Tingle in the Where? [TITN46]
28 June, 2013
Kids, I love synths. And I love absurdist nonsense. So no artist this year tickles my guilty fancy more than the scandalously titled synthpop duo, Tingle in the Netherlands. Sleazy? Yes. Naughty? Absolutely. Pseudo-futuristic? To the utmost. The outdated synths and very obvious (and very danceable) drum machines of Owen J. collide with the ludicrous and deviously demented words of Helen T, to hilarious effect. To put it bluntly, I’m in love with these guys, and particularly their debut LP, Why Can’t You Write Something Nice For A Change?
This week’s playlist featured their fantastic “Prostitute’s Handbag”, a free single with such golden lines as . “A Forest of Cocks” features Owen’s scholarly voice reciting a seemingly high-blow poem spiked with lewd imagery. Next, there’s the delightfully dark “Astronaut Love Triangle”, with its heavy, heavy synths and ridiculous, sci-fi inspired drama. “The Housewife’s Lament” is an even sillier narrative of a bizarre love affair - that chorus of “shagging the milkman / shagging him good”, delivered in serious chillwave style, never fails to crack me up. Yes…these romance-gone-wrong tunes are just too rich. Best example – “I Lost My Heart To A Starship Cleaner”. This one oozes with so much electronic darkness – Click Click comes to mind – that it’s brilliantly sarcastic.
On first listen, TITN might sound rather singular, but those throbbing synths do tackle a fair variety of electronic styles. They tackle disco-ready techno on “She’s No Lady” (which, yes, concerns a transvestite), bouncy synthpop on the title track, and heady EDM on the pulsing closer, “365” – which, upon reflection, may indeed be the most artistic track on the album, with its cool, collected synth solos and lingering, mysterious sustains.
Helen penned most of the outrageous lyrics on the LP, but “Mammals”, a disturbing catalogue of facts on various occupations (“the prime minister produces one pint of saliva a day…fashion designers will risk their lives to protect their young…monarchs frequently change sex during adolescence”), was actually Owen’s brainchild. And it’s just as engrossing – if not more so – than some of Helen’s wilder narratives. And, of course, the combination of bleak and icy synths make this fantastically horrific. And, just to prove that they could, TITN threw in one mostly instrumental track, “Girlie Disco One”, which pulses and throbs with enough vigor that it stands perfectly fine without any garnish of lyrics – Helen’s intriguing “oohs” suffice nicely.
Man, I love TITN. Perhaps that’s because I admire the old electronic masters – “Organisation”-era OMD, Human League without the chicks, John Foxx, and so forth – but also because these two harness all that dark 80s flair and then proceed to skew it even further into their own distinctive project. Go stream this sucker on their Bandcamp page and drop ‘em a few quid for the download (or a few more for the CD) – you won’t regret it, I swear.
This week’s playlist featured their fantastic “Prostitute’s Handbag”, a free single with such golden lines as . “A Forest of Cocks” features Owen’s scholarly voice reciting a seemingly high-blow poem spiked with lewd imagery. Next, there’s the delightfully dark “Astronaut Love Triangle”, with its heavy, heavy synths and ridiculous, sci-fi inspired drama. “The Housewife’s Lament” is an even sillier narrative of a bizarre love affair - that chorus of “shagging the milkman / shagging him good”, delivered in serious chillwave style, never fails to crack me up. Yes…these romance-gone-wrong tunes are just too rich. Best example – “I Lost My Heart To A Starship Cleaner”. This one oozes with so much electronic darkness – Click Click comes to mind – that it’s brilliantly sarcastic.
On first listen, TITN might sound rather singular, but those throbbing synths do tackle a fair variety of electronic styles. They tackle disco-ready techno on “She’s No Lady” (which, yes, concerns a transvestite), bouncy synthpop on the title track, and heady EDM on the pulsing closer, “365” – which, upon reflection, may indeed be the most artistic track on the album, with its cool, collected synth solos and lingering, mysterious sustains.
Helen penned most of the outrageous lyrics on the LP, but “Mammals”, a disturbing catalogue of facts on various occupations (“the prime minister produces one pint of saliva a day…fashion designers will risk their lives to protect their young…monarchs frequently change sex during adolescence”), was actually Owen’s brainchild. And it’s just as engrossing – if not more so – than some of Helen’s wilder narratives. And, of course, the combination of bleak and icy synths make this fantastically horrific. And, just to prove that they could, TITN threw in one mostly instrumental track, “Girlie Disco One”, which pulses and throbs with enough vigor that it stands perfectly fine without any garnish of lyrics – Helen’s intriguing “oohs” suffice nicely.
Man, I love TITN. Perhaps that’s because I admire the old electronic masters – “Organisation”-era OMD, Human League without the chicks, John Foxx, and so forth – but also because these two harness all that dark 80s flair and then proceed to skew it even further into their own distinctive project. Go stream this sucker on their Bandcamp page and drop ‘em a few quid for the download (or a few more for the CD) – you won’t regret it, I swear.