Rip It Off by Times New Viking

So much for cleaning up their sound for Matador. After two releases on the recently returned Siltbreeze label, Times New Viking have become better songwriters, but thankfully don't change much of anything from their humble home-recorded beginnings. An effusive press release for Rip It Off draws a line from the Sex Pistols through Slanted and Enchanted and Alien Lanes to end at these guys and girls, and while those claims are a bit too bold to take at face value, they make a certain kind of sense: The Pistols ended up holding the banner for all the bands who realized they could do it themselves, and the songs written by Pavement and especially Guided By Voices swelled with the pride that their basement tapes could stand ably next to their heroes' carefully constructed classics.