The Ting Tings

The club culture and hipster-rock fusion of the Ting Tings seem to have a single purpose: make KC and the Sunshine Band sound a little dangerous, or maybe just British. With this year's We Started Nothing, Katie White and Jules De Martino weaponize bubble-gum dance-rock with piss-off and go-home-and-jerk-off messaging, when deep down (which isn't all that deep), they just want to be liked — really liked. And so the duo unleashes a torrent of hooks not heard since K-Tel's Disco Fire, Disco Motion or Disco Rocket. The Ting Tings may lack the inventiveness and inspiration of pomo-pop fusionists such as M.I.A. or Lily Allen, but floor-banging singles "Great DJ" and "That's Not My Name" aren't easily dismissed or deleted from any summer pop playlist.