Ohio is not exactly my favorite place ever, but regardless some good music has to come out of it sometime. So I recently purchased that of Times New Viking's newest record Rip It Off . Assuming that many haven't heard of this band, I'll hand out some background. First you can see they're from Columbus, Ohio quite a boring place (not too different from my home town but whatever), the band consists of three members, Jared Phillips on guitar/vocals, Adam Elliott on drums, and Beth Murphy on keyboards/vocals. These three come together to make some of the most strong Lo-Fi noise rock in a long time. The band also sports to other full length albums, Dig Yourself, Present the Paisley Reich, both of which come out rather recently. If you were wondering how lo-fi, we are talking an 8 track recording.
The recording is what is going to stick out the most on record. If you can't take a band trying to be a bit artsy, than a personal suggestion would be to skip the listen. But, for those of you out there who are open to all types of music that use even recording styles to their creative advantage, you may want to buy or download this one. The entire album besides a small cut in one song is very rough. This roughness honestly comes off as quite charming, like listening to your best friends band, the only big difference is these guys are making good music. The washed out sound is really something original, and if this one of the new ways to make music then really I am all for it. Music has gotten less and less creative over the past years, and maybe sometimes taking a step back for creativity's sake is not a bad move.
So now that the lo-fi discussion is out of the way lets talk about the music itself. The album consists of 16 total songs all the way from Teen Drama to and ending post teen drama (haha). Now don't let that number of tracks full you, the album is only around 31 minutes in length, with most songs fast paced and right to the point. At their heart the band really pulls from noise rocks past and from of punk. A lot of the time voices are mostly drowned out by the blarind guitar with just tons of feedback smashing through the amps. The singers both also have voices fitting for this band, you wouldn't want them to perfect for what you're hearing, they belt out solid lyrics over nice guitar riffs and keyboard hits. Songs like the opener have lyrics that kind of mock teens so called dramas like "lets concieve a new concept of thoughtless" or "Is the right time to get wasted in the summer". We were all teens once and know of this rebellion that now we may look on, and laugh at. Well TNV nails a lot of things in their songs with the lyrics (even if a the lyrics sheet is needed to tell what their saying). Sometimes the band just writes some simple songs which really seem as though they could be pop, but that chance is ruined, for example in Faces on Fire a line "Lets do something that hasn't been done yet, I just can't wait to be near you.
Rip It Off is just what it sounds like carefree and rough. If you are looking for amazing singing, clear sound, and beautiful melodies you'll be dissapointed. The thing is you won't find it, but you will uncover some amazing noise rock. Really one of the best albums of the year 2008, and shows lo-fi is still a solid genre. So pick it up don't be surpised if you like the washed out sound charm and the solid song writing.
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