Times New Viking: Rip It Off

Times New Viking
Rip It Off
Matador

If you’re the type of person who respected the pop sensibilities of Guided By Voices, but just couldn’t get past all the additional feedback and distortion, it’s probably safe to say that Times New Viking is not the band for you.

Like GBV before them, TNV hail from Ohio (Columbus, in this case) and make lo-fi, two-minute, indie-rock songs with a punk edge. To take the comparison even further, Times New Viking’s new album, Rip It Off, is their first for the mighty Matador label—former home to Guided By Voices, as well as some other art school hall-of-famers like Pavement, Belle & Sebastian, and Cat Power.

So does TNV’s music really warrant this sort of hefty company? To answer that question, you need to ask yourself a few more questions first. 1) Do you enjoy the sound of a hissing tape turned up prominently in a mix? 2) Do you like vocals sung through muffled bullhorns? 3) Do you often wish that Daniel Johnston had produced some Ramones records at the bottom of a well?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then Rip It Off could be the sort of throwback garage-punk record you’ve been waiting for. In fact, fine tracks like “The Early ‘80s,” “Faces on Fire,” and “Times New Viking vs Yo La Tengo” (another Matador band) just might fill that difficult 3-4 week gap between new Robert Pollard albums.

(Andrew Clayman)


Published in The Knoxville Voice, January 2008