Album Review: “We Started Nothing” The Ting Tings, by Liz Crosby

We Started Nothing - The Ting Tings

Altogether The Ting Tings have churned out a very fresh sound.  It’s reminiscent of Santogold or The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.  It evokes an energy that makes you want to get up and go.  For a solid week, I would blast the Ting Tings at full volume on my way to the beach in preparation for a good surf session.  “Shut Up and Let Me Go” became that song that I obnoxiously play for everyone in the parking lot for all to hear as I suit up and wax up.  I can’t take my iPod out there with me, so I like to get a legitimate song stuck in my head before getting into the ocean and tackling the waves.

They’re very creative with their use of instruments.  Just like many before them, The Ting Tings come to us from Great Britain.  After dabbling in other bands, Katie White and Jules De Martino started out as an impromptu duo, and their songs started to generate a following.  Katie White’s vocals have a unique sound to them.  They mesh well with the energetic rhythm of her electric guitar and the uppidy drum beats.  When you listen to them, they seem to have this quality about them that reminds you of something that you can’t put your thumb on.  That’s probably because you might have heard them during the Victoria’s Secret fashion show earlier this year or when they performed in Times Square in New York during new years.  They’ve also been featured on Gossip Girl.

Let’s hope that they use all of media coverage as a launching pad for further creative beats.  It seems like so many bands live and die by shows like The O.C., Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl, etc.  They are currently putting together their second album.  They are primarily doing so in Paris and Berlin hoping to sap some creativity from the grandeur of both locations. Let’s hope they succeed in encapsulating the energy of those two places, because let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to go clubbing in either one?  Clearly, they’re a very happening duo, so keep tabs on them; they’re very up and coming.  And for all of those planning on being inebriated by the various bands to be tearing it up at Coachella, The Ting Tings will be taking the stage on Friday.  +