Obnox - Niggative Approach - New LP

They’ve all been bold expressions of his wide vision. But his third, 2014’s Louder Space, was a true breakthrough. The hip-hop and R&B strains that course beneath his noisy one-man garage rock came into sharper focus on that record, his first made in a proper studio. It also showed that Thomas could delve deeper into specific sides of his persona—in this case, by crafting legit rap jams—without sacrificing the many styles of which he’s capable.  The three Obnox albums that Thomas made after Louder Spacewere solid and diverse, but *Niggative Approach feels like its true spiritual follow-up. The album is heavily focused on beats—Thomas has drummed in many vital Cleveland post-punk outfits—and filled with earworm-ready grooves. If Louder Space  was his hip-hop album, Niggative Approach is his funk platter, bubbling with big bass lines and filled with studio touches like horn sections and keyboard accents. There’s still a lot of punk spirit here; the album’s title nods to hardcore legends Negative Approach, whose singer John Brannon opens and closes the album with spoken exhortations to Thomas. But Niggative Approach is first and foremost about groove. Many of Thomas’s grooves are so simple and powerful they feel instantly classic, as if he plucked them from some hidden vault of magic funk tricks. They also help create some of the most upbeat music he’s ever made. After Brannon’s brief invocation, *Niggative Approach *opens with three tracks ripe for blasting from car windows while cruising down beachside strips. “Hardcore Matinee” is positively bouncy, while “Jack Herer” sounds like a dream take on Curtis Mayfield's "Freddie's Dead." “State to State” soars on a funky guitar line, chiming keyboard chords, and Thomas’s multi-voiced hums. Things even get romantic during “Carmen, I Love You,” a groove-ballad that Thomas could’ve sung while lying on the grass staring at clouds.

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Genre bending at its finest. Lamont Thomas, the one-man band that is Obnox, creates a deep, heady stew of noise, punk, funk, hip-hop, and R&B that is somehow polished as much as it is complete chaos. The album opens with a sample from Negative Approach’s John Brannon—hence the play on the album title and song title—and slowly, song by song, steeps into a deep trance of thick bass, a spattering of horns, keyboard synth, and Parliament-esque funk. It’s punk yet also completely not punk, and it’s dumbfounding how seamlessly lines get blurred. This particular album continues Thomas’s evolution into broad, spacey territory that is undeniably diverse. It can speak to many different audiences, and it’s totally enthralling. -- Razorcake