David C. Obenour is the founder and editor for Off Shelf. Prior to that, he served as the editor and co-publisher of Ghettoblaster’s print magazine, and wrote as a contributor for Under the Radar, The Big Takeover, Filter, Devil in the Woods, Metro.pop, and a number of other current and long gone publications. Here are his top ten albums in descending order.
Lonnie Holley – Oh Me Oh My (Jagjaguwar)
Lonnie Holley is a singular artist. In whatever medium he chooses, his voice and vision can be his and only his. Raised in the rural south, he has endured some of the worst our nation has to offer – and from it, he still conjures strength and beauty. Working closely with producer Jacknife Lee, Oh Me Oh My features performances from Michael Stipe, Sharon Van Etten, Moor Mother, Justin Vernon, and Rokia Koné. Even still, it’s Lonnie’s voice and vision that shines brightest. An incredible accomplishment that I was honored to talk with him on.
James Brandon Lewis – Eye of I (Anti-)
Jazz is new to me. Something I’m still learning. Given what’s stuck, I thought percussion was developing as the entry point – but here we are with saxophone player, James Brandon Lewis and his album Eye of I. It’s immediate. It’s visceral. The songs are exciting and alive, of the moment they were created. He echoed as much when I was lucky enough to speak to him. It’s left of center, and that’s probably where I come in. Of course, there’s still percussion on it – strong and steady, but interesting and complex – so maybe percussion is still my door. Or maybe it doesn’t matter and I’m thinking of everything wrong. Back to the stacks.
Jessie Ware – That! Feels Good! (EMI)
Goddamn. This is not an album I would imagine making it in my top ten but it’s undeniable. Non-stop fun that even the most curmudgeonly of us have to appreciate. Or don’t. Your loss. The inspiration spans genres and eras; Sade, B-52’s, Kylie Minogue – like I said, non-stop fun – but this is all uniquely Jessie. I wasn’t paying attention before and I guess her previous albums had been less grandiose, but she wears all the glitz and glamour majestically.
OXBOW – Love’s Holiday (Ipecac)
Few bands as angular and visceral as OXBOW have aged so well. Low, Nick Cave… there has to be others, but seriously we’re talking one hand, maybe two. To keep at it and not only maintain, but to evolve and sharpen your edge shows a real mastery. There’s a balance in the band to how they do that, that I think they gave a small glimpse of in our interview. Love’s Holiday is not only as good as OXBOW’s early albums – it might be better.
MIKE’s production is incredible. The way he samples and navigates a track is absolutely mesmerizing and entirely unique. MIKE’s rap is loose and real. It feels like you’re getting a glimpse into the studio, the process, a stream of consciousness or early draft meant more for catching an emotion than perfection. Sometimes that can require context to appreciate. Sometimes it doesn’t fully hit the mark. For Burning Desire, a sprawling double album opus, both align for an incredible experience. Released just in October, I’m still absorbing on each and every listen.
Lil Yachty – Let’s Start Here. (Motown Records / Quality Control Music)
If I was surprised to see Jessie Ware on my list at year’s end, I was even more surprised to see Lil Yachty. By now you’ve likely read the lists of other journalist, most better qualified to speak to his music than me. It was a complete shot out of left field. The cultural zeitgeist delivered it to my awareness and each epically bizarre and amazing song melted my mind with autotuned psychedelic ballads. The Youtube playlist ended and I giddily smashed play again (and again and again). Let’s start here, indeed.
Wednesday – Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans)
When I saw Wednesday open for Guided By Voices on their 40th anniversary, the Asheville band introduced “Bull Believer” by asking us to scream with them. Sharing how marginalized friends of their’s were fleeing the south, the country, because of how they’re treated. New policies and institutionalized injustices. Weep, clench your fists, and scream deep. There are still things to love about this country, like beer and Nascar and a lack of pretense, but assholes are trying to codify it all to mean things they have no business meaning. Fuck that. Wednesday make me want to fight and win it all back.
Guided By Voices – Welshpool Frillies (GBV Inc)
Given that they spent almost all of Guided By Voices’ set dancing at side stage, I don’t think Wednesday would mind being nudged down. It’s no secret I’m a fan, but as my tastes reach far and wide from indie rock, Guided By Voices continue to bring me back. The melodies are unmatched, earworms that burrow in just as fast as they pass by. Bee Thousand is nearly thirty years old and it doesn’t matter because how this band continues to evolve and play together makes this right now the “Classic Era”. Guided By Voices aren’t a Midwest Who, The Who can try and claim to be an English Guided By Voices (an English Little League, if you will). I know you’ll scoff but to borrow another band‘s infamous line, “Fuck y’all, we’re from Dayton.”
Kari Faux – REAL B*TCHES DON’T DIE! (drink sum wtr)
Kari Faux may have been a Lowkey Superstar on her last album but there’s no denying she’s arrived with Real B*tches Don’t Die. Again, I’m not the person to give you deep insight on this album, but you don’t need to be an aficionado to get what’s going on here. The skills match the spirit and swagger and lift us all up from humble roots. Real places you can picture yourself. Places you want to be at, surrounded by people you want to be with. Why would you even think there’d be shame to that? Nothing’s cooler than being real and no one’s more real than Kari Faux.
Tomb Mold – The Enduring Spirit (20 Buck Spin)
And when you want something less known, when you want to push past the reaches of real space, no one navigates those dimensions better than Canada’s Tomb Mold. Crushing and chugging rhythms provide the propulsion and shimmering guitar solos navigate the spaces between. Each album builds on the last (and it’s hard not to imagine further evolutions coming out of Derrick’s other project, Dream Unending) and following four years of sonic exploration after Planetary Clairvoyance, Enduring Spirit is the band’s most fully realized album yet.