Obnox hails from Cleveland and is a solo project of Lamont Thomas, who is also known from Puffy Areolas. While Puffy Areolas are a great psychedelic noise rock/garage punk band in their own right, then Obnox is an even more fascinating concoction. Obnox has released a number of albums and EPs through recent years and all of them build upon a mix of noise rock, garage rock, psychedelic rock, garage punk and hip hop, making it one of the most interesting and unique noise rock projects out there at the moment.
I firstly ended up listening to Obnox when I stumbled on his earlier albums/EPs like Canabible Ohio, Smoke Woody Haze and Louder Space. Listening to tracks like Dough and Deep In The Dusk (Redux) instantly blew me away. Dough was a mix of heavy yet catchy repetitive noise rock riffs and drumming along with some unusually cool vocals, while Deep In The Dusk seemed like a concoction of rap and garage rock influences. It surely was and is something unique and extremely addictive. Obnox's newer albums like Know America, Boogalou Reed and Wiglet essentially follow the same kind of innovative mixing of noise-rock, garage punk instrumentals and rap vocals and it all comes together brilliantly.
The most recent album Wiglet also featured a cracking cover of Trouble Maker. A song from the Zambian 70s cult psychedelic rock band Chrissy Zebby Tembo. Boogalou Reed on the other hand featured an equally awesome cover of Neil Young's Ohio, of which I just can not get enough of. These two covers are most definitely one of my favorite tracks of recent years and Obnox the best find in a somewhat stagnant noise rock genre full of too much identical and outright boring hardcore bands. As Obnox is concerned it is more a case of being unable to find any track that might be boring and usual.
All in all Obnox is for someone who loves noise rock and garage punk with a bit of a lo-fi atmosphere. With distorted and fuzz-laden guitar sound that dwells enough in tasty repetitive riffing, while also having a psychedelic dimension. And of course hip hop - the best example of which is the highly volatile explosive noise rock and rap mix of Gunpowder Blow. Worth checking out for sure.
Some related links:
Bandcamp: https://evernever-records.bandcamp.com/album/wiglet ; https://evernever-records.bandcamp.com/album/know-america
Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/artist/2846104-Obnox
Last.fm: http://www.last.fm/music/Obnox
