"We Got Rocket"
by Times New Viking

It starts inauspiciously enough—a rickety snare-drum cadence, background talking and a tuning guitar—and then everything clicks. Drums, guitar and droning keyboards (that, like everything on Times New Viking's Dig Yourself, sound like they were recorded in a cardboard box) swell into a road trip-worthy groove.

Drummer Adam Elliott and keyboardist Beth Murphy (apparently from the next room) sing, "What have you done for your freedom? Too busy making love everyday?" The anchor song of the Columbus, Ohio, trio's debut might sound, at first blush, like some sort of patriotic rant, but rest assured there are no heroes in Times New Viking's worldview. When he goes "Long live our friend allegory" and she follows with "It's like it's Halloween," you might guess they don't pay much heed to things like logic, either, but here you'd be wrong. Beneath the snarly lo-fi are equal parts blistering pop and focused rage: "Do we have nonsense or symmetry?" asks Murphy. "We got rocket, it's on MTV/ Displaced war for the televised year."

This band isn't just angry; it's angry at everyone. And on an album full of buzzing, screedy fight songs, "We Got Rocket" is both mission statement and call to arms.

You will likely hear "We Got Rocket" when Times New Viking takes the stage at The Khyber Sat., Dec. 10 (their only East Coast appearance). You can definitely hear it if you pick up Dig Yourself available on Philadelphia's resurgent Siltbreeze label.