Performer Notes

Audio Mixers: Wolf Bros.; Eli Crews.
Recording information: MegaSonic, Oakland (02/2007-07/2007); Third Ear, Minneapolis, MN (02/2007-07/2007).
Author: Marilyn Hacker.
The difficult-to-categorize outfit Why? put out one of its most cohesive, consistent, and engaging efforts with 2008's ALOPECIA. A staple for the ever-adventurous Anticon label, Why? offers up their usual blend of hip-hop, indie rock, and experimental elements, but also opt for a more organic approach, sacrificing their usual samplers for a live, full-band sound. Yet Why?'s eclectic musical approach keeps things from ever sounding conventional, as does Doseone's inventive, half-sung, half-rapped vocals. Best of all, ALOPECIA has strong tunes, so the band's experimentalism is balanced by accessibility.

Professional Reviews

Spin (p.106) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Laced with brainy raps, cooing backing vocals, and a keen attention to melancholy melodic detail..."

Uncut (p.113) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[A] woozily layered, beguilingly fractured affair, driven by beats and samples..."

Alternative Press (p.163) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Songs like 'Gnashville' and 'Good Friday' show signs of his roots, with a lyrical structure that's still quite poetic in its flow."

CMJ - "[A]n all-embracing coup chockfull of nonsensical lyrics, scat-like phrasing and brooding beat-driven melodies with an underlying air of dark, fairy-tale detachment."

Q (Magazine) (p.141) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[C]hatty, folk-pop hip hop....Contagious songs..."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Wolf's sing-speak vocals are arresting, a warped sentimentality seeping through his dark-humoured flow on 'These Few Presidents.'"

Clash (Magazine) (p.64) - Ranked #29 in Clash's "The 40 Best Albums of 2008" -- "Neither hip-hop nor indie, nor folk, the band are at odds with convention, but also resonate with an admirable accessibility."

URB (p.106) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Embracing verse over his usual metered prose, Wolf deftly distills his stalker stories, suicidal musings and knack for kaleidoscopic detail into taut, fluff-free raps."

Album: Alopecia
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Vowels, Pt. 2, The
2)	Good Friday
3)	These Few Presidents
4)	Hollows, The
5)	Song of the Sad Assassin
6)	Gnashville
7)	Fatalist Palmistry
8)	Fall of Mr Fifths, The
9)	Brook & Waxing
10)	Sky for Shoeing Horses Under, A
11)	Twenty-Eight
12)	Simeon's Dilemma
13)	By Torpedo or Crohn's
14)	Exegesis

Album: Alopecia
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Vowels, Pt. 2, The
2)	Good Friday
3)	These Few Presidents
4)	Hollows, The
5)	Song of the Sad Assassin
6)	Gnashville
7)	Fatalist Palmistry
8)	Fall of Mr Fifths, The
9)	Brook & Waxing
10)	Sky for Shoeing Horses Under, A
11)	Twenty-Eight
12)	Simeon's Dilemma
13)	By Torpedo or Crohn's
14)	Exegesis