"They are just trying so hard to put me in some category. It's so stupid. It is so small of people to need that so much - you can't let stuff exist for what it is. It is a very strange cultural need."

As frontwoman Santi White points out, Santogold's debut album is the very definition of music that doesn't fit into any recognisable category, much to the chagrin of music journalists.

Drawing on influences ranging from pop, hip-hop, new wave and dancehall, it is infectiously catchy and on the face of it, destined for great things.

In fact, as soon as demos for the album leaked out onto the internet last autumn, ears began to prick up.

"The stuff that got leaked out a year ago we went back in and worked on," says Santi.

"A bunch more songs have been added, so those people have only got the demo versions.

"I was excited by the responses we got. I hadn't let people hear what I was doing up to that point."

Prior to Santogold, Santi was best known as a songwriter and collaborator, having worked with Mark Ronson on his Version album, Lily Allen on the single Littlest Things and Ashlee Simpson.

But it was a songwriting experience in 2001 that made her go out by herself.

"I was the executive producer for an album by Res," she says. "It was the first time I had done any songwriting. I was really naive. I got bullied around and almost f***** over but I pulled myself out. I decided I didn't want to do this any more, so I started my own project."

The result was Stiffed, a punk band she founded in her hometown of Philadelphia.

"I had no intention of being a performer," she says. "But I wanted to make my songs sound as I heard them."

After Stiffed broke up in 2004, the opportunities to work with the likes of The Neptunes and Mark Ronson started, in her own words, to fall into her lap.

"It is just good experience as a pop songwriter," she says.

"It's like going to the gym, honing your skills and stepping out of your world where you are really connected."

Her own world is pretty well connected - as can be seen in the credits of Santogold's self-titled debut album, which was released on Monday.

As well as producer and songwriter Johnny Rodeo, the other half of Santogold, the album features a who's who of hip producers. Among them are Diplo, who Santi apparently met at a party, Switch, Disco D, Sinden and FreqNasty.

"It was an organic thing," says Santi. "It wasn't like I said I would like to do this record and get these producers.

"Right now the power in the music business has been taken away from the industry and put back into the hands of the artist through things like MySpace."

Her Brighton shows will be based around her, a DJ and two dancers, partly due to budgetary reasons.

"This is an early stage of the tour - I've got to get a bigger budget and build it up slowly," she says.

"The girls are going to help demonstrate what the music is doing with dancehall and old school hip-hop styles. They really help translate the energy to the crowd."

  • Tickets £45 for full weekend, £22.50 for Saturday only. Call 0844 8472424 or visit www.escapegreat.com