Live

Times New Viking, Lovvers

James Ainsworth 08/05/2008

On record, Times New Viking do little to impress me, I can see that there is talent there but on record it doesn't feel like the rawness has been captured as well as it might have been and this is confirmed explicitly at tonight's show, where they own the life out of everyone within.

Opening tonight for TNV were the noisy oiks of Lovvers who a raucous, uncouth and flippin' great fun. The singer performs from in the crowd, two inches away from the crowd's faces and wrapped in microphone wire with the crowd. As intimate and awkward as you don't want but captivating enough to make their garage punk noise that little bit more interesting and engaging.

TNV, the three piece who have a tightly honed craftsmanship for writing beautifully dishevelled sub 3 minute slices of wonder, with the 'too soon' bad taste between song banter that leaves you confused and bemused in equal measure. A regular throwaway line at their shows of late is the “This song is about being paranoid Heath Ledger is in the audience.”

She hammers the keys with synth interjections, he maintains the tightest of beats and spits the greatest strained vocal and the other one thrashes out guitar distortions and sustains that really lift up the sound to a fantastic cacophony. This is supersonic pop in its impurest, unpolished and battered form. The absence of melody forces the pop aspect to come from elsewhere and it does from the vocal hooks and the violent rhythm section evidently so in 'Faces on Fire,' a deftly executed ramshackle beauty.

Sounding like a more bad ass and shoddy version of Matt & Kim, these guys bruised their way out of Ohio. TNV nail treble until it cant breathe with the likes of 'Teen Drama' and 'Post Teen Drama' - a rippling barricade rinsed of all the sentiment it could ever cling on to.