This post is from Out the Other's 2009 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2009 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.
Editor's note: This is a guest preview from Sean Maloney (aka
Bawston Sean), a frequent contributor to both the Nashville Scene and
Nashville Cream. Sean can be reached via email at sean@grandpalace.us.
Generally speaking, I'm against the use of pop music in advertising. I know it's great for the writers and artist involved, financially speaking, but I also think that the licensing orgy over the last decade plus has cheapened music and contributed to the general public's disinterest in purchasing music. Call me crazy, but that's what I think. The one exception I'd make would be for Santigold and those damned Bud Lime ads – against all better judgment, I get giddy every time they come on. I can't help it, I just love Santigold, even if the beer tastes like the organic window cleaner my wife buys.
Santigold's self titled debut ruled my 2008. It's rare that an album stays in my iPod rotation for more than a month, but Santogold has had a lock on my heart for a year-plus now. Maybe it's the way she cuts-and-pastes rock and reggae influences and recontextualizes hip hop and electronic grooves, or her beguiling and otherworldly approach to singing, but hot damn that record never gets old. Hell, one time last summer I was walking around my neighborhood when some damn yuppie in a conspicuously excessive SUV clipped me with his bumper and I just let it slide because his tunes were bangin'. You can't be angry when “Creator” is bumpin' at full blast, it's physically impossible.
I was a bit wary about seeing her live – as the album is such a piece of studio wizardry – but her performance at Vanderbilt University's Rites of Spring Festival was one the best sets I've seen all year. With just a DJ and two sexy, S1W-style dancers to back her up, Santigold owned the crowd – seriously, every woman in the crowd went absolutely ape-shit and every dude that wasn't participating in said insanity was either pushed to the side or crushed under their heels. She also mentioned that the next time she went on tour she was bringing her band. Guess what? This is that “next time” – I'm so stoked I can hardly contain myself.
Santigold plays That Tent at 4:45-6:00 on Friday, which is at the same time as a bunch of other awesome stuff, which is kind of a bummer but whatevs. Check out the Full Bonnaroo schedule on the official Bonnaroo website.
