Album of the Week: Alopecia / Why

Adrian at ipickmynose told me last week that he liked when I actually wrote about music, so I may start doing that again. Lately, I've been spending my blog time not writing here, writing a little about David Lynch, and a lot about the San Francisco Giants. This blog seems to make the most sense to start reviewing music again, and I think I will start doing so, without the pressures of reviewing 3-5 new releases a week that I used to put on myself.

The words "indie hip hop" don't exactly make me jump out of my seat (neither does singer/songwriter for that matter). I'm not anti-rap by any means; I'd just rather hear Kanye West boast than listen to some dude reminisce about "real hip hop" (whatever that may be). But Oakland's Why? are another kind of beast altogether. Consider them a little bit rap and a little bit hip hop - perhaps if Death Cab for Cutie were more ironic and called Limp Bizkit. For all intensive purposes, Why? and their new record, Alopecia, should be doomed to failure, and so the fact that this record is so exceptional is a feat unto itself.

Why? is the brainchild of Yoni Wolf, and as a lyricist and vocalist, Wolf is unabashedly dry and humor. When he sings, "Even though I haven't seen you in years/ yours is a funeral I'd fly to from anywhere" on standout, "These Few President," it may be the album's most sentimental moment. But Wolf has a way of stringing words together in a complex fashion that makes him appear more of a modern satirist than an attention-seeking hipster. And therein lies the success of Alopecia - it feels completely genuine. Lyrically, there are so many trappings one could fall into, but Why? never look back at you with an "aren't we hip" wink and chagrin. Nor do they get lost in celebrating their own nerdiness (no obvious Star Wars references - thank God), and nor do they obsess and mock their own whiteness which always subsequently seems to poke fun at blackness.

In fact, if you were to only listen to the fabulous "Fatalist Palmistry" - you might just take them for a quirky indie act. That would be fine, but in the case of Why?, there is thankfully something more.

Buy it at Amazon.

MP3 - "The Hollows" - Why?