Santigold Review

Santigold, Trouble Andrew, and Amanda Blank

9:30 Club

815 V Street NW

June 10, 2009

The trio of Trouble Andrew, Amanda Blank and Santigold at last night’s sold out show made for a dynamic and powerful night of music. All three acts provided a unique creativity that complimented each other and made the show stronger as a whole.

The first band to go on, Trouble Andrew, was an entertaining lead in. He combined the sounds of punk rock and electronica with the lyrical themes of hip-hop. Some elements of the performance seemed executed simply for bewilderment value, like having a man wearing an oversized skull mask with glasses posing in different positions on stage, but the music was penetrating and exciting and made for a great set.

The chaotic mixing of genres established in the first act proved to be a common thread among the artists. Amanda Blank stormed the stage next with her excellent blend of dance pop and rap. Her lack of pants was initially distracting. In fact, she was wearing only a black bra and underwear with what looked like a cotton jersey or an oversized wifebeater. Her performance was vicious and the girl has a wild stage presence that might have been more over the top had she not been sick (she canceled her appearance at the after party held at DC9 earlier in the day due to illness).

Santigold sure knows how to make her audience wait and get them good and riled up before going on. By the time she finally went on, I felt like I had experienced the whole roller coaster with the first two acts and was wondering what more could be in store.

But sure enough, she topped them both. In her second appearance at 9:30 Club, Santigold, equipped with her live band and war-officer-clad stage women, brought down the house. She skillfully combined elements of both the opening acts with other outside influences, such as reggae and alternative. She sounds like a crazy mix of M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Lauryn Hill, and undulating alt. rock bands such as Mew.

One high point was her cover of The Cure’s first single “Killing an Arab.” The song is a simplified retelling of Albert Camus’ novel The Stranger. The Middle Eastern flare to the song provided an interesting break from the rest of her set. The lyrics and melodies evoked an urgent and menacing threat, in keeping with the theme of the book. Santigold and her band performed an animated version that kept the audience moving and engaged throughout the song.

The climax of the entire night was the onstage collaboration of Santigold and Amanda Blank in their performance of “I’m a Lady.” The two of them had a truly symbiotic relationship up there that electrified the entire place. The audience was going wild as they fed off each other, fusing their two different sounds into one song. Unfortunately, the collaboration didn’t last long enough. Another song with the two of them would have made my night.

Something should also be said about the supreme audio capacity of 9:30 Club. The sound in that place infiltrates the entire building, no matter where you are. Among other, lesser things, this consuming vitality of sound is what makes 9:30 Club the best venue for shows in DC.

The show, as a whole, was surprising, interactive, turbulent, and provocative. It makes me giddy to think what she and her cohorts might come up with if they collaborated with some other music names. Santigold and her whole show lives up to the name of one of her title tracks; “Unstoppable.”