Reviews

The musical ghosts of everyone from the B52s to the Au-Pairs via Peaches and Talking Heads stalked this night until The Ting Tings and New Young Pony Club washed these influences out of their beautifully coiffured hair with two of the great pop songs of 2007.

The Ting Tings (c) Shirlaine Forrest

The first was Ting Ting’s That’s Not My Name, a shouty piece of electro a la Peaches that this two piece (Katie on lead vocals, guitar and percussion and Jules on drums, vocals and electronic loops) built into a huge anthemic pop song that could make the whole world shiver in delight.

Not a better pop song in 2007 and deserving of more than just a limited 7” release. If they can write one or two more like this The Ting Tings are going to be massive.

Then there’s NYPC’s contender, The Bomb, which also plays with the slow build template then explodes it somewhere between the chorus and middle eight, to reconstruct itself into electro pop of the highest (New) order. This needs to be released every month until it becomes a smash.

New Young Pony Club (c) Shirlaine Forrest

A highlight of the many glammy musical gems NYPC offered as Tahita, Andy, Lou, Igor and Sarah consistently got the dance floor bouncing.

It’s not often you leave a gig with two very precious and sparkly pop moments but the Ting Tings and NYPC provided them. Proof, if proof was needed, that the future doesn’t have to be scruffy, guitar-orientated and relentlessly male.

With The Klaxons winning the Mercury Prize, the big-time for both these indie electro poppers is theirs to seize; their musical ghosts would be disappointed if they didn’t try.