Times New Viking

Times New Viking
Performing in 2008
Background information
Origin	Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Genres	Lo-fi Noise Pop
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Siltbreeze Matador Merge (US) Witchita (EU)
Members	Jared Phillips Beth Murphy Adam Elliott

Times New Viking is a lo-fi indie rock band from Columbus, Ohio. The lineup consists of guitarist Jared Phillips, drummer Adam Elliott, and Beth Murphy on keyboards. Murphy and Elliott share vocal duties. Their name, "Times New Viking," is a play on the popular typeface Times New Roman. They have released five albums: 2005's Dig Yourself, 2007's Present the Paisley Reich, and 2008's Rip It Off, which NME gave an 8/10, and 2009's Born Again Revisited. Rip it Off reached No. 17 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. The band was formerly signed to Siltbreeze and Matador Records. In January 2011, they announced that their fifth album, Dancer Equired!, would be released in April via Merge in the US, Wichita in Europe, Pop Frenzy in Australia and Big Nothing in Japan.

Following the release of the Over & Over EP in 2012, the band went on an extended hiatus that saw the trio relocating to different corners of the US, and did not play live for four years. While both Phillips and Elliott continued to play in other bands, Elizabeth Murphy gave up music for life in Memphis, TN, and became a social media specialist for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In 2016, they reunited to play 4th and 4th Fest in Columbus, OH.

Times New Viking have been noted for their lo-fi aesthetic, recorded to cassette, which drew comparisons to Guided by Voices' early material. This also meant they were considered part of the "shitgaze" genre, alongside contemporaries such as Psychedelic Horseshit and Eat Skull. Notable features of their songs include shouted vocals, distorted drums and loud, trebly guitars in addition to tape hiss and brevity. The tracks on Rip Off were mastered to a RMS -db value of 0 (or near to) making them comparatively as loud as possible. Their lyrics are generally sloganistic and feature pop culture references.