Ting Tings
(Columbia/Red Ink)
Long dominated by television, radio is now even being schooled by the boob tube’s transparent little nuisance: the commercial. The 2008 NBA playoffs were intermittently broken up by images of free-living silhouettes bouncing around harmoniously in front of neon backdrops, and a nation was exposed not just to the product but the music too. The iPod commercial has launched or escalated a surprising number of careers, or ceremoniously announced—in full non-silhouette visages—the return of a behemoth.
Whatever technology Apple’s selling, they’re so locked in with mass-consumer awe that whichever tidbit of culture it decides to loop in has a rock solid chance of catching fire. So while taking a breather from Paul Pierce putting up forty-one on Cleveland, out come the neon lights and Brooklyn club kids rocking to that beat! The benefactor this time around has been Mancunian duo The Ting Tings, and their upbeat disco sneering single “Shut Up And Let Me Go,” which sounds a good deal like Linda Perry helming the overdue comeback of Lady Miss Kier. It sort of rocks.
A bit all over the place in its sonic debts, what links We Started Nothing together is bouncing, cutely aggressive trash pop, emphasized by singer Katie White’s rhythmic machine gun tongue slap. Imagine a fresh-flow spouting Lily Allen, without those sweetly rounded edges. Amid sending up sleazy clubgoers, “That’s Not My Name” jerk-shifts from its booty-shaking groove to a gorgeous outro melody straight outta Exile In Guyville that’s a shock to hear merge so mellifluously.
Enjoyable, catchy, inoffensive. All of the above aptly describe both The Ting Tings and those glitzy commercials that shock the senses; it looks like they’re having such a great time, full of enthusiasm, ready to sell and be sold. Short of better programming, though, it’ll do the trick.
Standout Tracks: “Keep Your Head,” “That’s Not My Name” ZACH BLOOM
