The Ting Tings

The Ting Tings' in-your-face sass and boisterous brass will leave you either loving them or hating them. There's charm in their hodgepodge of legwarmer-era pop, Atari-inspired electronica, Yeah Yeah Yeahs-ish rock and kooky downtempo, but there's also confusion in the, well, bipolarness of it all. In the midst of trying to find their niche, it's the Brit duo's debonair dance tracks that stand out. "Shut Up and Let Me Go" has a CSS-like sexiness dominated by spiky beats; "Great DJ" has a kitschy sing-along chorus; and "That's Not My Name" will get you clapping along Toni Basil-style.

Both members of this U.K. pop duo — singer-guitarist Katie White and drummer Jules De
Martino — used to play in second-tier teen-pop acts. Their earlier experiences clearly left
them with harsh feelings about the music industry: De Martino has admitted that their
thumping disco single "Shut Up and Let Me Go" is a breakup song written for their former
record label, not an old flame. But those formative years also gave them an instin... More >