WHY? Fills the Basement of (Le) Poisson Rouge
Cincinnati alternative hip-hop/indie band WHY? delivered a raw and charged display of musical emotion to the packed basement of (Le) Poisson Rouge this past Sunday. Opening was Minneapolis' Margret Wander, better known as Dessa. Leaning a bit more on the rap side of the indie hip-hop equation, Dessa showed herself to be a true wordsmith.
At times perverse, deftly perceptive, and always wrapped in meticulous arrangements, WHY?'s lyrics are poetic and haunting, painting an intimate portrait of both the loner and radical aspects of ourselves. In some respects, I wanted to compare frontman Yoni Wolf to Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against The Machine, but Wolf crafts a picture book with words, rather than provide the script to a political protest.
WHY?'s music contains layers of nuance that are brimming with complexity but never overbearing on the ears. Drummer Josiah Wolf (Yoni's brother) set the tone early with a heavy beating introduction to "The Fall of Mr. Fifths" off their 2008 album Alopecia, while guitarist Doug McDiarmid and Liz Wolf bolstered the band's broad style. Next came "Strawberries" off of their latest full-length album, Mumps, Etc. Interestingly, WHY? decided to forego playing anything from their last two EPs, opting instead to focus on their hits. They ended with a two-song encore, including personal favorite in "By Torpedo or Crohn's," leaving this listener in an odd state of pure bliss.
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