Times New Viking
Born Again Revisited
Matador

Columbus, Ohio combo Times New Viking play noisy, dirty and slack lo-fi indie rock. The threesome - Jared Phillips (guitar), Adam Elliott (vocals, drum), and Beth Murphy (vocals, keyboards) - present musical dishes like as if... imagine Pavement crashing/clashing into Deerhoof. Times New Viking also make me recall the Beatnik Filmstars (and vaguely a most primitive Sonic Youth), but as far as I remember they (the Beatniks that is) had better songs. And better sound. But, I guess Times New Viking don't care much about that aspect of their expression. This is pop art.

Born Again Revisited is their 4th album (2nd for Matador, after last year's Rip It Off - their 2 first albums, 2005's Dig Yourself and 2007's Present the Paisley Reich were launched by the exciting Siltbreeze label). Times New Viking for sure like to scramble and make noisy pop songs, with Murphy and Elliott sharing the vocal duties. Their rather special instrumental setting and mixture also give their music some odd twists and turns. Well, I must admit that I don't find all their songs to be all too interesting, as some are simply just plain annoying. The opener "Martin Luther King Day" is a fine one, but I must say I do have problems getting into the world of Times New Viking. Yes, there are some exceptions, such as the poppy "No Time, No Hope", the raw/medium rare "Something More", the tough "2/11 Don't Forget", and the pulsating "Move to California", the latter maybe being the best song of the record.

Alright, then, I do get a bit tired of Born Again Revisited, but it's a short album, 15 songs clocking in at just over 30 minutes. Which means it's a quite quick listen after all. And, if you'd like, you can press plays again, and it might sound better the 9th or 10th time. I'm Norwegian, and we're supposed to be vikings (at least once we were). Yet, I don't feel all that related to this gang.

Copyright © 2009 Håvard Oppøyen