Santigold's Top Book Recommendations

SantigoldI grew up listening to a lot of Marvin Gaye – my father was a huge fan. The day that Marvin Gaye was killed, my dad was affected so strongly he could barely speak. I didn’t understand why until I read the book. It gives you a sense of the struggles Marvin Gaye went through, as an artist and as a man – his struggle with the spotlight, his struggle with spirituality, his struggle with family and... (Source)

SantigoldIt’s about Quincy Jones’s journey. He started out poor, born on the South Side of Chicago to a mentally ill mother. He went on to become one of the most influential producers in the industry. Music sort of saved him. He started to tour as a back-up musician in his teens with these amazing jazz bands. He ended up scoring all these movies, and then he got into producing. Quincy Jones produced the... (Source)

SantigoldIt’s a reference book, but it’s so interesting to read. I got it back in college, during the nineties. It includes anybody that you ever heard of from somebody else. It’s a beginners’ guide to every band in that genre – it tells you the best records and a bit of background, just enough to pique your interest. I learned about so many bands and records just from flipping through the book. You could... (Source)

SantigoldThis book is not just about drumming, it’s also about gender, history and spirituality. It tells the story of the relationship between women, music, religion and power. Thousands of years before Christ, women played hand drums, specifically the frame drum, in religious ceremonies, as we can see in surviving images of goddesses. Music and rhythm are intrinsically a part of spirituality, but... (Source)

Seth Mandel@LBC1983 love that book (Source)

SantigoldPlease Kill Me is one of the most fun books I’ve ever read. It’s basically a collection of oral histories, first-hand accounts from all the people who were around in New York as punk began. It’s the inside scoop on everything punk, with all kinds of details about who hooked up with who and the crazy shit they did. It’s not like reading a history book – it’s almost like being there, talking to all... (Source)