The Heat Remains

Times New Viking “Another Day” – The great thing about hearing this song out of the fuzzy lo-fi context of Times New Viking’s new album Rip It Off is that, at least on the first few times before you’ve heard it, the beginning of the track is totally weird and disorienting. It definitely sounds like some form of pop music from the start, but it’s hard to tell just where you are inside the song, and by the time you figure out its internal logic, the tune is almost over. A lot of Rip It Off has this quality — they are using lo-fi sounds and effects to knock the listener off guard, and keep you wondering about its context. Who, what, where, when, why? This music is deliberately anachronistic, but the band seem more focused on contrasting this ragged, blown-out sound with the slickness of their contemporaries than shooting for cozy nostalgia. (Click here to buy it from Matador.)