Results tagged “why”

Despite its confoundingly inquisitive band name and general unclassifiability, the Bay Area/Cincinnati hip hop/indie act Why? has built quite the niche for themselves, satisfying those with a love for rhyme and meticulous, tightly-wound musicianship. Toss in a lyric sheet of ear-catching revelations regarding the human psyche's underbelly so disarmingly honest they'd make even your most offensive friends blush, and what you have is a cocktail for one of today's most intriguing and singular outfits. Still riding high off the breakthrough that was last year's Alopecia, Why? is now supporting its latest release, the well-received Eskimo Snow. Out of respect for this, and for the band's performance at Fun Fun Fun Fest this afternoon, we hooked up for a phone call with Why? frontman and wordsmith Yoni Wolf to talk about persona, mowing lawns, and the Bible's breeziest book.

Fun Fun Fun Fest has confirmed four more bands to this year's lineup, including Yeasayer, Kid Sister, DRI and Vega. This is in addition to already-confirmed performers Atlas Sound, Death, Red Sparowes, WHY?, Broadcast, Lucero, Les Savy Fav, GZA (performing Liquid Swords), HEALTH, Jesus Lizard, Melt Banana, 7 Seconds, King Khan & BBQ Show, Shearwater and Todd Barry. More leaks expected very soon.

We’ve been checking the official Fun Fest website everyday for updates but having not seen any new announcements for a while, we gathered our technical experts last night. After a few hours of brainstorming, our team conjured up a moment of brilliance and hacked into the Fun Fest mainframe. We are pleased to announce that Wu-Tang Clan founding member GZA, legendary Japanese noise-brokers Melt-Banana, eclectic Californian outfit WHY?, and comedian Todd Barry have all been added to this year Fun Fest line-up.

You've gotta love a kickass show on a Monday night—you know you're actually going to be able to find parking, it won't be disgustingly overcrowded, and you may actually be able to get close to the stage without being a total jerk or setting up camp in the middle of the afternoon. And tonight provides us with quite the little gem: Oakland's Why?, a band whose maturation has resulted in one of the best albums so far in 2008, and Mt. Eerie, a Phil Elverum (of Microphones fame) project now featuring the added talents of Julie Doiron and Fred Squire. Yes, yes, it's going to be quite the evening, and for the embarrassingly economical cost of eight bucks.

Lurking in the near, near future is the album Alopecia, the strange, provocative, and incredibly engaging new album from Why?, a Bay Area band that seems to be ticketed for a whole new bunch of notoriety, right quick. While Why? in the past has often incited listeners to, well, invoke the name of the band--mostly because of scattershot verbosity and music that seemed more pieced-together than refined--they've pulled all their unbridled talent together into a cohesive and coherent, not to mention very good, whole. And, seeming as they're going to be tromping all about Austin's stomping grounds next week for SXSW, we sent out some questions to lead figure and wordsmith Yoni Wolf. You know, just to see what he's all about.