CD reviews
Who is this Eddie Shoebang guy and what does he know about reviewing other people's music anyway?
The Ting Tings
We Started Nothing
(Red/Columbia)
*4.9*
Goes well with: Gwen Stefani, Toni Basil, New Young Pony Club
It’s a classic Pet Shop Boys scenario that only now has come to fruition: I’ve got the brains; you’ve got the looks. Let’s make lots of money. Proficient male multi-instrumentalist and mediocre female singer/guitarist bumble together ’80s-inspired pop songs, land an iPod commercial and watch the major labels come running.
Such is the case with The Ting Tings. Made up of the runway-ready Katie White and Jules de Martino, these Brits are all the buzz, winning over hipsters and 13-year-olds alike. And, hell, there’s a reason why even Rick Rubin is a fan.
Songs like “That’s Not My Name” and the iPod jam “Shut Up and Let Me Go” are b-a-n-a-n-a-s pop songs while the single “Great DJ” subtly lifts the instrumental hook from Eddie Money’s “Baby Hold On” with glorious results.
But I don’t need to wade through the annals-of-time-sized press kit that Columbia Records sent me—filled with accolades from fickle British tastemakers like NME and Mojo—to tell you that The Ting Tings’ debut is a shit sandwich disguised as a BLT. The bread’s good, but electro-pop filler is still filler. “We Walk” and “Traffic Light” are dreadful ballads, and White uses automobile analogies on the latter to describe a relationship on the skids, something R. Kelly already did better—twice—on “You Remind Me of Something” and “Ignition.” But if the success of Lily Allen and Gwen Stefani has proven anything, it’s that you can’t keep the hipsters from dancing. Even if they’ve heard the same ol’ song before.
—Seth Combs
The Ting Tings play Saturday, June 7, at The Casbah and Sunday, June 8, at Southwestern College (94/9 Independence Jam).
Singer
Unhistories
(Drag City)
*6.6*
Goes well with: 90 Day Men, U.S. Maple, Slint, Chicago (the city, not the band)
What happens when rock musicians decide they don’t wanna rock? Chicago foursome Singer answers that question on their debut full-length. Defying categorization despite their typical guitar-drums-bass-voice set-up, the band pushes boundaries and buttons, laying waste to traditional song structures.
Under most circumstances, this kind of art-fuckery screams self-importance, but there’s just enough invention to keep Unhistories from devolving into unlistenable nonsense. Treading a thin line between progression and pretension, Singer would rather mess with your head than play it straight. This isn’t shocking, judging by their pedigree. Singer consists of members from 90 Day Men, U.S. Maple and Town & Country, all bands with a track record of deconstructive tendencies. And while Unhistories isn’t as far removed from the rock idiom as the band would like to believe, it’s certainly more challenging than most of what passes for progressive music these days. Think of a subdued Slint with four vocalists and a free-jazz fixation and you’ve got an idea of what’s going on here.
Disembodied harmonies and atonal soloing are littered along dark, winding passages of fractured guitar interplay. On Unhistories’ most straightforward track, “Please, Tell the Justices We’re Fine,” they even come close to actually rocking, but it’s more like rock translated completely ass-backwards by aliens. Given Singer’s willful inaccessibility, this is probably the point. But if you’re looking for non-think musical gratification, you’d do better to listen elsewhere.
—Todd Kroviak
Singer plays Tuesday, June 10, at Beauty Bar.
Martha Wainwright
I Know You’re Married, But I’ve Got
Feelings Too
(Zoe Records)
*7.3*
Goes well with: Rufus Wainwright, Kate Bush, Cat Power, adultery jokes
With her second release, Martha “Legs” Wainwright has given hipsters an excuse to actually buy a CD thanks to her seductive, sprawling pose on the album cover. But I Know You’re Married proves she’s more than just a pinup girl.
The album opens with two quick looks into the emotional chaos of adultery. First, from The Other Woman who’s still in love with a married guy on “Bleeding All Over You.” Then things shift to The Wife’s perspective on “You Cheated Me,” which, thanks to a catchy chorus, is one of Wainwright’s most pop-friendly tracks yet. As the album title suggests, there’s a lot of dark humor here, with frustrated invective aimed at the pretentious pricks in “Hearts Club Band” and “The George Song.
But the album isn’t all philandering all the time. There’s also a personal moment with “In the Middle of the Night” (about her mother’s recent battle with cancer) and a cover of Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play.” The seeming incongruity of those selections is easily forgotten as soon as that distinctive Wainwright wail (shared by her brother) carries you away.
—Eddie Shoebang
Published: 06/03/2008
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