While the world of indie bands is, with a very few exceptions, colonised by posh kids with well-conditioned hair and earnest agendas, this country's pop is feeling more like the voice of those who actually consume it than it has for many years. The Tinchys, the Tinies and the N-Dubzes might make music of variable quality, but they provide something that ordinary young people can aspire to that is not far removed from their own lives, and have added a dose of youthful vim to the charts to boot.
Which brings us to Aggro Santos.com – the sound of a cheeky, cheery young rapper grabbing life with both hands. Eating kangaroo willy on celebrity gameshows notwithstanding, the 22-year-old Brazilian-born south Londoner has the air of someone fairly untroubled by life's complications – and that is reflected throughout this delightfully one-dimensional album. Where Tinie and Tinchy's albums can get bogged down in rivalries, pressures of fame or portentous ambitions, the nine tracks here are, respectively, about sex, sex, sex, love, dancing, sex, sex and dancing, sex, and dancing. You know – the good stuff.
This is reflected in the music, which features no rock guitars, no ballads and no ponderous bits that are supposed to sound like Jay-Z; just leg-humping dance beats, jaunty choruses and endless fizzing synths. Sometimes that high-end fizz ends up sounding cheap – the strenuous sex-boast “Stamina” sounds like a headache caused by bright-blue alcoholic drinks – but mostly, as with the impossibly cheering rave pianos of “Saint or Sinner” or the galloping Latin house beat of “Just Like You”, it's just great. If you want deep'n'meaningful, go and sit in a dark corner with Thom Yorke. But for uncomplicated, vivid vernacular pop, you could do an awful lot worse than this.
Watch the video to "Saint or Sinner"
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