Times New Viking -- Dispatch from Europe

It gets really lonely around Columbus when the kids are on tour. While Dancer Equired Day has come and gone, the kids remain in Europe. Far away from the misinformed and genuinely nasty reviews and those who actually understand where this album is coming from. Of course there's bias in my opinion, and certainly my voice here, but I truly feel like this is evolution for the band. And Merge is a new beginning. But who knows? Hopefully they are tearing it up live in Europe, like they'll do here for another two months, starting next week.

Above is a video, acoustical, right off the airplane, rendition of one of the album's golden hits. And below is there appearance on Marc Riley's (he of Fall guitar fame) BBC Radio Show. Click on both to experience.

TNV's Live Quiz and Performance on Marc Riley.

Times New Viking - On the Road Again

Leave it to the kids to give another beautifully composed "film" to promote Dancer Equired's April release. It's nice in showing Times New Viking as hometown children, still nostalgic while pushing the envelope with their songcraft and artistic representation. The highlights include a trip to K's Hamburgers in the Square of Troy, a visit to Mr. Phillip's parents in New Lebanon (home of the Haunted Caves), and a final tipple in Musicol's Studio A. Well worth your viewing. Plus, new songs -- a batch the kids are already beyond. They've been reported recording even more songs for an Autumn release of some sort. Video comes courtesy of NPR's All Songs Considered, with a simple description and notes from the band.

Make sure to check them out if you're in Austin -- or gearing up to see Wild Flag (who they're supporting the next two weeks).

The Death of Lo-Fi and How to Survive It...

Like a three-headed Tom Cruise, it appears the kids are making all the right moves when it comes to the approach to their first Merge release (coming in April, watch out). It's rare to hear or read, for that matter, even a ephemeral quip from Mr. Jared Phillips -- guess i's because he "never gets asked to." All budding journalists, if you can provoke from him something as funny as this essay Phillips wrote for Vice UK, regarding the boom and death of lo-fi you'll be sitting on comic gold. Being Vice, they prompted him to "slog" on other bands (which from their perspective should be like shooting "dead rats" in a toothpaste tube) -- but Phillips is classy. That doesn't stop the comments from backlashing, proclaiming inferior bands like Wavves, No Age, and Best Coast the absolute in current indie rock. If only those comments were as funny and biting as Phillip's take on all of this. A must read.

Times New Viking - "No Room to Live"

(photo courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan)

Yes. This is the face of Jared "getting down." By now it's old news that the kids are taking their talents to Merge Records (a vertical leap?), with their latest and greatest album, Dancer Equired, expected in April. I've been listening for a while now and still can't get enough. Call it Landmark. There are many tours, singles, remixes, videos and films on the way (in the making), but this video is the first glimpse of Dancer Equired, and what a beautiful glimpse it is. Do they still play videos? This should win some award right? Could it coax 120 Minutes out of retirement, the same way Dig Yourself did to Siltbreeze? A boy can dream. Though you've probably seen it a million times already -- I chose to put it here for prosperity's sake. Watch it again.

"No Room to Live"

Not sure why, in the back of my mind, I imagine "No Room to Live" as a comeback. There are circumstances that could suggest such, but that can only be attributed to bad handling of their best album (on all fronts). And, on the blip-a-minute indie-ticker, a song as achieved as "No Room to Live" flies on by in a blink. Right now it just took its maiden voyage playing to fans awaiting Guided By Voices. How appropriate. While one classic takes a final bow, another awakens and arises. Though the kids have never really encountered a slump yet -- all work, all the time, even in smoking cigarettes. Work. This seven-inch, taken on that tour, was unsuspecting, a surprise to any GBV die-hards that may have bought it, and a boon to the kids who came just to see the kids (never lived through the "classic" line-up).

The single is wildly indifferent, but the melody is the most hopeful they've ever written. A white flag with a flower bomb in the back pocket. "No Room to Live" is the closest they've come to the Velvets-Pavement-Clean axis that is usually the unusual way they're usually defined -- that romantic nihilism defined really. You can hear feedback and fuzz sitting back on the bench, arms crossed. The once obfuscated crest of the trio is instead magnified and mellowed here.

"No Interest In Oil Spilling..." is a refrain in this defeated couple's clash, in between yawns of euphoria. If anything the single is a call to attention for those without the retroactive sense to return to Born Again Revisited before moving forward. It will all make sense. Here' to the sweet side.

The b-side, "Nite and Day" comes cut from the quilt of that studio expanse that will inform the upcoming album. The song's a quick punch of typewriter teeter-punk that fizzled enough in the end to be left off, but serves as the perfect foil to "No Room to Live." Evolved art, bristling in nervous energy when they choose to rattle off some thrash. Prepare for this album kids.

Times New Viking - "No Room to Live"(via Pitchfork)

I Saw Wooden Shjips

Dear Diary,

I know it's late on a Monday night, but I had to go see Wooden Shjips. I saw Wooden Shjips. I love Wooden Shjips. I often say things when I'm "out of mind" like "The Wooden Shjips are America's best psychedelic band" -- cuz they are, and there aren't many truly psychedelic bands anymore in America. Even fewer purely psychedelic bands in Columbus.

They played in CDR's basement. This was the perfect setting. It sounded amazing. But it should. They record a lot of amazing sounding records down there. I hope they burn me a copy of the show. They were recording it. I hope they make a vinyls of the show. They were recording it.

They also recorded the set by Times New Viking. Beer was a $1 and shots were only $2. Not a lot of "columbus" people were there. I've seen the TNV many o' time and I can't honestly say they've ever sounded better than that night. It's nothing "talking," it's not kool aid.

Pretty sure Matt Horseshit played too. Broken-hand blues, by himself, and it was equally as magical. Though the up-lights were on, and those few people were shufflin' in, so you couldn't really concentrate on what he wuz trying to do by him lonesome. I really loved it. It felt like an amazing night then.

I had to leave early Wooden Shjips. Your light show was boss. I wish they'd hung up blacklight posters (no I'm serious). But no one knew, and Columbus did you lousy (don't worry, they don't understand). Come back, and we'll put it in the same place, with the same people, and they'll probably record it again (but I'd love two live Wooden Shjips albums recorded in Columbus), and if it's the same intimate crowd it will persevere, but if we convince 100 more people to come (cause your the best psychedelic band in America) then it will transcend a happening. That's what this felt like. Achieved the mission. A happening. Just wish a lot more people came under the same spell.

Good night.

In Studio A With Times New Viking

Not much to really report here. Just show you some pretty pictures of my favorite band recording in a "real" studio. I only say "real" because previously recordings have occurred in living rooms and basements, but this as-of-yet-untitled fifth LP from Times New Viking, has now been recorded at Mus-I-Col Studios ("A" specifically) where they have a control deck and separator rooms, full pianos and headphones that play in stereo and mono. "Real" living if you ask me. On this night they were mixing with Proglegs (he being Dusty of Moons) and Adam Smith (he being Adam Smith of CDR, Necropolis, and the Unholy 2, and best ear in town). What I heard, and now have been hearing all day, sounds like their masterpiece -- the one where everything falls into place. This should hit your ears sometime in 2011 -- from whom and by whom is still up in the air. So stay tuned. You get a sneak preview in the clip below. Thee Romantic Nihilist Album.

TNV/CAVE/PHS

BIG SHOW MONDAY. Yes, it's a Monday but Cave is in town. I just reviewed their latest EP, Pure Moods and was pleasantly stoned immaculate. Psychedelic bliss -- fer sure.

The New Horseshit - Now With More Shamans

The rumors were spreading. Rumors that Matt HORSESHIT had booted his rhythm section, but not the cardboard kick drum. Rumors that the sampler was broken. Rumors that the reason shows were getting cancelled (ok, it was only one show) was because a roadblock had been met head on. I don’t think it was as much of a set-back, as much as it was a retooling, a reimagining of the PHS branding and vision. Maybe it was the comraderie felt in an impromptu invitation to assist with sound on Times New Viking’s weekend romp to England for the Pavement curated All Tomorrow’s Parties? When they returned the rumors turned into hyperbole. Mr. Horseshit was ditching keyboard duties and acquiring two new band members in the form of Ringo and Kim (Adam and Beth, they need official PHS pseudonyms now). And after one practice they’d be heading up Oldfield’s way for a Saturday night showdown.

Of course it was rusty as expected. The beat though was automaton, almost robotic, something never felt in a prior Horseshit set. That alone allowed Mr. Horseshit to shamble freely with a comfortable base to stand on, a solid state to allow for improvisation, pure jam. Flanked by Beth on whittled and droning guitar shards or bop-inflected casiotones – Horseshit suddenly became a lot less gimmick and a lot more shamanistic. Not that I’m ever opposed to the gimmick of samples whirling around the space, cracked and fragmented, fizzy and euphoric – that’s what made Horseshit “psychedelic.” Matt has always put extra slime and grime into the electronic sections of his sets. Here, there were completely new songs, as if something as pure as “Can’t Get Enough” (the hit that started it all) had been sitting in a jar of decaying meat over the years – and now was the time to let the stench permeate the air, crush any thought to ignore what was happening up there. Wish this was one I taped. It was organic and raw, never once looking uncomfortable or “supergroupish.” This is not a gimmick, this is not a one-time deal methinks. This will grow and grow and push PHS into a new era. Funny how the two best bands in this town just continue to lap all the rest. They’re headed on tour this weekend. Check here for those dates/confirmation this all was not made up.

P.S. I still love Rich Horseshit.

My bedtime – on a Saturday no less – did not allow the crushing that followed from Puffy Areolas and the Unholy Two. Another time. Buy those records kids.

Ahem...Fuck Our Blog

The Kids are finally back from their whirlwind tour of Europe -- and they're planning on playing some monsters in this, the ENDLESS COLUMBUS SUMMER, and.....they started a fucking blog. Go read.

Two New TNV Tour Only Releases

I'll have to admit, that while I had an excellent, fulfilling time in Austin this year, SXSW sans the kids in TNV, was somewhat a drag. Europe (for the next two months and some change -- GO ATP Pavement), you are the lucky ones right now. You're getting to see one of the most incendiary live bands in the land. Where Times New Viking excel is from the stage. I just sat through a bushel full of start-up bands stealing the kid's flow. Believe it or not, TNV started all this -- or better yet -- Tom Lax re-started all this. TNV just became the mold.

Well, remaining as obscure-by-design as ever, the kids printed up some extremely rare and beautiful CD-Rs of unreleased mayhem, the beginning of their "really high DIY" series. The first, New Times Viking, culls demos and tracks from the Stay Awake sessions, including everything they recorded with Home's Andrew Deutsch in NYC, and elements of "The Fall and Dvorak." But "everything they do is a demo," you say? Not so, hearing their hits in the germ stage is somewhat euphoric. Matador would be right to bootleg this one. Little gems like the bopping, Clean-converse "Influence" and the eternal summer bummer of closer "Sing High!" are priceless really. The sign of a band with too many ideas and not enough understanding. The second collectible is Hello...We Are Times New Viking From Columbus, OH, a live show from where else, but their hometown. This is TNV in their element, and as a bonus it's said that guitarist Jared Phillips added a drunken extra track of shreds in the mix-down. What a wonderful concept. I'll take two Jared's on stage over the normal pap I'm subject to any day of the year. I'm sure if you hound them on their internet spaces, they'll budge and send over some of these. Have fun, Europe.

Times New Viking - Born Again Revisited Vid

My favorite so far. That is all.....

Do Not Do It Yourself

While a little culture war continues unabated (over at Donewaiting.Com) regarding this tidy documentary and the validity/quality/ability of Times New Viking -- the band continues their umpteenth tour of the entire U.S. Do not believe in the myth that things are happening in Columbus -- for the most part they are not. For every Times New Viking and Psychedelic Horseshit there are a dozen bands made up of middle-aged men (infants) who came from a dozen other failed bands to form a Voltron of Midwestern mediocrity. Don't get me wrong, there are a handful of excellent bands in this town -- but few escape the bars and make something happen. I would love to write an essay on the fountain of suck that is created once a band in Columbus breaks the boundaries of I-270 and makes something happen. Nevertheless haters come out of the woodwork and keep their identities and their insufferably shitty bands hidden. Please, break-up your band.

Back to this doc though. Granted, TNV is not for everyone, but those who "get" it, adore it. Explaining this band to squares is always a challenge, so I'm glad something like this now exists because in the future I'll just direct them this way.

Today is Times New Viking Day (Equinox)

YES. It's been ringing in my ears for the entirety of the summer, but today, you can, and should, walk into a physical record store and buy a physical copy (preferably vinyl)of Times New Viking's fourth and decidedly darkest record to date, Born Again Revisited. I highly recommend it, though I'm the slightest bit biased. Fuck your blog.

And in the spirit, we did an Agit-Feature on them.

Below, the video for "No Time, No Hope"



They'll be back in town Oct. 14th at the Summit. Take the next day off work.

Yo La Tengo Loves the Kids

If you haven't noticed already, I'm pretty hyped on the kids. Not sure if it is the kool-aid, or a long, introspective summer (yes, it was somewhat long, still not over) of more chilled do-it-yourselfers -- whom I all consider derived from Times New Viking at this point. Of course, though they'd hate to admit it, TNV's direct inspiration comes from Guided By Voices and the Siltbreeze peripherals that they came to discover from Robert Pollard's Trader Vic tweets in 1994 (NZ, Harry Pussy, Fieldhands, Echoes from Rep and Shep), so all of these youth owe a little St. Ides on the curb for Elephant Jokes. What's that Metallica song? "Sad but True" ???

It all comes down to the songs, right? I've spent a long, and finally "hot," summer with Born Again Revisited, and I must say, these are the best "songs" that Times New Viking have written. Coming home from work this day, it's nice to see a reputable internet "authority" like Peefork call them "lo-fi titans." But I know there's somewhere in the last week (week and a half) of turmoil, melancholy, ecstasy, and stoicism that Me and "some other person*" discussed the actual fidelity of said band. The "kids" have kind of defiled fidelity and pushed it beyond the realm of good taste (or even "play for your "radio station's" programming director's" taste). You're either "on" or you're "off." When "your kids" riddle those "Elliott Smith" compact discs you've stored away (and subsequently ask if you know how much a copy of Dig Yourself goes for on Z-BAY), you'll likely say you were "off."

This video they did, playing "Yo La Tengo," transports me back to late night weekends with 120 Minutes. YLT videos from the '90s are quintessentially indie -- blurry landscapes, underground comedian cameos, and pastels. So it's actually no surprise that a band like TNV is playing into that mythology (in this new century (and dawn of YLT most brilliant album in years (though none of them are "that" bad))), adored by the Clean, touring with the Breeders, and releasing their best record yet in a mere month. Go Forth, I Guess.

Times New Viking Announce Born Again Revisited

Finally. 'Tis not going to win the band any more fans with the addition of "25% more fidelity," but those who are fans will undoubtedly chalk this up as a grower, and then a masterpiece. Songs just keep getting better.

Via the Matablog:

A pox on those who claim the venerable VHS format is dead -- in fact, Times New Viking delivered the master recordings to their forthcoming LP/CD/digital album ‘Born Again Revisited’ (OLE 860) on a Video Home System cassette. Addressing the mountain of constructive criticism they’ve received from self-styled musicologists wanna-be producers and persons with my initials, the Columbus based trio promise their 2nd Matador album (and 4th overall) features “25% higher fidelity”, a percentage our own engineering staff has confirmed after hourse of exhaustive laboratory tests.

Much has been made in the press of late of Cheap Trick’s attempts to steal Adam, Beth and Jared’s thunder by releasing their upteenth comeback album on 8-track, but with all due respect to the state fair fixtures Rockford’s finest, it’s been a generation since they’ve come up with anything as provocative as ‘Born Again Revisited’’s “Move To California” or “No Time No Hope”. While Times New Viking continue to make-it-look-easy, I can assure you it’s anything but that. A cursory glance at the American rock underground reveals a landscape littered with well-intentioned but vastly inferior bands who’ve caught the lo-fi bug ; Times New Viking are well advised to disavow responsibility for the epidemic, but whoever the guilty party is, the ferocity of TNV’s shows and their sheer quality of their songwriting should be enough to win them a presidential pardon, not unlike the one ‘Born Again’ author Chuck Colson never quite received.

Preview "No Time, No Hope", one of many classics on BAR, out September 22nd.

Times New Viking Play Record Store Day

I'm beginning to think that Record Store Day is quickly becoming my favorite holiday. An excuse to dig through every pile of records they can fit into Used Kids and spend way too much money on those (sometimes) brilliant Record Store Day exclusives (which I see getting better and better in years to come). Vinyl's back, so they say. It never left, right? I'm also pretty psyched at how apeshit Matador gets about the event. That Pavement live record is amazing, thank you. Now I'm just waiting for the Bettie Seveert - Palomine re-ish. Columbus did not do me wrong in the slightest. It's good to live in a city that knows how to celebrate properly. My grabs from the dollar bin:



Out the year I was born. This may have been the first cassette I could say I owned. That cover always freaked me out.



Should've taken Mark Van Fleet's advice -- nothing stacks up to City to City.



For my Poolside pile. Self-explanatory.



Another brick in my obsession with owning all Jackson family vinyl from Off the Wall to Dangerous. Any Marlon owners out there?



Cause you can never have enough Prince on vinyl. His b-sides were as good as his a-sides, even up to this point and beyond. Here it's "Girls and Boys."



In memoriam to missing Fleetwood Mac at Nationwide Arena last night. Plus I don't own any Stevie, only Lindsey.



Not for "Lean on Me," but for the Luniz' sampled "Why You Wanna' Treat Me So Bad." Perfect proto-New Jack swing/Poolside addition. Wicked cover.


Then Times New Viking dazzled the crowd with a short set of almost all new songs. Squeezing in "Devo and Wine" and "(I Love My) Natural Resources" as a bonus. Enjoy. And apologies for the shady technology -- one day I'll get a proper workstation for this site.

TNV Play the Velvets (with Friends)

There's to be a complete report about this show tomorrow on AGIT-READER by our man on the scene. Incredible night, that exceeded expectations. Sadly, this is the only thing I caught on tape -- as I wanted to see it with my eyes and not my camera. But, there were plenty of peeps with video cameras and tape machines swarming the stage, so hopefully they all get together one night and splice up a full-set for view. I would start a record label tomorrow if I was told I could bootleg this on vinyl.

Oh yeah. And Beth played guitar. It's a brand new era.

Do Not Overblog Love Is All

Sure the Summit could use some character, some warmth, some signage to delineate it from its Bourbon neighbor, but there’s no other place that could pull off Monday night’s indie-smorgasbord, and for that fact I’ve been making it a second home.

Show of the Year? Close, but I’ll stick with the sticky summer triplet of V. Girls/Crystal Stilts/TNV – two of those bands were here on this night, it’s just the impending weather reports and the fact that this was a Monday knocked it down a few.



The Stilts though, are slowly winning the hearts of everyone they come in contact with. I’m a bit sick of hearing all the comparisons – Joy Division (duh), Jesus and Mary Chain (duh), the Doors (well I’d rather hear Alight the Night than most of that catalog honestly), Interpol (on the cheap). Yes, it’s obvious, it’s all there in spades, only this band stretches it into widescreen, almost meditative mantras. The basslines are tucked into the back, the guitar shimmering in shades of black, the drums simple and snappy, and those vocals – enough to scream mercy for the dourness. Yet when the noir gels, they become hypno-pop, erase the keys from the equation (which is their current form) and that rids the music of any distraction. And these guys (girl) seem to fit a niche that isn’t represented in Columbus. They could easily come from here or adapt to here and leave their Brooklyn address for good. They seem to radiate in front of Columbus crowds, even when the mope is forced through song.



Love is All, the sprightly quintet from Sweden, were perfect sandwiched between gloomy shadowplay and bouts of romantic nihilism. Don’t worry, as much as I liked them I’m not going to “overblog” them as one punter asked backstage – no need to, they spoke for themselves. One who was unfamiliar with the band’s distinctive “shit-pop” by way of any number of twee collectives (see Architecture in Helsinki, Arcade Fire, Fat Albert’s Junkyard Band) could have likely come away thinking their sound is a bit dated, played out like a late ‘90s ska band or perhaps the angular disco-punk popular less than five years ago. Yes, well, all might apply, you’d be half-right – I think it’s just the instruments they choose and the abundance of riffs they pour on that aligns them with that. What makes them a great band, on record and live, is their endless amount of energy and ambition. Few bands have that connect these days, but Love Is All looked genuinely thrilled in every one of their shows twists and turns, shifting into overdrive when the crowd allowed. Very noisy, extremely poppy and precious, eschewing anything trendy by stitching Contortions skronk to indie-rock clamor, X-Ray Spex and Archies -- dare I mention the Rapture mixed into the Sugarcubes. It may have wore a little thin towards the end, but I think that came from the crowd deflated from dancing feverishly the first 45 minutes. Come back soon.

I’ve seen a lot of TNV shows this year. A ton. More than any other band. This is their home, their turf, and it shows. Not sure if it was post-tour stress disorder or all the strangers crowding up the front, but there was a tiny disconnect from the audience. That didn’t cause the performance to be anemic though, quite the contrary. They were tight and often transcending through noise and feedback. Jared’s riffs have become even more monstrous and euphoric than ever. I don’t think the disconnect, or lack of audience back and forth was on purpose, or because the trio was lacking sleep and sustenance or care, I just think they are riding the crest of this year long wave right now and there’s nowhere farther they can take these songs until they get into a studio, rip it up, and begin again. Ears still ringing and it’s Thursday.

Three Days, Four Nights in NYC

While it was whirlwind....got to see the horrific results of a missing CBGB, the artwork of a Jarvis Cocker obsessed hack (see Peyton), lunch at my favorite place in Manhattan (see Habana), spent some quality bros time with the bros, and spent two luxurious nights in the TNV penthouse suite -- I could go on, but memory doesn't serve me -- below is probably the apex of my weekend zen --