M.I.A's bestie gets all album-release on it...

Santogold looks like, dresses like and hangs out with the same people as M.I.A. Hell, she's even spewing up one of Maya Arulpragasam's glitter jumpsuits on the cover of this debut.

And, completely unrelatedly, I've been getting into Two Step crosswords lately - a crossword that has two clues; one basic - like you'd find on your standard crossword, and one cryptic clue to help you work out the answer. Simultaneously great for checking your assumptions based on the simple clue (of which I'm often wrong) and getting to grips with the minefield that is the Cryptic Crossword.

Having listened to Santogold's debut release, the artist is similarly two-step; the glitter spewing is a cryptic gesture of separation from all previous assumptions, and a plea to be taken seriously as a stand-alone artist, because many of us didn't get there with the basic.

So, if Santogold was a solution in a Two-Speed, then the basic clue would read something like "M.I.A's best friend." The Cryptic however, and this is going to test my limited understanding of the formation of such clues somewhat, would go something like; "Starting with New York in 2001 and including, but not exclusively the influences of Karen O and The Strokes," suggesting that she sounds stateside circa early two thousand's (but not exclusively) and that the letters of her name are contained (but not entirely) with Karen O and The Strokes (the former a clear vocal influence and the latter she's clearly ripped melody's off).

How'd I do? Ok, maybe employment at the Dom Post as their crossword maestro is a few years off yet, but the differences between what people think Santogold is about and what her brilliant debut actually encompasses are, without doubt, two-step.