The list of band members on this Ohio trio’s MySpace page says it all: Hamish Kilgour, Mark Ibold and Brix E. Smith (plus Ron House on “tapes”). Maybe they’re not being entirely candid—I don’t hear any tapes—but there’s no denying the imprint of the Fall (circa 1978-83), Pavement (circa Slay Tracks) and most of all the Clean (especially 1983’s Odditties) upon Times New Viking’s sound. The band has the Mancunians’ rickety clatter and the Californians’ slovenly execution down pat, and it puts these affectations at the service of swaying, sing-song tunes that hook your ear as savagely as the hallowed Kiwi combo’s did back in the day when you could buy telephones with rotary dials. But good taste alone can’t carry an album. What makes Times New Viking interesting is its surplus of groovy tunes that exude a palpable sense that anything can happen and it’s gonna be great. Rip It Off is all giddy tempos, grimy textures and impossible-to-ignore melodies recorded in the sort of audio crudité that’s been making engineers wince since the first time someone blew a speaker. What’s not to like? [www.matadorrecords.com]
—Bill Meyer
