You Can’t Wait For Life

Last week it was announced that queen of the hipsters Santogold will be supporting Kanye West on the European leg of his present tour. As previously stated, I felt that her album could have become an album by which to remember this Summer, but for the unfortunate fact that A) it leaked in late April, and B) it wasn’t really much of a Summer. That said, during the period to which we arbitrarily refer as “Summer” I spent a lot of time listening to her self-titled album, as well as Top Ranking, the dub-centric mixtape put together by Diplo which placed her tracks against a selection of dub beats and soul classics - the likes of Benga & Coki’s Night and Aretha Franklin’s Save Me (to name but two). In short, these two collections just get better and better with each listen. So, having seen her at Pukkelpop and again at Electric Picnic (where she was most definitely a highlight of what was considered by many to be a lacklustre lineup), I can definitely say that she is not to be missed.

As for Mr West, well, who knows. While he has, to date, released three albums of undeniable quality, his performances can often be brief and erratic, and his most recent track, Love Lockdown, has not exactly met with unanimous approval. He doesn’t rap on it, and it’s sung in that autotune style used by T-Pain for example. Either way, I for one am quite excited by the prospect of his forthcoming album 808s & Heartbreak, if only because the title suggests a particular approach as well as a hint of introspection and vulnerability not seen since All Falls Down. Due out in December, the album will no doubt have been leaked by the time he takes to the stage at the RDS, but if not, he’ll definitely have enough songs to hand to keep the fans happy. Whether or not Love Lockdown and its friends are any match for Gold Digger or Touch The Sky remains to be seen, but at least we can rest assured Santogold will have won herself a new set of fans.