Why? is the project of Yoni Wolf, previous member of surrealist hip-hop group cLOUDEAD, that began as his solo effort and has evolved into a full-fledged band over the span of three full-lengths and several EPs. The group has developed a unique attitude evident just in their latest release's album title Alopecia, the medical term for baldness. "Why?" you may ask. Though the reasoning behind this title may be lost upon listeners, it fits perfectly with the group's musical attitude: playful, cynical and a little bit depressed. In their five-year existence, the group has complicated the borders between hip-hop and indie rock, providing listeners with the most exciting part of the music of Why? -- the group's genre-bending sound. Some of the songs on Alopecia could be called indie rock with a hip-hop twist and others hip-hop with an indie rock twist, allowing the band to straddle the line between the two genres quite evenly. Good luck to music store owners who try to keep their racks strictly sorted; Alopecia may have to be dangled by a string between aisles.
And the twisting and bending doesn't just end with its sound. The dry lyrics of Why? defy boundaries -- just a different kind. Throughout Alopecia, Wolf spits out vividly violent and sexual rhymes about personal anxieties. On the track "Good Friday," lead singer Wolf muses: "It feels exciting touching your handwriting / getting horny by reading it and repeating 'poor me,' / intently staring at the picture of your feet on the sticker / at the R. Crumb exhibit, I wonder who's sicker."
But fascinatingly crude lyrics aren't the only thing listeners can look forward to on Alopecia. Wolf's stream-of-consciousness phobias are perfectly framed by pianos, guitars and xylophones, among countless other instruments, and every track is a strong one. The music is tight and furious, allowing no gaps in the disheartened catchiness of their sound.
The album starts with a drone of feedback on the opener, "The Vowels, Pt. 2," then breaks down into a heavy beat and rap. After 50 seconds, guitar riffs enter, and the chorus releases an onslaught of "is it rock or is it rap?" madness. "Good Friday" uses a hip-hop beat, acoustic guitar riffs and foul lyrics to create the track with the heaviest rap leanings. In "Song of the Sad Assassin," pianos, chimes and backing vocalists are incorporated, and on "Brook and Waxing," the hip-pop breaks down halfway through into an electronica freakout. The album finishes out with "Simeon's Dilemma" and "By Torpedo or Crohn's," two of the more downtrodden tracks -- an appropriate ending for an album bathed in such anxieties.
On Alopecia, Why? has perfected their fascinating blend of conflicting genres, ending up with the strongest album of 2008 thus far. Wolf states his understanding of the group's music clearly on "Simeon's Dilemma," where he says, "I'm stuck up a branch waiting / clearly caught between / two things unclear to me." 3
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