Weekly Release Spotlight: Why?
Posted on 3/09/2008
Why?
Alopecia
[Anticon]
Upon the first listen, the melodies sound beautiful, tangible, and engaging. Upon the second listen, you're beginning to hum along with the majority of the tracks. Upon the third listen, the unique and infinitely memorable lyrics begin to claw their way into your brain and suddenly you know half of the album's choruses by heart. These are the signs of a solid and praiseworthy pop album. What places Why?'s Alopecia (as well as 2005's Elephant Eyelash) even above this level of awesome are the additional rewards it reaps upon further listening, which aren't all restricted to descriptions of infectiousness and karaoke potential. Details upon heaping assortments of details round every corner of the album, and while this may not be a surprise to those familiar with the meticulousness that Anticon. artists are notorious for, Why? continue to prove themselves as the label's sole artist that use this skill to bridge that gap between the strangely complex and the overtly accessible.
This comes as a surprise because if Why? was just singer Yoni Wolf and a microphone, he would probably be known as the weirdest, albeit still spectacularly entertaining, rhymer in history (opening track "The Vowels Pt. 2" documents Yoni singing, "At singles Bingo, all-time gringo, did anyone hear me cry there? Through a toilet stall divider?"). You can get a taste of what this is like on the scattershot and underfed Why? solo debut, Oaklandazulasylum. Luckily, this is the second time where Yoni has turned Why? into a more cohesive band of musicians that reels Yoni in when necessary (and lets him wildly loose to give the listener a shot of WTF straight to the aorta). Making this task even more difficult is the fact that the group also very obviously consumes a variety of influences, as their indefinable sound incorporates tinges of backpacker hip-hop, anti-folk, bedroom electronica, nerd rock, and even classical piano. On paper, it very clearly does not work. Even in practice, more often that not, the combination of just two of those aforementioned sub-genres would surely end in depressed cringes and interminable shutters. How Why? not only gets away with it, but manages to expertly execute it without anyone saying "these sounds shouldn't go together" is beyond human comprehension.
The one piece to an otherwise unanswerable query that should be easy to grasp for anyone refers back to the original feeling one gets upon the first few listens of a new favorite pop album. It simply feels right because the inflections in the band's chord progressions and Yoni's vocal riffs make the listener yearn for more. Stripping away all descriptions of detailed sub-genre blending or dynamic musicianship, it comes down to enjoying Alopecia as a pop album - something you want on repeat, not something you want to like because you can appreciate it from afar. Yoni's linguistic Olympics do more than half the job by painting vivid imagery like pocketed dollar bills ("These Few Presidents") and dark basketball courts ("The Hollows"). Unforgettable sounds like that of antique xylophones ("Song of the Sad Assassin") or heavenly background whistling ("Gnashville") fill out the meat of Why?'s poppiness. The icing on the cake? Knowing that no matter how many times you listen to it, there's always a new subtle detail or memorable lyric to latch on to the next time around.
Stream: Why? - The Hollows (EXPLICIT LYRICS - Album version)
Radio K Presents Why? at the 7th Street Entry on Sunday, April 6th with Gospel Gossip and Heiruspecs. Doors at 8pm. 18+.
Written by Chris Polley, Radio K volunteer and host of Now Like Photographs.