Willie Schube also pops at The Tape.
After a brief and fairly disappointing detour into the world of soft/art-pop/rock, Yoni Wolf and his cohorts are back with a dive into the folk-hop genre that the dude basically pioneered. After WHY? released Alopecia in 2008—a record full of angst-y, self-loathing and extremely clever raps—the group plowed new terrain on its follow-up, Eskimo Snow. While the record was underrated, it lacked the acerbic wit that made Alopecia a hit. Gone were lines such as, “I’m not a ladies man, I’m a landmine,” and “If you grew up with white boys who only look at black and Puerto Rican porno, ‘cuz they want something their dad don’t got, then you know where you’re at.” In their place were brilliant but tame gems like, “I want to speak at an intimate decibel, with the precision of an infinite decimal.” The introspection remained, but along the way Yoni and his band lost a step.
With “Sod In The Seed,” the first single off of their forthcoming EP of the same name, WHY? have regained that step. Yoni’s hypnotically precise delivery is back and sharp, while the instrumentation is bright and summer-y—the perfect “fuck you” to the self-loathing lyrics. After a Sanddollars EP-esque introduction, Yoni’s nasally snarl reappears with a self-examination: “Let’s review some recent facts,” he half-raps before the poppy drum and guitar parts interlock. Wolf goes on to poke fun at his materialistic insecurities: “I make decent cash/I’m a minor star/And we can’t last if she don’t drive a hybrid car.”
Ask any die-hard WHY? fan (there are many), and he or she will probably know too much about Yoni’s insecurities, his penchant for stalking, or his perverted but charming addiction to all things sexual. He’s emotionally forthright in a way matched by few of his peers. This track adds anticipation to a full-length due in the Fall, a record that Yoni told Stereogum was, “More percussion heavy, tighter than Eskimo.This one’s not like that, it’s pretty tight. It’s different.”
And after wearing out Alopecia and Eskimo Snow, the die-hards demand something new — just not Yoni kissing us in a Jersey City hotel room.
Download:
MP3: WHY? – “Sod in the Seed”
