British pop brats are like crooked politicians: They’re everywhere and you can’t stop them. But just when it seemed like half-sung cockney insults over dance beats worked a little too well for Lily Allen and Kate Nash, another specimen comes along to reimagine the sound. Manchester guy-girl duo the Ting Tings cooked up its edgy, garage-pop sound at the factory-turned-artist-compound Islington Mill circa 2006, and the result is an utterly irresistible debut—when taken in small doses.

Katie White and Jules De Martino have pretty much everything it takes to live up to the hype they’ve drawn in recent weeks. The good-looking pair’s songs are infectiously danceable and spiked with sassy sentiments. On singles like “That’s Not My Name” and “Shut Up and Let Me Go,” White lashes out at disrespectful blokes on half-shouted choruses; the title track finds her laying a falsetto over raw Kinksian guitar riffs. Sleepier songs (“Traffic Light”) and new-wave-style midtempo numbers (“Be the One” and “Keep Your Head”) offset some of the Ting Tings’ aggressiveness, but it’s not long before White’s Gwen Stefani–style cheerleader chanting begins to grate. That’s why We Started Nothing is better thought of as a collection of superfun singles than a play-through album.

The Ting Tings play Bowery Ballroom Wed 18 and Southpaw Jun 20.