TALK TING HEADS
The Ting Tings burst into the charts in 2008, introducing an innocent younger generation to the joys of vinyl and art-pop, a cunning plan that singer Katie White sketched out for Tim
Comprising Nancy Sinatra lookalike Katie White and tub-thumper Jules De Martino, the multi-instrumentalist duo The Ting Tings (who play, between them, guitar, bass and keyboards), have returned with their second album, Sounds From Nowheresville. But the pair recorded their follow-up to 2008’s Ivor Novello-winning We Started Nothing in a Berlin jazz club basement between October 2009 and April 2010, then promptly binned it, much to their record company’s delight. But then the White/De Martino axis, in their 20s and 40s, respectively, is nothing if not unorthodox, taking inspiration from art/leftfield acts such as The Velvet Underground, Talking Heads, Björk, Gorillaz and Eels, and shaping distinctively vibrant brand of indie/electro pop-rock.
East Ender De Martino cut his teeth with Babakoto in 1987 (issuing the Just Get By 45), before lending vocals to Mojo Pin, who released the You and Imagination singles in 1995-96. Meantime, White’s teenage desires to perform were harnessed to “girl power” by forming pop trio TKO, who toured regionally as the new millennium dawned. De Martino, who’d relocated north while working for a music publisher, bumped into Katie after the unit disintegrated in 2002, and brought in Simon Templeton as a loop-making DJ third-wheel for a new trio, Dear Eskiimo. They signed to Mercury, but remained in …
by Tim Jones
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