Beat Control (We Started Nothing - Ting Tings)

Member Name: Seres

Product:	We Started Nothing - Ting Tings
Date:	14/12/08 (146 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, energetic rock/pop stuff

Disadvantages: Too much of the same, they think they're better than they are

Bright young things The Ting Tings have a single view of the record industry as is today: it's rubbish. Filled with marketing and image and not enough substance, they've elected to challenge it, one insubstantial pop-rock song at a time. They've got a very simple setup - Katie White does the singing and guitar stuff, and Jules De Martino does everything else. Except, in this case, 'everything else' relates to 'play drums, wear sunglasses indoors, and look like a massive tit'. Seriously dude, who wears sunglasses indoors? I think he might also get on the bass guitar from time to time, as well. The songs are all very simple, guitar-led tracks, but the message the band throw out is so defiant and noisy that it can be hard to understand just how clever some of the tracks are.

I'll give you an example. Main single 'That's Not My Name', which got them a recording contract, is all about being pissed off because record companies don't care about bands. White, who has a trail of broken pop bands behind her, tells over a looped drumbeat of her annoyance at having her name forgotten while auditioning for a contract. 'It's a difficulty and I bite it on my tongue' she tells, before hurtling into the slow, deliberate throws of the chorus "that's not my name!" she shouts at the employers, irritably. It is, unsurprisingly, one of very few anti-corporate songs to have made it into the charts in the last few years, but you wouldn't at first notice realise what they're talking about. This unsubtle and somehow still subtle songwriting is the predominant theme on the album. 'We Walk', which starts off slowly with some piano and then grows into another steady beat of a song, features the disaffected line aimed at their record company 'put us in the corner 'cos we're into ideas?' It's an admirable and honest piece of writing, which would perhaps be a little stronger if the band themselves had more of those ideas they speak of.

There's nothing wrong with any of the songs on the album, apart from the heady 'Be The One', which is too forthright for its own good. It's a lifeless shell of a song, complete with light keyboard bits that practically sing the words 'we're annoying don't you know it' over and over again. Also, the vocals of Katie White seem a little too muzzled for any life to erupt. White has a decent voice for this sort of music, sounding like a semi-cockney version of Annie (the singer, not the ginger musical puppet), but too often she tries to dominate the song she's working on, and crushes it under her sort-of charisma. Going back to the point of this paragraph, the problem with the album is that although it provides an entertaining mix of songs, nothing is too featherweight for the band. They're willing to throw in completely pointless tracks like 'Fruit Machine' at any juncture. Although the song is fine enough, a bit entertaining, it's too tongue-in-cheek for its own good, mixing in all kinds of sound effects to try and overshadow anything else. It's too silly to have any hook.

Other tracks do attempt to give us new sounds, and 'Impacilla Carpisung' is odd enough as a song to be interesting, even if it's essentially rubbish that nobody would ever actively want to listen to. This spirited approach to music is all very well and good, but in an age where we have completely committed artists like M.I.A. or Florence and The Machine giving us proper oddball tracks, the Ting Tings don't stand up much. But they have their moments. 'Shut Up And Let Me Go' is a fun track, made better through the pace and short tracklength it possesses. The fast stomp of the bass drum and sharp angular guitar stuff we're offered is a good fit for the band. So much so, that 'Great DJ' and 'Keep Your Head' elect to recycle the style and fit it to different lyrics, without much of a change for the music. The same drums, slightly different guitar pitches, the music isn't similar so much as it is the same thing. Whilst dullards The Kooks can seemingly get away with this because nobody cares about them, it's harder for a band with a personality going on, and they fall to the wayside a little.

This is better than most pop Britain has to offer by a fair country mile, however. Don't get me wrong - despite my 'spastic critical word implosion' (phrase trademark: Seres) I'm drawn back to the album surprisingly often. Sometimes you want something that shows personality and ambition, and The Ting Tings show both frequently during the record. Especially Katie White, who has a bit of a Debbie Harris thing going on - you'll complain about that comparison right up until she makes her first genuinely fun pop song, but you can swivel on it, people. I'm the expect here. Well not expert, but I'm certainly far more arrogant than anyone could ever rightly expect from a music reviewer. 'Traffic Light' is frothy but pleasant, a chance for White to give us a glimpse at her voice properly, without stuttering and stammering in short blasts, but the real song of the album is easily the title track, which also closes off matters with a six minute looped music thing going on that Wilco would be proud of.

'We Started Nothing' - the song - is a great dance mix of a rock-pop collaboration thing, and manages to fix in some cowbell on top of a blaring brass section and a fun, funky guitar part. And I love me some cowbell, I really do. Short on decipherable words, the track would probably work best as a repetitive instrumental, but it's a blast that ends the album on the upturn. In the words of Common, "you coulda got it, if you never woulda stressed it". If The Ting Tings stop trying to force it, and enjoy themselves more when recording, then they're going to become a band to watch. A British version of the B-52's, perhaps

Summary: I don't trust people who wear sunglasses indoors. They're up to something.