Judging A Cover By It’s Cover: The Ting Tings “We Started Nothing”

June 11, 2008 by John Foster  Send to a Friend

John Foster takes music packaging very seriously. He has deconstructed the design of the recording industry through his personal work and his books, Maximum Page Design (HOW), New Masters of Poster Design (Rockport) and the upcoming For Sale: Innovative Solutions in Packaging Design (HOW) as well as a monograph of Sub Pop’s Art Director, Jeff Kleinsmith, slated for publication by the label in 2008.

He will be poking and prodding various albums on a weekly basis so please be sure to keep an eye out!

This week’s victims:

The Ting Tings “We Started Nothing”

Is it worth listening to no matter what it looks like? Formed from the abandoned group Dear Eskiimo, The Ting Tings have since lit up the British charts and had their music adopted for numerous commercials. Looking to capitalize, Columbia Records has set them on a path to the heart of America’s indie hipsters and wannabe hipsters with a budget-priced disc right at your local Target. The record starts off with two rudimentary, but undeniably catchy, singles in “Great DJ” and “That’s Not My Name.” The charm continues in calypso meets Everything But the Girl “Traffic Light” where singer/sort of guitarist Katie White pushes her voice a bit past it’s range but remains endearing in doing so. Drummer/producer Jules De Martino is the secret weapon with his bedroom disco orchestrations as they bring a disco thump to the Blondie styled modernization of “Shut Up and Let Me Go.” It also showcases the duo’s weakness in having everything so upfront (which works great on the dancefloor but not as well listening for the 10th time at the office) and lacking any undercurrent or rewarding repeated rotations. In fact, the songs operate much in the way a jingle might. If you loved that Eastern Motors commercial than you might never stop playing this disc. If it grated immediately we may have an issue here.

The band is hit or miss as they are so dependent on grabbing you with a catchy hook that if it doesn’t dig in right away you will become perturbed that they just keep repeating the same part that you didn’t like in the first place. At a brisk ten songs it is disappointing to see so much filler as well. Very much a singles band, they may be (unfortunately for my column) the poster boy/girl for digital downloads. A quick sample will tell you right off the bat if you dig it or not and then you can plunk down your e-change. At a bare minimum a few of these belong in your ipod rotation just for the poppy jolt they supply.

They are also one of those bands that look very much like they sound with a mix of hipster streetwear, hot chick bartender sex appeal and late night DJ oh my eyes are killing me so I had better wear these sunglasses inside backing. When you find out Katie designs her own clothes, for better or worse, you aren’t surprised.

Credit: “Band photography: Matt Irwin and Dennis Kleiman” Design is uncredited.

Any signs of creative interference in the design process by the artist? I believe so. The artwork/layout seems to be the work of the band themselves.

Does the look fit the sound? The blitz behind the band has made for a nice little expenditure as they have released the record in blue, green, yellow and red covers. When you flip through a stack at a big box retailer or even better have a full display at a smaller record store this really makes an impact. Unfortunately it is being used a s a background for a basic photograph of the duo (at least it is cropped a little off kilter) and chunky type with the title having that terrible fake dimensionality of the same type in a different color placed behind it. Worse is the lores computer altered type for the band name placed on an obviously fake “Torn” section of paper. Why not just go the extra mile (really the extra foot) and scanned in a real piece of torn paper. This kind of thing makes me mental. The back tray keeps this motif but has black and white photos of the duo holding a drum stick and mallet playing up their percussive nature. With the hand drawn song titles it is a much nicer touch.

The uncredited interior seems to be the creation of the group and is full of crappy unimaginative doodles and you can see the collage look they are going for but they have little success in achieving it. However the back of the booklet (shown below) has a nice rough paint and sharpie wordplay on it that displays a clarity not evident on the inside. It also has my favorite part of the package; a seal for Salford, London, Berlin and New York playing up the band’s locales and when it repeats throughout the booklet I have to smile. The end result is messy and unfocused and unsuccessful in so many places but it ultimately makes you grin at the effort and search out the little parts you really enjoy - both visually and sonically.

Final score (out of 10): 5.5 design 6.5 for the music

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