We Started Nothing Review
Title: Way Too Easy
We Started Nothing
The Ting Tings
Sony BMG 2007 (UK), 2008 (U.S.)
Produced by Jules De Martino
Track Listing:
Great DJ
That's Not My Name
Fruit Machine
... read more
We Started Nothing Review
Title: Way Too Easy
We Started Nothing
The Ting Tings
Sony BMG 2007 (UK), 2008 (U.S.)
Produced by Jules De Martino
Track Listing:
Great DJ
That's Not My Name
Fruit Machine
Traffic Light
Shut Up and Let Me Go
Keep Your Head
Be The One
We Walk
Impacilla Carpisung
We Started Nothing
What the hell is a Ting Ting?
Well, imagine The White Stripes, except Jack White is playing drums and Meg White is on guitar. And, instead of specializing in window-melting garage rock, imagine the music as a sonic fusion between Blondie, The Scissors Sisters and a small, but terribly-exuberant cheerleading squad.
And imagine they have presented us with a debut album that hops wildly between (mostly) magnetically-addictive and (occasionally) annoyingly sophomoric.
This, my friends is a Ting Ting (two actually, hence - I'm assuming - the plurality of the second Ting). And, if you gather but one conclusion from this engaging debut CD it's that these kids can play.
It would seem that Jules De Martino is forcefully hellbent on becoming the world's next great drummer since he evidently believes he's a living, breathing drum machine and singer Katie White divides her time between finding new things to bang, strum or pound and channelling Gwen Stefani.
Katie doesn't presume to have the same musical skill as her bandmate Jules but competently makes up for it in her utter ability to craft and deliver songs meant for the masses. This is evidently why Shut Up and Let Me Go has achieved that most modern pinnacle of all cool pop culture distinctions, inclusion in an IPod commercial. And, if Steve Jobs didn't have this mantra thing about spreading the musical wealth by constantly having to cultivate more new talent, this wouldn't be the last time this happened.
What makes this album so compelling - and maddening - is the way it sucks you in with the simplest of tunes. The choruses and the hooks are way too simple for anyone to honestly believe there's any real depth of talent here and, in the long run, any staying power. They sound like One Hit Wonders who keep breaking their own mould.
But, as with any great cook, you will occasionally burn some pasta in the making of a master creation, and The Ting Tings horribly overcook the rotini in the regrettable Fruit Machine and the please-make-it-stop We Walk, which are so inane and idiotic, even a Muppet would choke.
Luckily the potholes are both few and far between with We Started Nothing. Nothing The Ting Tings are doing will change the world mind you, but their intention isn't to make you think; it's to make you move and to dance and to sing along. And, in that regard, they've proven the task to be mind-numbingly simple.
