Obits signs to Sub Pop
Erstwhile Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes signer/guitarist Rick Froberg moved from San Diego to New York awhile back, presumably to continue his burgeoning fine art career. If you’ve seen the design on any of the three proper Hot Snakes albums, you know he’s legit.
Meanwhile, it seems as though one of SD’s legendary singers couldn’t stay away (from music, at least), and if you’ve been keeping up, you might know about Froberg’s latest project, Obits. Their early noise has suggested so much promise that indie giant Sub Pop snatched them up after a small amount of shows on the East Coast. Froberg’s unmistakable screech is all over the new tracks, but this isn’t just Hot Snakes 2.0. Focusing more on hypnotic grooves than sheer bludgeoning power, Obits’ approach is the slightest bit more calculated, assimilating the vintage psych-garage of the 13th Floor Elevators to a more aggressive, modern framework.
More good things are certainly to come from these guys, and hopefully they can help to resurrect a label that seems to be sagging lately with stagnant folk and ineffectual indie-rock bands (let’s not include Pissed Jeans in either of those categories, because they fucking own ). Check the MySpace page for a sample or two.
