THE TING TINGS
''SOUNDS FROM NOWHERESVILLE''
MARCH 13 2012
71:41
1 Silence 03:43
2 Hit Me Down Sonny 02:48
3 Hang It Up 03:09
4 Give It Back 03:33
5 Guggenheim 03:54
6 Soul Killing 03:13
7 One By One 03:44
8 Day to Day 03:32
9 Help 02:59
10 In Your Life 02:55
11 Silence (Bag Raiders Remix) 04:19
12 Hang It Up (Inertia Remix) 03:54
13 Give It Back (Demo) 04:20
14 Hang It Up (Abacus & Vargas 'Predator' Remix) 03:33
15 Hands (Mixed By Calvin Harris) 03:17
16 Guggenheim (Andy Taylor 'Got It Right' Remix) 04:11
17 Hang It Up (Shook Remix) 04:35
18 Ain't Got Shit 03:59
19 Hang It Up (CKB Remix) 05:54
All Tracks By K. White
Katie White – vocals, guitar
Jules De Martino – drums, vocals, guitar, producer (all tracks)
Bag Raiders – keyboards (11)
David Eggar – cello (10)
Shook – keyboards (17)
Chris Snow – extra guitar (3)
REVIEW
by Heather Phares/AMG
Four years would normally be a long time for a band like the Ting Tings to wait between albums, but they didn't disappear entirely: two of the biggest hits from We Started Nothing, "Great DJ" and "Shut Up and Let Me Go," were still used in commercials and soundtracks years after their debut's release, suggesting a remarkable endurance for their bright and brassy new-new wave. But if We Started Nothing was the Ting Tings' cry for attention, Sounds from Nowheresville finds the duo at a loss for what to do once they got it. The scrappy pop of their first album is largely gone, replaced by a glossy eclecticism that, for better or worse, feels labored over. Given that the Ting Tings were inspired by the Beastie Boys' mosaic-like masterpiece Paul's Boutique and many of these songs were written on the road, it's not surprising that Nowheresville has a wide range, but too often it just sounds scattered. There's a clear Beasties influence (though the execution is more reminiscent of Beck's Odelay) on "Hit Me Down Sonny" and "Hang It Up," but the former track sounds fun while the latter one grates. Indeed, the duo's insistence on trying to inject We Started Nothing's spunky energy where it doesn't belong hinders some of the album's more promising songs: "Guggenheim"'s tale of heartbreak, revenge, and makeup is tantalizing, especially on its girl group-channeling spoken word verses, but that promise is squandered on the clomping choruses. Likewise, "Help"'s acoustic balladry is surprisingly soft and alluring before the shouting starts again. The album fares better when the Ting Tings remember that they're as handy with melodies as they are with beats and samples, as on "Soul Killing," a playful piece of ska-pop that uses a squeaky door as a percussion element, and on "Day to Day," which, with its tightly looped acoustic guitars and mechanical beats, evokes the teen pop ballads churned out by the production team the Matrix in the early 2000s. Interestingly, Nowheresville's best moments bookend the rest. "Silence" begins the album with slow-burning drones that are a far cry from We Started Nothing's sugar rush hooks, while "In Your Life" closes it with a ballad that would do Nancy Sinatra proud; it's mournful, slow, relaxed, spacious -- everything that virtually every other Ting Tings song isn't. Sounds from Nowheresville shows that the Ting Tings have more range than their debut suggested, but while it's more ambitious and crafted, it's just not as coherent as We Started Nothing.
BIOGRAPHY
by Stewart Mason/AMG
Named after a Chinese friend whose name sounds like the Mandarin pronunciation of "bandstand," The Ting Tings -- a scrappy, dance-oriented duo consisting of singer/guitarist Katie White and drummer Jules De Martino -- formed in the Salford district of Manchester, England in 2006. Prior to forming the group, the pair worked together in 2001 when White was in the all-female punk-pop group TKO and De Martino wrote some songs for them. Later the pair reunited, and with another friend formed the trio Eskimo Kiss, which signed to Mercury Records but disbanded, in part due to changing personnel at the label. De Martino and White regrouped, working on their own music and others' at Salford's music commune The Islington Mill. Quickly signed to the local indie label Switchflicker Records, The Ting Tings released their debut single, "That's Not My Name," in the spring of 2007. Following the limited-edition, tour-only single "Fruit Machine," The Ting Tings signed to major-label Columbia later that year. The flipside of the Switchflicker single, "Great DJ," was released as the duo's debut Columbia single in March 2008, followed by the reissue of "That's Not My Name" with a new exclusive B-side remix.
"That's Not My Name" rose to the top of the U.K. charts in May 2008, the same month that the duo's debut album, We Started Nothing, appeared. The Ting Tings spent the rest of 2008 and a large part of 2009 touring in support of the album, which eventually sold over two million copies worldwide, won the 2009 Ivor Novello Award for Best Album, and earned the group a Best New Artist Grammy nomination that December. Early in 2010, De Martino and White moved to Berlin to work on songs for their second album. Inspired by the city's atmosphere and the cold weather, they went in a darker, more electronic direction with their new songs. In August 2010, The Ting Tings offered a taste of their new material, premiering the single "Hands" -- which was mixed by Calvin Harris -- on BBC Radio 1 and officially releasing it that October. After extensive touring and over eight months recording in Germany and Spain, in March 2012 The Ting Tings offered their sophomore album, Sounds from Nowheresville, a collection of songs inspired by the exuberant freedom of the Beastie Boys' classic Paul's Boutique. Two years later, third album Super Critical surfaced. Its October release date was preceded by the April release of first single "Wrong Club."
''SOUNDS FROM NOWHERESVILLE''
MARCH 13 2012
71:41
1 Silence 03:43
2 Hit Me Down Sonny 02:48
3 Hang It Up 03:09
4 Give It Back 03:33
5 Guggenheim 03:54
6 Soul Killing 03:13
7 One By One 03:44
8 Day to Day 03:32
9 Help 02:59
10 In Your Life 02:55
11 Silence (Bag Raiders Remix) 04:19
12 Hang It Up (Inertia Remix) 03:54
13 Give It Back (Demo) 04:20
14 Hang It Up (Abacus & Vargas 'Predator' Remix) 03:33
15 Hands (Mixed By Calvin Harris) 03:17
16 Guggenheim (Andy Taylor 'Got It Right' Remix) 04:11
17 Hang It Up (Shook Remix) 04:35
18 Ain't Got Shit 03:59
19 Hang It Up (CKB Remix) 05:54
All Tracks By K. White
Katie White – vocals, guitar
Jules De Martino – drums, vocals, guitar, producer (all tracks)
Bag Raiders – keyboards (11)
David Eggar – cello (10)
Shook – keyboards (17)
Chris Snow – extra guitar (3)
REVIEW
by Heather Phares/AMG
Four years would normally be a long time for a band like the Ting Tings to wait between albums, but they didn't disappear entirely: two of the biggest hits from We Started Nothing, "Great DJ" and "Shut Up and Let Me Go," were still used in commercials and soundtracks years after their debut's release, suggesting a remarkable endurance for their bright and brassy new-new wave. But if We Started Nothing was the Ting Tings' cry for attention, Sounds from Nowheresville finds the duo at a loss for what to do once they got it. The scrappy pop of their first album is largely gone, replaced by a glossy eclecticism that, for better or worse, feels labored over. Given that the Ting Tings were inspired by the Beastie Boys' mosaic-like masterpiece Paul's Boutique and many of these songs were written on the road, it's not surprising that Nowheresville has a wide range, but too often it just sounds scattered. There's a clear Beasties influence (though the execution is more reminiscent of Beck's Odelay) on "Hit Me Down Sonny" and "Hang It Up," but the former track sounds fun while the latter one grates. Indeed, the duo's insistence on trying to inject We Started Nothing's spunky energy where it doesn't belong hinders some of the album's more promising songs: "Guggenheim"'s tale of heartbreak, revenge, and makeup is tantalizing, especially on its girl group-channeling spoken word verses, but that promise is squandered on the clomping choruses. Likewise, "Help"'s acoustic balladry is surprisingly soft and alluring before the shouting starts again. The album fares better when the Ting Tings remember that they're as handy with melodies as they are with beats and samples, as on "Soul Killing," a playful piece of ska-pop that uses a squeaky door as a percussion element, and on "Day to Day," which, with its tightly looped acoustic guitars and mechanical beats, evokes the teen pop ballads churned out by the production team the Matrix in the early 2000s. Interestingly, Nowheresville's best moments bookend the rest. "Silence" begins the album with slow-burning drones that are a far cry from We Started Nothing's sugar rush hooks, while "In Your Life" closes it with a ballad that would do Nancy Sinatra proud; it's mournful, slow, relaxed, spacious -- everything that virtually every other Ting Tings song isn't. Sounds from Nowheresville shows that the Ting Tings have more range than their debut suggested, but while it's more ambitious and crafted, it's just not as coherent as We Started Nothing.
BIOGRAPHY
by Stewart Mason/AMG
Named after a Chinese friend whose name sounds like the Mandarin pronunciation of "bandstand," The Ting Tings -- a scrappy, dance-oriented duo consisting of singer/guitarist Katie White and drummer Jules De Martino -- formed in the Salford district of Manchester, England in 2006. Prior to forming the group, the pair worked together in 2001 when White was in the all-female punk-pop group TKO and De Martino wrote some songs for them. Later the pair reunited, and with another friend formed the trio Eskimo Kiss, which signed to Mercury Records but disbanded, in part due to changing personnel at the label. De Martino and White regrouped, working on their own music and others' at Salford's music commune The Islington Mill. Quickly signed to the local indie label Switchflicker Records, The Ting Tings released their debut single, "That's Not My Name," in the spring of 2007. Following the limited-edition, tour-only single "Fruit Machine," The Ting Tings signed to major-label Columbia later that year. The flipside of the Switchflicker single, "Great DJ," was released as the duo's debut Columbia single in March 2008, followed by the reissue of "That's Not My Name" with a new exclusive B-side remix.
"That's Not My Name" rose to the top of the U.K. charts in May 2008, the same month that the duo's debut album, We Started Nothing, appeared. The Ting Tings spent the rest of 2008 and a large part of 2009 touring in support of the album, which eventually sold over two million copies worldwide, won the 2009 Ivor Novello Award for Best Album, and earned the group a Best New Artist Grammy nomination that December. Early in 2010, De Martino and White moved to Berlin to work on songs for their second album. Inspired by the city's atmosphere and the cold weather, they went in a darker, more electronic direction with their new songs. In August 2010, The Ting Tings offered a taste of their new material, premiering the single "Hands" -- which was mixed by Calvin Harris -- on BBC Radio 1 and officially releasing it that October. After extensive touring and over eight months recording in Germany and Spain, in March 2012 The Ting Tings offered their sophomore album, Sounds from Nowheresville, a collection of songs inspired by the exuberant freedom of the Beastie Boys' classic Paul's Boutique. Two years later, third album Super Critical surfaced. Its October release date was preceded by the April release of first single "Wrong Club."