The Ting Tings
We Started Nothing
BMG (2008)

By Nick Nocketback

While Coldplay, Death Cab For Cutie, & Scarlett Johansson All Have Albums Out This Month, I Believe You Fine Folks Deserve Better

This Manchester, UK, based indie pop group has made waves from the Glastonbury Festival to the recent SXSW with their brand of ultra-poppy (ultra-poppy sounds like a super drug, or an unusually large muffin), keys and electro-guided bass, enhanced by two and a half minute chorus driven catchy, repetitive sing alongs, and all this hype and street cred with only their debut album under their belt.
Singer Katie White is in some ways like Madonna circa 1987 (hot enough to forgive her for her sub par vocals) and along with Jules De Martino, this duo makes you wanna dance, even if you don’t like dancing. Basically, if all you can do is Salsa dancing, this album will make you wanna Tapatio. Their sound, I guess, is like Jenny Lewis doing M.I.A. karaoke songs to electronic dance beats—sounds horrid, I know, but it will certainly put you in high spirits. While some of the tracks prove to be written for teenage girls who’ve just broken up with their Boo, almost every song is catchy enough to forgive White’s prose. Some noteworthy tracks include “Great DJ”, a song written post coitus for a man that rocked her world, “That’s Not My Name”, about a slip of the tongue in the sack, if you will, and “Fruit Machine”, about being a coochie vendor. It’s basically a proper summer time banger that’ll have you strappin’ up your silver six inch heels, snorting a line of blow, and headin’ straight for the dance club.