GREAT DJ

Ting Tings

Let's say you were in a pop band, and you wanted to get your songs heard. If you had the money, you could always hire a top music producer, and if you had a sound that could be polished into something bland and shiny, you could either send a demo to the major record companies and EMI or alternatively, you could go on X-Factor and be advised on what to sing and what to wear. Dunno about you, but neither of those options appeal to me much. There is an alternative, though. If you haven't even got enough money to buy a Beano (I mean seriously, 99p for a Beano? What sort of a world are we living in?), then you haven't got much choice but to go it alone with whatever comes to hand. You even have to... and I must warn you that the next statement may shock one or both of my readers... you may actually have to play your own instruments. See, I wasn't kidding when I said about going it alone, but what you'd end up with may sound something like this, and quite honestly that's not really a bad thing. It's rough and ready, and it sounds like it was recorded about as far from Abbey Road as it's possible to get, and after the first listen I really did think that somebody was having a laugh, that's how unimpressed I was. However, first impressions are sometimes wrong and I decided to have another listen. And another. And another, and before I knew it this three minute lump of mayhem had gone round the dial from "awful" to "really good". It's not going to win any songwriting awards, and there are better tunes around, but if you genuinely enjoy making music that has a way of showing up in the performance, and sometimes that alone is enough to turn an average song into a good one. Sometimes it goes the other way, and songs that are really good can sound dire if the singer's heart isn't in it, but the Ting Tings have nothing to worry about on that score. I like hearing stuff that's different, and it'd be a sad state of affairs if the best new artists that Britain had to offer came out of The X-Factor. It's songs like this that keep me writing this column, you know.

DENIAL

Sugababes

Of course, if you've got the backing of a major label, this is the sort of thing you can come out with. Do you know what, this isn't bad either. Obviously, something from Sugababes 3.0 is always going to be a bit glossier than the Ting Tings single, but it's certainly the best thing they've released from the current album. Mind you, About You Now was no great shakes and Change plodded along until it got to the end, so really to top those all this had to do was show a bit of life and that's what it's done. There are definitely worse things to listen to than this.

TOCA'S MIRACLE 2008

Fragma

I really thought we'd finally seen the end of record companies whacking the year onto the end of song titles after giving the tune a bit of an overhaul. I suppose it's marginally better than the convention of spelling the word "remix" as "RMX", but maybe I'm just old-fashioned. At least this time round, the new mix is more of a respectful update by someone who liked the originals rather than a slapdash job by a bunch of cowboys. It ends a bit suddenly, but aside from that this is alright. The original version didn't do too shabbily when it came out, it even managed a fortnight at No.1 eight years ago (if you think two weeks at the top isn't much of an achievement, during 2000 over forty singles reached the top, but only seven managed to stay there and one of those was Bob the Builder which really sums up the state of popular music at the time), and even though I can't see this version doing as well, I'd be surprised if it doesn't at least manage a respectable showing.