Times New Viking - Wexner Center, 1-25

Times New Viking will most likely be the most polarizing band of 2008. Previously, the Columbus noise-pop/garage-punk trio were able to stay on the fringes, garnering mostly praise from its dedicated followers. Fans of Times New Viking’s lower-than-lo-fi sound gobbled up previous releases on Siltbreeze, but as respected as the resurrected label is in some circles, its reputation and influence pales in comparison to the band’s new label, Matador--considered by many to be the pinnacle of the indie rock world.

So while TNV wasn’t exactly hard to avoid before, it’s firmly planted at the forefront for the time being, and on the heels of an 8.4 rating by Pitchfork, people are listening. The reactions, though, are not even-keeled. Scanning through some recent emusic.com user reviews of the band’s Matador debut, Rip It Off, you’ll see “I like the noisy, lo-fi thing” and “This band actually is quite good” alongside comments like “Distorted, irritating, poorly recorded garbage” and “Listen to this if you want to blow your brains out from the stress this will cause.”

I guess I’m in the minority, because before Friday night’s record release show at the Wexner Center, I didn’t love or loathe Times New Viking. What I found appealing in the band’s fun, super-catchy pop songs was always undermined by fuzzy layers of pretension. The busted quality of the recordings wasn’t an impenetrable barrier aurally, but I couldn’t help thinking that all that messiness was affected and overblown--DIY gone too far.

On Friday night, however, all that perceived pretension melted away to reveal a band that was just plain fun. Times New Viking made a believer out of me.

The band played what it professed to be its longest show ever, which made for a whole bunch of manic, noisy pop songs that usually hovered around the two-minute mark. Early on in the set, drummer/vocalist Adam Elliot introduced one song as “the only dance song we have,” but that was entirely untrue. In fact, there was a sizable group up front that danced and moshed to the entire set. A few times I had to look around and make sure I was still at the Wexner Center. (It also should be noted that a local band headlining a Wex concert is a rare feat, and the room was packed.)

Times New Viking’s love for Guided By Voices is even more apparent live as each no-frills tune was playfully and expertly deconstructed to its bare essentials. The best songs featured keyboardist/vocalist Beth Murphy prominently, particularly “My Head,” “Devo & Wine,” “Faces on Fire” and “DROP-OUT”--a song the band screwed up, then reluctantly (but fortunately) restarted. Most of the reluctance came from guitarist Jared Phillips, but skipping the song entirely would have been the height of live-show laziness; as someone in the crowd noted, the song is only a minute long.

Everything TNV does, from the fuzz to the minimalist drum kit, is intentional, yet the band’s laid-back approach and rough-around-the-edges musicianship gave the set a feeling of playful spontaneity. That mood also lightened up dark lyrics such as “Everything that you know has been an accident” and “I don’t want to die in the city alone.” The band describes its lyrical approach as “romantic nihilism.” Perhaps that’s why Elliot dedicated to several songs to dead rock stars and Heath Ledger.

And, I’ll have to say, it was nice being able to hear the vocals rise above the clutter and the drums really carry the beat of the punky tunes. On TNV’s albums the snare tends to sound more like someone tapping tin foil with a twig.

If you’ve yet to see Times New Viking, the romantic nihilists will probably be in your hometown before too long, and you just might love them. If not, you’ll hate them.

More photos.

mp3: Times New Viking - DROP-OUT
mp3: Times New Viking - (My Head)