Why? Alopecia
- Words: Sam Mickens
- Label: Anticon
- XLR8R Rating: 8/10
For artists as self-immolating as Oakland hip-hop/future-pop purveyors Why?, titling an album Alopecia (an unpleasant form of hair loss) is no huge surprise. Why? main man Yoni Wolf’s deft lyricism often finds its focus in the granular details of everyday life, reveling in the mundane but often parlaying it into transcendent beauty. Maintaining his new focus on sung songs, started on Why?’s last record, Elephant Eyelash, Wolf’s reedy voice evokes everyone from The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle to They Might Be Giants’ John Linnell but manages to always deliver the songs with unsentimental emotion. Alopecia finds Why? refining and clarifying the scope of its music to mostly excellent ends.
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1 comments Alopecia
onlycodes (not verified) Wrote
Wed, 04/16/2008 - 19:21
Kind of sad nobody has anything to comment on this album,.. guess I'll have to say something. Yoni Wolf's delivery is truly unique all on it's own, makes me loath myself a little bit when he squeezes out those words. As for the rest, the beats are totally inventive and fresh for this form of "hip hop". It's a rewarding listen even you do feel a little dead inside after... but that's just me