Obnox – “Boogalou Reed”

I have a list of “artists to learn about”, and Obnox has been at the top of it since the summer. I encountered his single “Sit Yo Ass Down” by purely random chance on Soundcloud and it sounded like nothing else: dark and driving with fuzzed out vocals.  I had a weirdly hard time finding info on him. No website. No Facebook page. No obvious online presence at all. I learned that his real name is Lamont “Bim” Thomas and he’s from Cleveland. Bim has played drums in many underground Cleveland bands and he’s released four albums, three EPs and a bunch of singles over the last five years as Obnox.

It vexes me that someone this talented and interesting could put out so much music and still be unknown, but my guess is Obnox is such a prolific music creator that he doesn’t feel motivated to support each release or necessarily record it with any level of sonic finesse. The songs are great and you need to work a little bit to hear the genius underneath the distortion.

Obnox has a new album coming out tomorrow on 12XU records and I’m hoping it’s his first step towards proper recognition. It’s called Boogalou Reed and while it’s not slick by any stretch, I can’t imagine any fan of independent rock music resisting its charms. Here’s the first track, “Slaughter Culture”:

Here’s some older Obnox for those who are new to him.

The aforementioned “Sit Yo Ass Down”:

Videos for “Red I” and “Molecule/How to Rob” from his previous record Louder Space