Times New Viking
Born Again Revisited
Rating: 3.0/5.0
Label: Matador
Like a scab on the toned, tanned, botoxed skin of mainstream pop, there will always be underground music that is deliberately loud, abrasive and gleefully unpolished. I’d like to think that listening to a block of contemporary Top 40 would send anyone scurrying for the K Records back catalog. OK, that’s a little naïve, but here, at the end of the Aughts, we are blessed with a veritable plethora of scrappy, noisy garage bands and lo-fi punks, which run the gamut from the Black Lips to Wavves to Vivian Girls.
The three members of Ohio’s Times New Viking have an impeccable DIY pedigree. They formed in art school when none of them could really play, released two albums on the tiny “shit-gaze” label Slitbreeze, and then graduated to major indie Matador for last year’s acclaimed Rip it Off. Their Ohio roots and lo-fi sound drew immediate comparisons to indie icons Guided by Voices- this is somewhat lazy as Robert Pollard always had the British Invasion floating around in his head and it’s unlikely that TNV will ever record with Ric Ocasek. However, it was refreshing to hear an indie band that didn’t want to be Death Cab, but rather sounded like noisy early ’90s greats Pavement or Sebadoh.
It’s hard to put a finger on why their new album, Born Again Revisited is not as immediately catchy as its predecessor. That album had song titles like “Times New Viking vs. Yo La Tengo” and “Faces on Fire.” On my computer’s playlist, they were badly behaved neighbors, coming on louder and brasher than almost any other songs. It felt like the band was straining at the fabric of the song and could explode at any time, which gave their music a thrilling, slightly deranged energy and drive. The opening song, “Martin Luther King Day” is rather subdued for them, heavy with organ and cheap guitar, and who knows what it has to do with MLK. The title track and “Little World” sound especially dissonant and damaged. Remember when you used to go around as a kid taping things with a cheap recorder? Imagine a band doing that, except playing inside a cardboard box and then dropping the tape in water and letting it decay. There does come a point when you wonder how far Times New Viking and other bands like them can go with loud and lo-fi. Like hardcore punk, it’s a genre that does seem to paint itself into a corner.
Thankfully, TNV are unpredictable and cheeky enough and if you don’t like a song, well, it will be over quickly. The album hits its stride with the driving, bursting “No Time, No Hope,” which has a strangely anthemic quality. In their best songs, they do sneak melodies and hooks beneath the fuzz and grit, with all the band members playing like it’s a race to the finish. “(No) Sympathy” starts like a messy punk squabble, but then the chorus hits and you suddenly imagine one of those ’50s beach party movies, except with indie kids clad in black and lots of things on fire. The longest song, “2/11 Never Forget,” breaks the album up a bit, with a slower tempo, dense, hazy music and buried vocals. Born Again Revisited is a good album, but it also feels like they are treading water somewhat and the band may need to head in a different direction if they want to stay vital and creative.
by Lukas Sherman
