AFTER THE MORNING AFTER

How was everyones 4th of july? I always say those three day weekends are a blessing and - a curse. Its a blessing because a paid holiday is always hittin'. At the same time its a curse because that extra day off just makes it all the more difficult to come in to work. You need a vacay from the vacay. At least i do.

I spent most of my weekend overindulging in things from the meat group, cleaning up my house, hula hooping(i'm baaaack), getting mo' brown, and trying to figure out this santogold thing.

Santogold. I think im supposed to like her. Let me clarify. I want to like her. Or is it a them? At any rate, i want to appreciate the music. She's from philly, and i like to support that which is homegrown. Not to mention the lead singer(Santi White) wrote the majority of Res' eponymous debut, which i LOVED. So it only stands to reason that i should be way into santogold right? After all, the music is issuing from the same mind. Nyet. Its not happening. I dunno if its her voice, or the decidedly electronic beat, but i find it annoys me more than anything else. I guess i'm not becoming a hipster after all.

The thing is, I like j*davey and HEAVy. I'll even roll with M.I.A(not really). The point is all of these "new" artists have a similar bent and that is merging pop, synth, r&b and rock. Wait should i be lumping all of these musicians together? I know artists don't like being labeled and everything. Whatever. I like my boxes and labels. It keeps things neat. Santogold's music is in the same vein as these other artists. There. I said it. I will also say that it sucks. Ok that was way harsh. It doesn't suck. It just leaves me cold. I will keep trying though.

Speaking of new music, i really really like the new Solange. I think she might make it after all. She's in desperate need of a new stylist - thats if she has one at all - but her music is fly.

Solange - I decided