Having only previously seen Columbus, Ohio’s Times New Viking in venues with at best questionable sound (Emo’s, End of an Ear Records) and familiar with Present the Paisley Reich (2007) and Rip It Off (2008), the expectation that the band would sound like a wall of fuzzing noise at a festival seemed reasonable. Enter surprise #2 of FFFFest 2009 – the sound, especially for a festival, was great and the band, true to recent interviews where they’ve attempted to distance themselves from the re-occurring lo-fi shitgaze talk, sounded cleaner and crisper. Case in point, Jared Phillips’ cut crisp lines instead of fuzzing and fraying while Adam Elliot’s drums didn’t seem to be one kick from rattling apart. Blurring the line from “I’m Waiting For My Man” and “Here Comes Your Man,” TNV justified the buzz and took yet another a giant leap forward to greatness.
