The Ting Tings: We Started Nothing review

Pop's latest bright young things have lots of ideas, slightly less tunes

The success of number one single That's Not My Name will doubtless have many pop fans beating a path to the Ting Tings' debut album to see if there are plenty more where that came from. The answer, perplexingly, is yes and no: the Salford duo of Katie White and Jules de Martino do pluck a couple more slithers of pop magic out of the ether, but at other points We Started Nothing, for all of its sparkle and fizz, is inspiration-free and laboured..

That's Not My Name works on daytime radio because its edgy, New Wave-style rhythms, playground sass and dumb-smart chorus gel as if by magic. The Ting Tings pull off a similar trick on Great DJ, seemingly a hyperventilating ode to popping your first disco biscuit, and on the Lily Allen-like Fruit Machine, but at other points its electro-trickery and yapped slogans recall a bewildering array of long-forgotten semi-novelty 1980s hits by artists like Toni Basil, Lene Lovich and Toto Coelo. It's worth buying, but make sure that your iPod's skip button is working well first.

More to try: Kate Nash: Made Of Bricks Toni Basil: The Best of Toni Basil: Mickey And Other Love Songs Various: Best One-Hit Wonders In The World