TIMES NEW VIKING - Stay Awake

It's the "underground" phenomenon of the moment. Everyone, at least among those in the know, is talking about it. It's shitgaze, "a sound - as our friend Ciarletta writes - that's born badly and develops even worse". A swarm of more or less interesting bands, plenty of records and very, very few truly worth noting. But that's how it is: hype is hype... That's how the world works, even down in the underbrush.

The fact remains that, at least in the case of Times New Viking, we praised the excellent quality of their output well before it was fashionable to do so, when, reviewing their debut, we highlighted that "gloriously deflagrating blast of unhinged, claustrophobic, metallic noise, paired with a finger-licking pop attitude". That was "Dig Yourself", the debut of the Columbus, Ohio band, still their best record to date and one of the best from the scene (?) mentioned above.

What followed was a progressive decline in inspiration, leading up to these eleven minutes of "Stay Awake", an Ep with no pretensions whatsoever, a sort of status report on a sound that's increasingly ugly, dirty and deliciously nasty. Five songs poised between melody and noise, lo-fi and garage-pop, enthusiasm and couldn't-care-less. Shame the quality is subpar - those good old days feel far away now.

"Call & Respond" disarticulates with a bastard grace, but wears thin immediately. "Pagan Eyes" bastardizes Wedding Present with the most ramshackle garage sound, while the idiot keyboard keeps jabbing away relentlessly and the vocals fight for space amid the storm. The Germs are ghosts lurking in the folds of "Hate Hate Hate", while the carefree, poppy sing-song of "No Sympathy" is submerged in a haze of fuzz.

There was no need for this little effort: the songs are quite charming, but deep down they don't have much to say, they don't excite us all that much. The band is probably a bit hype-sick, as well as tired ("Sick & Tyred").

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15/10/2008