Next Best Records Blog

I made the trek from Columbus southward to see Times New Viking open for Yo La Tengo last night at the Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky.  It was actually the first time I'd been to the Southgate House in about five years--the last time was to see Guided By Voices.  Walking into the place last night, I was struck by how little I remember of that snowy December 2001 evening.  I swear it wasn't because I drank any of the band's beer--seriously, I didn't (even though GBV did have their typical giant trashcan full of Budweiser in full effect in the upstairs "party room").  The scenes that still stick out in my mind:

1. My friend Dan not knowing where we should park and accidentally getting on the bridge back to Cincy.
2. GBV's version of "Baba O'Riley" (vaguely remembered)
3. Bryan Pollard getting ragged on by his grandmother in the aforementioned party room.
4. Getting a copy of Gem's new album (Sunglare Serenades) from Doug Gillard.
5. Picking up an extra passenger (one of the Flyer News A&E writers whose name I forget, even though he was really cool and was singlehandedly responsible for getting the Knights of Infinite Resignation airtime and a gig) for the ride back to Dayton.

Anyway, enough of the teary-eyed reminiscences.  Onto the important thing: Times New Viking was fantastic.  So fantastic, in fact, that Yo La Tengo bored the hell out of me.  I say this while noting my great love for Yo La Tengo, whose Painful LP is one of my top-ten favorite albums of all time, and who I really enjoyed seeing the other time I saw them (a long time ago at ye olde Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights).  It was just a bad pairing--the worst I'd witnessed since I saw Sonic Youth open for Wilco in Cleveland in 2003.  Yo La Tengo might have played a good set.  Times New Viking was just so outtasight that I wasn't able to pay attention to the gang from Hoboken.

I promised myself I'd avoid hyperbole here, so I'm just going to post a few bullet points about the show:

• I showed up early, so I stood directly in the center a few rows from the stage.  There was a good number of kids their with X's on their hands.  I felt old.  Is 25 old?  I did some quick math and determined that some of these kids had to be 10 or 11 when I first saw Yo La Tengo.  I felt old again.
• I was really psyched to see TNV.  I've been wanting to catch them for a while, but a variety of reasons ("priorities," ice storms, general inertia, etc.) always held me back.  Regardless, I would have no problem panning them if they had sucked.
• Much like another Ohio band whose records once received the Mike Hummel treatment (Guided By Voices, again), TNV's live show emphasized a side of the band you don't get on the record.  They rock.  Not that the records don't rock--but to my ears they use the lo-fi technique in a manner similar to GBV--i.e., production as another instrument and source of inimitable ambience, or something.  Anyway, the records are great.  The live show is sneaky great--something that must be witnessed.  This is in keeping with Brian Wilson's theory of how a record should be something more than just a performance of the song, but I won't get into that . . . .
• They're a really versatile band.  One minute they're throwing a retro noise-jam at you, and the next they're starting out the next song with a bluesy Prisonshake riff.  The vocal interplay is cool as well, but I can't think of anything to compare it to right now (bear in mind I'm forcing this Ohio theme here . . . listen to the records again or go to a show to dig what I mean).
• Even though I was thoroughly uninterested in Yo La Tengo's set, my ears did perk up for two songs that alone may have been worth the price of admission.  First, they did a great version of "Tom Courtenay," a song which I've always dug.  Second, their cover of the Beach Boys' "How She Boogalooed It" was nifty and swell.  The dude next to me noticed my positive reaction to the song (maybe it was the fact I was singing along, loudly) and asked me what the song was.  I said, "The Beach Boys' 'How She Boogalooed It To Me" off of the Wildflower album."  It's really off the Wild Honey album.  Somehow I transposed Wild Honey with Sunflower.  I kinda feel bad about it, so, dude, if you're reading this, my bad.  Buy both albums.  They're really good.  (I have a problem with names after a few beers.  Last week at my band's show I mistakenly said my new EP's title is Twenty-First Century Apprenticeship.  It's really Twentieth Century Apprenticeship (but you knew that already).  Then, my friend asked me where the picture from the cover was taken.  I said Gay Street between Fourth and Third.  It's really Long Street between Fourth and Third.  My bad again.) 

Yo La Tengo did their best.

• Times New Viking is the best band from Columbus since vintage-era Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments.  Ok, this may or may not be hyperbole, but I'm saying it because it gives me occasion to tell you about my all-time favorite bit of stage banter.  During a TJSA show (coincidentally Gem opened) at Pat's in the Flats in . . . well, the flats in Cleveland . . . Ron House said, "This next song is called 'Let's Blow Up the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Like We Did Last Summer.'"  This also reminds me that it may be time for me to renew my campaign to make Great Plains' "Rutherford B. Hayes" the new official rock song of the state of Ohio.

Ok, I'm babbling.  I'll stop. 

(Postscript: In the interests of fair and balanced reporting (I was a journalism major at one time, you know), I'll alert you to the fact that this guy (who has stellar credentials as a "full-time law student/part-time rock singer"--sounds like . . . um . . . me) called TNV "lackluster amateur openers."  He did, however also mention that YLT is his favorite band, so maybe he was suffering from a case of the dreaded anticipation bias.  Maybe TNV didn't play as well in Houston as they did in Newport.  Maybe his bottle of Shiner Bock wasn't agreeing with him at that moment.  Really, though, I think he was too worried about his law school paper.  Who worries about papers in law school? (Judge S.--if you're reading this, sorry.)  Anyway, is the Truth regarding TNV's live brilliance, as they say, somewhere in the middle?  No.  I'm right.)