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36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's just fun !...and she looks gorgeous ! , June 3, 2008
Love or hate them!
This is pop which seems like it's just been plucked from thin air.
It's unashamedly mainstream-orientated manufactured pop groups like "Girls Aloud".
The Salford duo have found themselves near the top of various 2008 hot-tip lists. Pitched somewhere between vogueish, ravey indie and all-out chart-attack pop, they perform as a drummer-singer pair, with much of the music appearing out of the ether via the magic of technology, giving singer Katie White plenty of room to strut, pout, clap and yelp her way through their bouncy, punchy songs.
There are echoes of that dumb-yet-knowing proto-punk produced by Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers , or maybe a nod towards the sardonic pop of "The Cramps" and the "B-52s".
Licking their wounds after trial-by-record-label with former outfit, Dear Eskimo, the Salford duo stared into the roiling canyon of resentment - and decided to go drinking instead. The result is the delirious joy-gasm known as "We Started Nothing", and the soundtrack to what can only be described as a Ting Tings moment.
"That's Not My Name", Katie White's rant at the cynical music industry, is an insolent anthem which deserves a place in pop posterity. It is a feminist tirade you can only write when you have the benefit of hindsight. It was inspired by the experience of singer/guitarist, Katie White, who was offered fame-for-flesh in their former incarnation. The track laments forgettable female starlets baring all for the lads. With idealism duly quashed, it's a refreshingly jovial indictment of modern music which, nonetheless, packs a punch. It's a great empowering chant.
Then there's the smile-inducing "Shut Up And Let Me Go", a raw Chic-style bit of funk topped by man-bating lyric.
Of the 10 tracks, six are more like chants than songs. The opener "Great DJ" is an infectious ditty that slips a chugging guitar riff and some cheeky bleeps around De Martino's hypnotic bass drum. Equally impressive are "Impacilla Carpisung", all squelchy sound effects and funky disco beats, and the title track, which offers six minutes of pure guitar-funk sunshine.
There are two more melodic tracks, the prettily chiming "Be the One" and the flabbergastingly twee lullaby "Traffic Light".
The most memorable moment: the bit in "Great DJ" where Katie White cheeps, "And the strings: ee-ee-ee-ee..."
Yes, she's mimicking the sound of violins. Either the best or worst lyric of 2008, we can't decide.
This duo aren't going to be going home alone any time soon. Their staggering six-minute title track is like a dishevelled dawn chorus, serenading the last men standing.
Taken as a whole, this debut sparkles more often than it grates. Despite their age and false starts, "We Started Nothing" sounds like the work of two young whippersnappers ready to take on the world.
Whatever happens next, nobody will be forgetting their name from now on.
As debut albums go, it's not all good, but occasionally it's glorious.
Pick of the album:"That's Not My Name", "We Walk", "We Started Nothing", "Great DJ", "Be the One", and "Shut Up and Let Me Go".
Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers
Songs the Lord Taught Us
Fiends of Dope Island
Funplex
Can't Speak French Pt. 1
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun, unapologetic pop, May 23, 2008
This album will probably be dismissed automatically by people like myself for being too manufactured, too saccharine, or too whatever, but the truth to this is that it is a fun, unapologetic, unassuming pop rock album that is a lot of fun.
Too often with rookie albums, whether pop or indie, the songs you've heard on the radio or wherever are light years better than the rest on the album (I'm looking squarely at you, MGMT). This is NOT the case with this album.
The album starts with two of their most biggest songs to date- Great DJ and That's Not My Name. Most bands would kill for just those two songs. Next up is Fruit Machine, which keeps the fun of the first two going with a lot less chanting. Traffic Light is a wonderful little jazz-pop plinky tune that will float in the summer breeze a lot this year.
Next up is the rousing Shut Up and Let Me Go, probably the most known in the US thanks to the latest iTunes/iPod commercial, with its solid rhythm section (a wise DJ will mash in Queen's Another One Bites The Dust). Keep Your Head follows with a fun popping, bopping synth line and drumming. If you haven't started dancing yet, this one will get you off you seat. Be The One follows a little more quietly, but still has a solid groove that will put a smile on your face.
We Walk starts in, and you think, "Uh, oh. They are going to get quiet and ballady now." Um, no. Not even close. Impacilla Carpisung is the Ting Tings getting crazy and a bit experimental. Not sure how I'm feeling on this one. We Started Nothing closes as a long jam that closes things well.
The last two are a bit 'scattered' to me, and don't really close the album the way it should be. Maybe if they'd been put earlier, or with a rousing closer after these two, it would leave me feeling more excited, but....hey- you've gotten 8 great songs to start out this album.
Really, highly recommend this one. I could easily see 12 year old girls absolutely loving these if given the chance. Fortunately, their parents will also enjoy this as well.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bloody Brilliant, July 20, 2008
My new favorite album. Take the White Stripes and reverse the roles. Add in some Devo, electrified disco and Cibo Matto. This album is a blast.
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by The Ting Tings 
