The Ting Tings

by Eddie Robson

Our kind of ting

"They’ve played it very smart in the past year, establishing their indie credentials before heading out to attempt world domination."

The term ‘indie-pop’ is debatable where The Ting Tings are concerned. We do, after all, live in an era where lots of pop records nick ideas from rock. Nothing wrong with that – mashing up great ideas is what pop is for – but it means that The Ting Tings are basically a pop group with a stripped-back set-up, who put out handmade seven-inch singles. Nothing wrong with that either: in fact, it’s very welcome. They’ve played it very smart in the past year, establishing their indie credentials before heading out to attempt world domination.

Not that everyone is convinced. Those dullard indie snobs who were previously complaining about the limited ability of The Long Blondes’ Emma Chaplin (and, before her, Meg White) have moved on to bitching about the rudimentary skills of former aspiring girl-group member Katie White. Odd how these complaints tend to be directed at women, isn’t it? Isn’t it part of the punk spirit to not let lack of ability to get in the way of expression?

Yes, the riff on the closing title track of their debut album, ‘We Started Nothing’, is so basic even I could play it, and I can’t in any sense play guitar. But the point is, I didn’t play it – she did – and it’s brilliant. The track is a superb example of The Ting Tings’ willingness to throw together disparate elements in search of new sound – it’s a garage-rock riff bolted onto a Curtis Mayfield funk workout, complete with a falsetto vocal from White which is ridiculous but works anyway.

‘We Started Nothing’ is a record so pop that all the first three tracks are singles, and hearing them lined up, it really hits home that you could give a track like ‘Fruit Machine’ (with its superb ‘Ka! Ching! Ka-Ching! refrain) to Girls Aloud without any changes at all, really, as long as there was room to give all the girls a solo spot. The same goes for ‘That’s Not My Name’, except for the breakdown in the middle which you’d probably cut in order to bring the length down for the radio. But the fact that The Ting Tings leave it in is one of the great things about them: they throw in these leftfield elements and the result is surprising, though instantly accessible, music.

The album does contain a few less remarkable tracks, but the boundless energy and inventiveness of the best stuff carries it through. The only risk is that it’s so likely to be pummelled all summer across the media and the festival circuit, you may be sick to the back teeth of it by September – so buy it now, whilst it’s still fresh.
Moderate Rock said on May 15th 2008 [report abuse]

no no no non no non nonon nononononono NO! This 'band' are horrible and hopefully destined to sink without trace.

Losing For A Bruising said on May 15th 2008 [report abuse]

I'm with Moderate Rock, this suck huge big hairy balls. They've also been on the 'scene' forever. New as in 'finally scraped enough tunes together to stick an album out', maybe. I saw them in a men's mag over a year ago.

Charlie Noise said on May 16th 2008 [report abuse]

I couldn't stand that first single at first, but 'That's Not My Name' is ace. Liked it immediately. I fear they're a bit too trendy to last though.

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