Name: Alopecia
Brand: Why?

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

JNR270lp

Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

10th Anniversary Edition

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2018-08-07

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Secre­tly

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

714270692741

Total Cap

Black LP

JNR270cd

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2018-08-17

714270692833

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1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Why?

Genre US

Rock-Pop

Label US

Anticon

Why? is the alias of Cincinnati born artist Yoni Wolf, known for his candytime-dissonant, singsong-suicide style. He discovered a 4-track in his father's synagogue basement, which laid the foundation for his unique sound. Yoni has been involved in groundbreaking constellations such as cLOUDDEAD, Greenthink and Reaching Quiet. In 2005, Why? expanded into a full band with long time collaborators Doug McDiarmid, Matt Meldon and older brother Josiah Wolf.

Yoni Wolf, son of a rabbi and an art book editor from Cincinnati, is the mastermind behind the music project known as Why?. His distinctive candytime-dissonant, singsong-suicide style was developed after discovering an abandoned 4-track in his father's synagogue basement. Over the years, Yoni has been part of influential groups like cLOUDDEAD, Greenthink and Reaching Quiet. In 2005, he formed a full band with close friends Doug McDiarmid, Matt Meldon and older brother Josiah Wolf.

Born in Cincinnati to a rabbi father and an art book editor mother,Yoni Wolf is best known by his stage name Why?. His musical journey began when he stumbled upon an abandoned 4-track in his father's synagogue basement. This discovery became the catalyst for developing his unique candytime-dissonant,singsong-suicide style that captivates

Discover Rough Trade's curated selection of 7" and 12" vinyl singles. From rare gems to the latest releases, find the perfect addition to your collection.

Vinyl Singles

Why?'s album Alopecia. Available here on 10th Anniversary Edition Limited Tri-Color Edition LP with Bonus 7", Standard LP, CD and Cassette.

Two years after wooing critics with their beloved Elephant Eyelash, Why? returns, third LP in hand. As expected, the band—Yoni Wolf, Josiah Wolf, Doug McDiarmid—continues its calculated blitzkrieg on that 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 (mostly), 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'd amassed their most immediate and cohesive batch of songs to date. Throughout Alopecia, Why? further pushes the edges of its sound, mastering mood on the time-shifting "The Song of the Sad Assassin," going ghostly with Kessler on a textured death rattle called "Gnashville," and inflating the warped buoyancy of Elephant Eyelash via "Fatalist Palmistry." Likewise, Wolf has honed his poems, evidenced by "The Fall of Mr. Fifths"—a twisted rap hinting at an inner Mr. Hyde—the sleepy existentialism of "Brook &amp; Waxing," the oral illustration offered by "A Sky for Shoeing Horses Under" and the complex cadences found in "Twenty-Eight." Before Alopecia is brought to its eerie end (the suicide-probing outro, "Exegesis") we're given one more offering of reverse rap braggadocio. "By Torpedo or Crohn's" grooves like a mid-'90s gangsta BBQ jam and peaks with a recurring line from Alopecia: "While I'm alive/I'll feel alive." It's a fitting final thought, even for an album as complex as this—that the perfect antithesis to the blunt finality of death is nothing more than claiming the lifeblood that is already yours.

LP+ - 10th Anniversary Edition. Limited to 1,000 Copies on Tri-Color LP with Bonus 7".

Alopecia

Music US