Berkeley hip hop and indie rock artist Yoni Wolf is the core of Why?, an abstract-hip hop-indie rock-folk band whose flair for blowing through genres is unmistakable on their latest release from anticon. Alopecia, possibly named for hair loss and possibly named for nothing at all, is the band’s third LP.
It’s easy to peg Why? as an alternative rap group, but the work on Alopecia extends so far beyond one tangible genre that pegging the music is an impossible mission worthy of the A-Team or some other crew of badasses more suited to solving impossible missions.
Wolf’s erratic use of rap vocals and singing wreaks mayhem all over Alopecia, uncompromisingly spewing his stream of consciousness smartass lyrics without a break in the action.
In other words, forget all about genre categorizations with Why? because it won’t do a bit of good.
Of course, trying to place Why? can be helpful in describing what comes out of the speakers during a spin of Alopecia. Is that a lovely poppy tune? Or is that a dark ominous backdrop? Say, is that a standard hip hop verse spliced by an abnormal background of keys and guitar? Is that moody ambiance? The answer is, of course, a big fat reverberating YES.
Alopecia begins with a solid example of Wolf’s release, as he rap-sings over the life-size bass and hand-claps of “The Vowels Pt. 2.” He pours over the track like he’s running from something, letting off bubbly “Cheery-ay, Cheery-ee, Cheery-ii, Cheery-oh, Cheery-you” bleats as the song pulsates through its chorus. Sound outlandish? It is. And that’s just what’s enthralling about this record.
Why? also features Yoni’s brother Josiah and Doug McDiarmid. For Alopecia, the band is joined by Fog's Andrew Broder and bassist Mark Erickson to create a fuller sound. That chock-a-block sound is used to most impressive levels on “The Hollows,” a roomy guitar-rock track that still somehow works over Yoni’s often awkward delivery.
On “Good Friday,” his voice drops to the depths for an almost bored-sounding delivery that calls up bits of Beck during some verses. The track finds Yoni running the litany of deplorable sins, using the track as a confessional of the weird and spewing lines like “playing lead lay in a bad way on Broadway” and “using Purell till my hands bleed and swell” with derisive delight.
And that’s generally the way things go with Alopecia. It’s like Yoni’s cracked his journal open to a random page and started spitting the speckled results in front of a backing band, choosing to sing when the mood hits him and lighting up the mic the rest of the time. For those who can take such a shuffling and contemptuous disposition, Why?’s Alopecia will probably fill a void long since left empty by other half-assed efforts from lesser monsters.
“I can decide/while I’m alive I’ll feel alive/and what's next/I guess I’ll know when I’ve gotten there.”
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