Times New Viking

I recently dug up the old recordings of my college band, The Hobo Kin, and gave it a listen. The entire thing was fuzzy and sounded as though it had been recorded in a closet, because parts of it were. If you listen closely, you can still hear the band whose music we taped over. It was awful. But listening to Times New Viking, I realize that I could have made it big with that tape. After all, both our bands started in the Ohio college scene, neither of our lineups had more than one talented musician, and both our debut records sound as though they were recorded on that Fisher-Price microphone that comes with the tape deck you got for your 5th birthday. Unfortunately, timing is everything. The Hobo Kin preceded TNV by a few years, and the whole noise-pop scene wasn't what it is today. So they get to tour with Yo La Tengo, while The Hobo Kin pursue alternate, less glamorous endeavors. But TNV can give hope to a new generation of DIY rockers, because even with lo-fi's exploding popularity, it's rare that something that sounds so shitty sounds so good.