Albums of the month!!!

Santogold, Santogold

At the time of this album's release last year, Santi White's band was called Santogold. One year and the threat of prosecution later, said band has been renamed Santigold. It hardly matters, though, the music remains the same, and what glorious music it is!
Rock, hiphop, ska, grime, techno- you name it, it's here. Sure, detractors have compared to her to M.I.A. and while that comparison may not exactly be unsound, it's just a little too lazy. It's hardly a flawless album, but that's precisely the point- White isn't interested in proving herself the best new act around, but i'll be damned if she isn't.

Download now: Creator; Say Aha; L.E.S. Artistes; Unstoppable.



Erykah Badu, New Amerykah Part One (4th World War)

Having been on the music scene since 1997, Ms. Badu may be one of a select few of R&B artistes who have been allowed to dabble in their own pretensions and indulgences, while still garnering acclaim. Nowhere is this more apparent than on Badu's first LP of new music since 2000's introspective Mama's Gun. But where that album posited Badu as all-encompassing Earth Mama, New Amerykah sees her falling back down to her gritty, hiphop-centric roots.

Download now: The Healer; Honey; My People; Soldier.



Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion

Named after the Columbia, Maryland venue of the same name, and described by band members as their own version of soul music, MPP represents the collective's most complete form of pop. With deep bass, exaggerated melodies, complex rhythms and warped textures, the album takes cues from Panda Bear's 2007 solo album, the acclaimed Person Pitch. While the adjective "mainstream" may never be attached to the group's name, the album sees the band writing and singing its most straight-forward lyrics about familial love, identity and growing older. I've never been a fan of the group's seemingly patchy aesthetics, but patchy they are no more.

Download now: My Girls; Also Frightened; Lion in a Coma; Brothersport.




Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It's Blitz!

Ever since forming in the early 2000's, and having an entire mantle thrown on their heads, Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been an uneasy band. While lesser bands (The Strokes) would have shrugged their shoulders and rested on their laurels, Karen O and company have sought to expand their sound, stretching their creatives limits to the very edge. It seems appropriate that TV on the Radio's David Sitek co-produces, and if the album sounds like a response to new bands like MGMT and The Killers, it's because it is; YYY's have practically spat these bands out anyway. Guitar heads may whine at the evolutionary synths and electronics, but O sounds at turns fiercer and more vulnerable than ever.

Download now: Zero; Skeletons; Heads Will Roll; Dull Life.