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Album Details

• Artist: Times New Viking
• Album: Born Again Revisited
• Label: Matador
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: tosnob on 2009-10-07

It's hard to believe that Columbus, OH garage rockers (and our favorite band named after a font) Times New Viking have managed to make a career out of making ultra-lo-fi noise recordings. But the band have built up a sizable following and are braced to unleash their fourth full length album, Born Again Revisited, on September 22nd.

Don't expect many new tricks out of the trio, this album is pretty much the same bang and clatter they've presented in the past. The opener "Martin Luther King Day" sounds like a grainy Velvet Underground demo that's has just been discovered after 40 years of deterioration. Imagine Pavement covering The Stooges and then leaving the DAT out in the sun for a few weeks and you'll get the picture of "I Smell Bubblegum".

The band continues the lo-fi theme with the standout "These Days", a track that resembles extra lo-fi Sebadoh. The art rock apex of the record is "Move To California", which could be the resulting noise if your tape deck began eating Sonic Youth's Sister in the middle of "Hot Wire My Heart".

At times you can almost feel the band ricocheting off the constraining genre walls they've erected around themselves. We do get glimpses at breadth, whether that be a vague Hawaii Five-O hovering beneath the title track, or the catchy head bopper "No Time, No Hope", one can't help but get the feeling Times New Viking will break down those walls sometime soon. Keyboards are more prominent on "City On Drugs", which also features a stab at what passes for vocal harmonies.

Hopefully these bits and pieces hint at a more refined, future from Times New Viking, one that demonstrates at least some musical growth. Not that their next record should be a track-for-track cover of Rush's 2112 or anything crazy.

At this point though, if you own any other Times New Viking Born Again Revisited is hardly necessary.

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