Rock Archeologia

The Nits - Ting (1992 Columbia)

Band/Artist: The Nits
Album: Ting (Limited Edition)
Label: Columbia
©  1992 SONY Music Entertaiment
Country: Holland B.V.
Catalog#: 472213 9
Released: Sep. 1992
Made in Austria
Genre: Rock, Art-Pop, Pop Rock
Format: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Total Time: 00:50:17

• After the phantasmagorical Giant Normal Dwarf, where they'd gleefully splattered the canvas with every color in the rainbow, the Nits opted for an altogether more restrained palette for this follow-up. The result was one of the most satisfying albums of their career -- one, moreover, that sounds like no other in the rock canon. On paper, the idea of foregrounding the piano to the exclusion of virtually all other instruments might sound less than radical. But if that leads you to expect something in a similar orbit to artists like Ben Folds or Bruce Hornsby, forget it. Rather, the name of Philip Glass might spring to mind more readily, especially during the exquisite opening track, "Cars and Cars," where Robert Jan Stips' piano arpeggio is doubled by Dieuwke Kleijn's cello. Throughout the album, (digital) pianos are stacked and layered (there are no guitars here): they chime, cascade, and swirl, providing both melody and rhythm to magical effect. Much is made on the sleeve of the presence on Ting of a set of stones, designed by Swiss sculptor Arthur Schneiter to function as both artwork and musical instrument -- "when you hit them with a mallet they say Ting." (In fact, they're just one of a battery of exotic percussion instruments deployed with great sensitivity throughout by drummer Rob Kloet.) Yet you don't need to know any of this to be seduced by the haunting title track, or cheered by the McCartney-esque "Soap Bubble Box." In fact, of the 15 tracks, only "River" fails to make much impression, not least because it's the one occasion where Henk Hofstede's Lennon-ish vocals give way to the characterless piping of Stips. Ting marked the end of a five-year period during which it seemed the Nits' creativity knew no bounds. Though there would be no precipitous decline, they would never quite scale these heights again.
                                                                        - Review by Christopher Evans, All Music Guide
                •  Of.Site Biography
                •  Wiki - The Nits

 • Tracklist:

01. Cars & Cars 03:25
02. Ting 03:34
03. Soap Bubble Box 03:24
04. Fire in my Head 03:57
05. House on the Hill 03:39
06. Christine's World 03:19
07. Bus 01:34
08. River 03:30
09. Tree is Falling 04:27
10. White Night 02:55
11. All or Nothing 01:50
12. Night Fall 03:18
13. I Try 03:08
14. Yellow Boat 03:29
15. Saint Louis Avenue 03:56

  Design – Henk Hofstede, Riemke Kuipers
  Engineer /Werf, Amsterdam/ – Paul Telman
  Engineer /Wisseloordstudios, Hilversum/ – Margret van den Heuvel*
  Written-By, Producer – Nits* 

Members:

Martin Bakker - Bass Guitar
Henk Hofstede - Guitars, Vocals
Arthur Schneiter - Percussion (Soundstones)
Rob Kloet - Drums, Percussion
Peter Meuris- Percussion, Violin
Eveline Carels - Percussion
Lieve Geuens - Vocals
Robert Jan Stips - Keyboards, Piano, Vocals
Dieuwke Kleijn - Cello

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