The Ting Tings @ Terminal 5

The Ting Tings; Hot Tub
@ Terminal 5
New York - March 16, 2009

The 80's made a cultural comeback this decade, and the Ting Tings wear it on their sleeve. When they aren't concocting their own hits, they are directly sampling the famous ones on one of their doo-dads (They played a clip of "Ghostbusters" for Pete Venkman's sake).
Though they are but one guitarist and one drummer, the Ting Tings are unlike the majority of those set-ups. They make much use of advanced production techniques and additional instruments and they devote their amazing energy to reliving the synth-pop dance beats they heard as children. This especially shows up in the New Wave-ish smash "Keep Your Head" and the 80's Britpop-esque ballad "Be the One".
Interestingly, their most sucessful numbers of the night were those that don't rely on the 80's - "We Started Nothing" is a soul funk revival to the fullest, and when I wondered whether they were really generating a full horn sound from their gadgetry, a change of viewing position revealed a full-on real life brass band bringing it on home (though gimmickly assembled as brightly bewigged eye candy). "Shut Up and Let Me Go" is yet another in a long line of hits to be based on the most important funk riff ever devised - the one crafted by Nile Rodgers in "Good Times" for Chic. The Tings other two hits - "Great DJ" and "That's Not My Name" are more original in nature, exposing the Manchester kids' ability to make fleshy, stompy riffs and shake-yer-booty anthems for every googly-eyed schnook this side of the Atlantic.
Katie White is not just another dynamite vexing front woman. She's an emcee. She's a guitarist. She's a percussionist. She's a musician. And her primary goal of delivering fun is delivered with a charm and warmth rarely seen. Jules DeMartino, though he hides behind Kanye shades, comes off as an affable bloke in addition to being a skilled beatmaster. They could both so easily be too cool for school like so many out there but they just can't help themselves.

On the other hand...
Hot Tub may have been the worst act I have ever seen. And that's saying a lot. 3 Ugly ass hipster ho's from Oakland (no I am not kidding) masquering as some bad spoof of Salt n Pepa (again, not kidding), rapping poorly over each other and trying to distract the audience from their lack of talent with spitting water everywhere (again, I swear, not kidding). The two real uglies kept going into the crowd while the one ugly pretending to be hot kept flashing her cottage cheese buttocks on the all-ages crowd. And when they weren't rapping to 14 year olds that "I don't take no shit, you bitch" they fall on each other and onto their DJ-partners' equipment, pissing them off and embarrassing themselves. They also did themselves no favors by sampling "The Final Countdown".

I would complain about the all ages show and the annoying teens and their annoying looks except that the adults were no better. RXP needs to fire the dude standing behind me who told his date that the Tings played their holiday show, and he completely mis-identified where that show was held and who else was on the bill. Why is that guy working there? AUGH! (and for the record, asshat, the theater on 23rd and Lex is the Gramercy, not the Bowery Ballroom - WHY ARE YOU WORKING AT A ROCK STATION?!)

Did I mention the Ting Tings were an amazingly good time?

Sonic Parthenon's The Year in Music 2008: Part 7

The Ting Tings
I'm not going to kid you. I loved We Started Nothing. They may flame out faster than even Vampire Weekend, but brother, this is a band. Everything felt good, everything sounded good (it certainly did from outside McCarren Park). Every song was a damn hit. Anyone who didn't feel like moving to this band really needs to lighten up a bit.

Titus Andronicus
Their nom-de-song is a keeper, one for the parties and the workouts, and their Maxwell's opening slot for the Dirtbombs was compelling enough.

TV on the Radio
No big shock that Dear Science is one of the best albums of the year. If any band demonstrated a keen ability to make a more open-arms record than what they had previously made it was this band. Essentially, this band can do anything it wants and probably do no wrong. Good on them. And good on Tunde especially for his sly role in Rachel Getting Married and good on Kyp for that hauntingly good opening over the summer for Celebration as Rain Machine, and good on Sitek for helping the Dirtbombs out in a gear jam in Austin last Spring.

Vampire Weekend
Like with the Ting Tings, if anyone truly went out of their way to dislike this band, they really need to consider the concept of loosening up. A band doesn't need to be the greatest thing ever to be good. They just need to be, at the bare minimum, conducive to having a good time. And Vampire Weekend fills that role smashingly. Another record where everything is a hit and so what? Good. They were really only a B+ band going into 2008, but the backlash was so out of proportion, it made them look like an A.

The Virgins
Their opening for the Hold Steady in the Spring at Webster Hall was a lightning bolt of polished pop-rock and the "radio edit" of "Rich Girls" should have been coming out of every car all summer long. 2009 should be a big year for these cats.

The XYZ Affair
With a scene-stealing performance at the Bowery Ballroom in February, and lending "Evening Life" to the soundtrack of our lives, the good, young lads in the XYZ Affair made a sparkling contribution to 2008.

Honorable mentions:
The Bird and the Bee - "Birthday" is such a cutie of a song.

Bound Stems - "Happens to us Otherwise" was the "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe" of 2008.

Brazilian Girls - "Good Time" is one of the best, if not the best, party songs of the year, and any band that tastefully covers the Talking Heads is a-ok in my book.

Don Cavalli - "New Hollywood Babylon" is a strange, spooky, captivating hybrid of India, folk, and hiphop.

Katie Costello - "Kaleidoscope" is a darn tootin' sweet pop single if ever there was one.

Katie Herzig - I know nothing about this woman except that "Wish You Well" haunts me everyday.

Holy Fuck - “Lovely Allen” was lovely indeed, an inspiring bit of instrumental heaven.

Honeyhoney – “Little Toy Gun” was an unexpected bit of Tex-Mex rock, a light version of something that belonged in a Tarantino movie.

Jaguar Love - They sounded terrible after literally 2 seconds at Siren Festival but then "Highways of Gold" turned out to be a humdinger of a single.

M.I.A. - Oh, "Paper Planes" - was there ever a better hiphop single that got a second life a year after its release?

The Notwist - once a metal band, now a provocative Indie pop band with "Good Lies". They could only be German.

Passion Pit - They are all over other lists but for purposes here, "Sleepyhead" was a truly great single. It would have been the "Paper Planes" of 2008 if "Paper Planes" hadn't come back. Instead it has to settle for the "D.A.N.C.E." of the year.

Saturday Knights - "45" was the funniest single of the year and sublimely smart too, and it's good that it came via rap.

The Stills - "Being Here" was one of those great Indie rock numbers, the kind you like to listen by your lonesome when feeling sappy, or at the very least, it didn't make you want to puke.

The Teenagers - "Starlett Johaanson" was the novelty hit of 2008. Moving on.

The Watson Twins - With "How Am I To Be" the Watson Twins sorta kinda proved that they were the secret to Jenny Lewis' solo success.

The Ting Tings @ McCarren Park Pool...Kind of.

The Ting Tings
@ McCarren Park Pool
Brooklyn, NY - July 27, 2008

So I went a bit late to the MGMT/Black Moth Super Rainbow/Ting Tings free show at the pool today. I arrived to the area with the Ting Tings already blasting from the speakers into the neighborhood. I intended to go in. But the line was just about the longest line for anything I have ever seen. It nearly wrapped around the entire square block of the pool (which if you haven't been there, is a BIG square block). Word came in late on other blogs that people were still waiting in the line to get into the show while MGMT was on. And no one was being let in by that point anyway.
From what I heard of the Ting Tings - which was pretty much the entire set - it actually sounded pretty darn good, considering they are a one hit wonder summer band that is reviled by anyone worth an ounce of Indie cred. In fact, they actually sounded VERY good. All that really matters are three nuggets: "Shut Up and Let Me Go", "Great DJ", and "That's Not My Name" and they all sounded exceptionally excellent. It must have been a lot fun inside the damn place. But the line proved to be too much, and then something came up so all Sonic Parthenon gig reviews for this day had to be shelved.

Should this really count as a gig review? Not really. But then again, if this could count, then why not the Ting Tings today?

And yeah, MGMT is THAT big. It's rather amazing. "Electric Feel" is one of the best songs of the year and the decade and that's all well and good - but THIS big?