The New Hot Sh*t

It's been a pretty slow year so far for discovering new bands. Whereas by this point last year there were a ton of new bands that I'd discovered around the blogs (Asobi Seksu, Birdmonster, Bishop Allen, Broken West, Little Ones, Tokyo Police Club, Voxtrot, etc. etc.), the only great new band that springs to mind for 2007 is The Antlers.

That may be about to change. Thanks to Bill over at I Rock Cleveland, I just discovered Times New Viking. The band, based out of Columbus, Ohio, plays some of the most glorious noise that I've heard from a band in a long time. While the comparison doesn't really do them justice, the band at times sounds to me like an amalgam of Guided By Voices (check out "Teenage Lust!" below), The Thermals and The Velvet Underground. Plus, I'm sure there are a ton of other late 80's/early 90's noise-rock bands that bear mentioning as well, but I was never too familiar with the genre.

Anyway, check 'em out. They apparently recently signed with Matador, so expect to hear a lot more about them in the near future.

Times New Viking, "Teenage Lust!" (from Paisley Reich)
Times New Viking, "Natural Resources, I Love Mine" (from Dig Yourself)

Both of the band's LPs, as well as a CD single, are available at eMusic as well.