|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- Buy a CD or a vinyl record, get a $1 Amazon MP3 Credit. Limit one promotional credit per customer. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Editorial Reviews
Why? the band--Yoni Wolf, Josiah Wolf, Doug McDiarmid--continues their calculated blitzkrieg on the self-made Jangle-Rap, Indie Pop'n'Roll genre, but the stakes are raised. The boys returned to their Midwest roots for Alopecia, hunkering down in Minneapolis's Third Ear studio and inducting a pair of venerable big guns into the band: Fog mastermind Andrew Broder and bassist Mark "Bear" Erickson. Throwing their samplers to the wind, Why? recorded live as a five-piece. By the time the core trio returned to Oakland (where Thee More Shallows' D. Kessler engineered a final session), they had amassed their most immediate and cohesive batch of songs to date. 14 tracks. 2008.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
It's amazing how much Anticon as a group of artists and label have grown. I remember being a fan of Yoni Wolf many years ago when he was more of an impact behind the scenes rather than center stage. Back when he was the sole individual under the moniker Why?, Dose One was way too eccentric, and Sole was the stud of Anticon.
For those completely unfamiliar with Anticon, Yoni or Why?. Anticon is an indepedent label in which Yoni Wolf started with others and still maintains today. Why? is an experimental electronic band (they're not hip hop), which of course is on the Anticon label. The base of their music is electronics and they experiment with vocals, lyrics, timing, and rhythms. Usually, it's quite serendipitous. I'm all about allowing artists the freedom to experiment how they desire, it's the greatest element of Indie music.
Why? still represents Yoni Wolf but not solely. Why? is now a three piece act, which includes Yoni's brother, Josiah Wolf, and friend, Doug McDiarmid. With the addition of these band mates, Why? is showing it's diversity and maturation.
Three years ago, "Elephant Eyelash" was their first collective release and is still amazing. "Alopecia" (which is a medical term for baldness) is definitely a positive leap forward for the band. This release is by far more cohesive, accessible, catchy, melodic, constant, you name it. It's better. Some of Why?s best songs are featured here. I can even go as far to say that Why? have finally outdone Subtle this year. Subtle of course being a surprisingly popular experimental band by Dose One (Yoni's partner in cLOUDEAD and an original Anticon member). While neither are in competition of each other, it's very noteworthy as Dose One has been a beneficiary of boost in fame these past few years. Perhaps, now it is Yoni and Why?s turn in the spotlight. I think so....
Standouts are: "A Sky For Shoeing Horses Under", "The Vowels, Pt. 2", "The Hollow", "By Torpedo or Crohn's", "Simeon's Dilemma", "Good Friday", among others.
For those completely unfamiliar with Anticon, Yoni or Why?. Anticon is an indepedent label in which Yoni Wolf started with others and still maintains today. Why? is an experimental electronic band (they're not hip hop), which of course is on the Anticon label. The base of their music is electronics and they experiment with vocals, lyrics, timing, and rhythms. Usually, it's quite serendipitous. I'm all about allowing artists the freedom to experiment how they desire, it's the greatest element of Indie music.
Why? still represents Yoni Wolf but not solely. Why? is now a three piece act, which includes Yoni's brother, Josiah Wolf, and friend, Doug McDiarmid. With the addition of these band mates, Why? is showing it's diversity and maturation.
Three years ago, "Elephant Eyelash" was their first collective release and is still amazing. "Alopecia" (which is a medical term for baldness) is definitely a positive leap forward for the band. This release is by far more cohesive, accessible, catchy, melodic, constant, you name it. It's better. Some of Why?s best songs are featured here. I can even go as far to say that Why? have finally outdone Subtle this year. Subtle of course being a surprisingly popular experimental band by Dose One (Yoni's partner in cLOUDEAD and an original Anticon member). While neither are in competition of each other, it's very noteworthy as Dose One has been a beneficiary of boost in fame these past few years. Perhaps, now it is Yoni and Why?s turn in the spotlight. I think so....
Standouts are: "A Sky For Shoeing Horses Under", "The Vowels, Pt. 2", "The Hollow", "By Torpedo or Crohn's", "Simeon's Dilemma", "Good Friday", among others.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Yoni Wolf aka Why? mastermind, once a force in the juggernaut "hip-hop" outfit cLOUDDEAD (someone once said "they are to hip-hop as Nirvana is to, say, the blues"), returns with more of the same obtuse songwriting he has displayed since he began. He can create interest out of nothing, offering commentary on the minutia of everything from kitchen towels to white-boy auto-erotic literature ("only look at black and Puerto-Rican porno/'cuz they want something that their dad don't got") to sleeping positions, all subjects he flits between in a stream-of-consciousness fashion. Together with Andrew Broder and Austin Brown, Wolf complements his words with a mélange of hip-hop, new wave and twang, the trio capably realizing all sorts of mix-and-match experiments. After dozens of solo and group releases, Why? still manages to work a niche that thrives on ambiguity, forged ingenuity and unassuming trinkets, their own genre that only they know how to work.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Memento Mori
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Why? really out-did themselves with this album's great, sometimes darkly humorous lyrics and catchy beats.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my favorites
For any excellent genre-blending/breaking music, it may be cliché and not particularly descriptive to say this, but I'll say it anyway because I mean it: Why? Read more
Published 8 months ago by I. Jackson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Masterful poetry, plain and simple.
This is, quite simply, one of the single best Indie releases of all time, ranking alongside Neutral Milk Hotel's "Aeroplane Over the Sea", Modest Mouse's "Lonesome Crowded West",... Read more
Published on March 19, 2011 by Kevin F. Tasker
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great album
I'm (slowly) making a vinyl collection and this was a "must" for my collection. I already own this in mp3 format, but it was worth the repurchase.
Published on February 5, 2011 by greenandpurple
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid
Fun album to listen to, very cool artwork too. I definitely reccomend any WHY? listeners to grab this album.
Published on May 7, 2009 by E. Garcia
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spend those few presidents frowning in your pocket on this.
Yoni somehow manages to grow and improve with every album. Alopecia is the next step up in Why?'s staircase to indie rap perfection. Read more
Published on November 8, 2008 by Joshua N. Hedge
4.0 out of 5 stars
WHY haven't I heard of this before?
I don't know about "genius," but this is actually a very satisfying, quirky collection of songs. Highlights include "These Few Presidents," "The Hollows," "Fatalist Palmistry,"... Read more
Published on October 11, 2008 by G. Twiford
5.0 out of 5 stars
Impossibly great. Pure GENIUS.
Why?'s album Alopecia (meaning 'bald') is a lush, dark, and refreshing album. With so many rap albums with filler, and so many indie rock albums just going thru the motions, this... Read more
Published on May 30, 2008 by R. Mahieu
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breathtaking!!
This is the modern day equivalent of Paul Simon's first album. The lyrics put the whole world's skeletons on display in the most subtle and intimate way imaginable. Read more
Published on April 30, 2008 by Jason Harrington
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why? are so amazing, most people will never even know what they missed
Why? are certainly not mainstream. Bizarre cover art, and weird cryptic lyrics set to rap mixed with indie rock? That won't be getting played on the radio. Read more
Published on April 28, 2008 by Thaddeus Burns
5.0 out of 5 stars
With Alopecia, Why? confirm their position as the next big band.
>
Clear sound. Good original tunes with unpredictable inventive changes. Sharp lyrics. Sometimes ambient, sometimes street. What more could you ask?
Why? Read more
Clear sound. Good original tunes with unpredictable inventive changes. Sharp lyrics. Sometimes ambient, sometimes street. What more could you ask?
Why? Read more
Published on April 4, 2008 by Kerouac fan
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Music > Alternative Rock
- Music > Pop
- Music > Rap & Hip-Hop
- Music > Rock
