Finally I’ve found the label for this nonsense I’ve been spinning obsessively for the last few weeks. (Picture the little rat in the cage, tongue lashing the coke-spiked water-bottle foaming away at his little lips. twitch twitCH! TWITCH!!… ) Anyway here ’tis: INDIE-POP. Post-Pop’s already taken (damn you, Peaches!) And this is more of a return to form, like your third-wave feminism: It ain’t afraid to be what it was born to be. More Carrie Bradshaw, less Murphy Brown.
So here’s The Ting Tings: Big in the UK, and (I predict) without a future in the states. We can’t handle ambiguity (see: the Darkness). You’re either in or your out. Hanging with the in-crowd or slumming with the freaks, take a pick and don’t cross the line. These kids have played both sides of the fence and can’t seem to sit still. Picture the White Stripes playing a round of Dance Dance Revolution and you’ll get the idea.
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addendum: I just googled indie-pop and it’s been taken too. drat! suggestions anyone?
I’ve had this album for a while now, but I didn’t get around to listening to it until last Friday night, when Kate and I were babysitting the Buckley Boys (sounds like a future sitcom title). It prompted much goofy dancing. And then there were the kids. “Indie pop” sounds like as good a description of it as any. It actually reminded me of early ’80s Talking Heads offshoots like The Tom Tom Club. It’s probably too idiosyncratic for real dance clubs (not that I know anything about them), but it worked just fine in the Buckley’s living room.
This is one of my most-listened to CDs of 2008 so far. I think “Indie dance” or “Rhythmic indie pop” are both pretty close to the mark.
However, last time I looked, their label (Columbia) did not qualify as “indie” by anyone’s standard that I know of….
; – )