I think it's a great, versatile album. There is not a single track on it you'd want to skip when listening.
  6. MarkS.
    Jun 25, 2008
    9
    Weird but wonderful with at least three gems on there that are 'first time lovers'.
  7. RaphS.
    Oct 26, 2008
    7
    Is it me or does this feel like a recycled version of bloc party's silent alarm with r'n'b twangs added to make it a bit Is it me or does this feel like a recycled version of bloc party's silent alarm with r'n'b twangs added to make it a bit different. it's still pretty good but only as an IT album. Don't expect fireworks. more like a 6.5. Expand

See all 18 User Reviews