DJ TRAVIS KELLER @ echo

buddyheadobits

Obits, like Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu, and Hot Snakes before them, rock. With the demise of Hot Snakes due to Mr. Reis and Mr. Rubalcaba leaving to start families, followed by the break up of the Sultans and of the world’s greatest band, Rocket From the Crypt, and Beehive and the Barracudas going on a long hiatus, I’ve been in need of some real, pure San Diego punk rock. This past year, the rock’n’roll gods have given us Mr. Reis’s (and the rest of the Hot Snakes’ first line up), Night Marchers, a band whose sound draws dramatically from 1950s and early 60s rock’n’roll. The gods have also given us Mr. Froberg’s Obits, a band that continues in line with the duo’s early projects.

They, Obits, are a pure, solid blues-punk rock band. Think Jon Spencer Blues Explosion plus, well, Rick Froberg. The band’s defining characteristic is as you would expect — the vocals of Mr. Froberg. I have long felt that his voice is, without exception, the best in rock’n’roll. Its tonality is perfect for the music. His yelps match up to guitars better than anyone else’s. Not even Greg Sage can hold a candle to the voice of Mr. Froberg, and Obits is built around those vocals. The guitars scream with a treble on par with D. Boon. It’s a ringing endorsement of what works in the genre, and done in a way like no one else. Just listen to “Fake Kinkade.”

Obits are part of a border movement of people to reclaim the good name of rock’n’roll. They, as so many bands here in Chicago, have taken an old, used up style, and with the greatest of joy, breathed new life into it. No one is fucking around here, this ain’t some ironic hipster bullshit, this is real punk rock music. – Buddyhead

with:
Nightmarchers || Listen
AM
DJ Travis Keller