Interview - Why

Posted in MUSIC by Marcus on Apr 24, 10:15AM

WHY? INTERVIEW

At the beginning of the millennium, Yoni Wolf (aka Why?) was helping redefine hip-hop. Treading the boards as part of weird-arse rap iconoclasts cLOUDDEAD (along with Adam ‘Doseone’ Drucker and David ‘Odd Nosdam’ Madson) and the wider Anticon clique, the San Francisco Bay Area rapper made a name for his intensely personal, oddity-riddled lyrical traversals, introducing a whole new notion of abstract, arty hip-hop in the process.

But since cLOUDDEAD’s 2004 demise Wolf’s solo work as Why? has taken on an increasingly melodic, indie-rock-esque guise. While his debut Oaklandazulasylum tip-toed through an awkward, folk-rap terrain, 2005’s Elephant Eyelash was hailed as something of a indie classic. Replete with full band arrangements – courtesy of younger brother Josiah, Doug McDiarmid and others – and brimming with giddying lyrical detail, the bedroom-recorded record set a new precedent for the notion of ‘hip-hop crossover’.

Brand new album Alopecia is Why?’s most fully-realised work to date. Recorded in a studio, it sounds cleaner, bigger, but somehow, more personal than ever before. Wolf covers ground as disparate as getting mugged by Gypsies in Berlin and love-stalking a bio-diesel van-driving goddess, to offering sexual favours to guests in exchange for free-drink tickets at his cousin’s Bat Mitzvah.

We spoke to Yoni Wolf about Alopecia, his unique approach to song-writing and Why? becoming a full-fledged band.

Why? has been a operating as a band, rather than just your solo project, for a few years now, but Alopecia is the first record to have a real band feel, even more so than Elephant Eyelash.

Yeah, it is, it is. Elephant Eyelash was essentially recorded just like the stuff that I used to do by myself, just with more people involved. You know, I was still recording it in my bedroom and what not, and just bringing guys in to record the parts and stuff, but still doing it one layer at a time. But this time it was all recorded in a studio and pretty much all at once.

I made demos for every song and then we learned the songs in a rehearsal situation, then we went in and tracked it. So four or five things were happening at once and we recorded it like that. So yeah, it’s definitely more of a band-like record.

As a guy who traditionally records in his bedroom, how was it entering an unfamiliar environment to actually track it?

Truthfully, it scared me recording in a studio like that. It was quite a different experience and I wondered if what we were getting was too typical-sounding or not unique enough or something. You know, because when you’re doing it in your bedroom you can do all these things to make each sound come across okay, like, recording through a bunch of different devices because you can’t get the right cable to work and it gives you some weird sound, and you’re like, "Oh, that’s cool, let me go with that".

Whereas in this case everything was perfect and it was the best, you know, top-of-the-line equipment you could ever use, and you know, I just didn’t know if what we were getting was right. It really only came together in my mind in the mixing process. I just suddenly realised that what we had was working really well.

The record seems to be just as personal as anything you’ve done before, but at the same time, there’s a darker personal dynamic, lyrically. Do you feel it’s a heavier record?

Yeah, I think it’s darker, but I think it’s funnier too though…it’s definitely darker and in a way more hopeless or something like that. But it doesn’t take itself as seriously as Elephant Eyelash did too. So yeah, it’s just different, you know.

What I picked up from Elephant Eyelash was this sort of revisiting of a relationship, whereas Alopecia seems to be dealing with ideas of self and mortality. I’m thinking of tracks like 'Good Friday', which covers all these awkward moments in your life and their effects…

I would say that this is a lot more of a lonesome record. This is about being alone, whereas Elephant Eyelash was about trying to maintain or salvage some sense of connectedness. This album is an acceptance of disconnection in a way.

Is that what the title, Alopecia – this idea of total baldness – is about? Kind of shedding your baggage?

I think so. I think it does have the sense of a rebirth or of tearing oneself down to the absolute bare bone, like bare skin, a blank canvas or whatever.

The album closes with 'Exegesis', which has one of the record’s numerous references to suicide. It’s pretty intense.

Yeah, but I also feel like, if you really listen to that song, in a way it tells you to disregard everything I’ve said on the whole record, you know. It says "If I really meant it"…but you know, I haven’t hung myself high from a telephone wire, so it’s okay, you know.

Why? - music video for 'Song of the Sad Assassin' - from Alopecia

Is writing something you feel you need to do everyday? Your music has always had that documentarian sensibility.

Yeah, it is a necessary thing in my life. It’s my way of sitting quietly and meditating in a way. Whenever I achieve a small scrap of what I consider to be truth, on a very small level, that’s what the writing is a documentation of. It’s my inner life and my inner thoughts and I don’t know, my categorising of things and working things out. It’s just me sort of thinking and being present, you know.

I was talking to Odd Nosdam last year and he was saying that he understands his music very much in the terms of photography, of taking snapshots of his life through field-recordings and sounds and interpretations of events. I always thought of your lyrics in a similar light.

I’d agree with that, but I would say that especially now with this current record, Alopecia, I feel like I’ve gotten away from that somewhat. Now it feels like I’m using my life as a starting point and really going on from there. I’ve got a little more into the craft of it, you know.

Do you still feel that hip-hop informs your music at all?

I feel like on this record, specifically, it does and there’s a lot more rapping as such. I don’t know, the term "hip-hop" is such a loaded term and represents a whole culture, but as far as the idea of rapping, there’s a lot more of that on this record. I really got back into it and really enjoyed writing in that style with intricate rhyme schemes and stuff for this record.

You write a lot of songs about friends and family, many of which are pretty personal. Has anyone ever reacted in a negative way? One song that comes to mind on Alopecia is 'Simeon’s Dilemma' where you talk about romantically stalking a girl you have a crush on.

Yeah (laughs), people do tend to notice when something’s about them. I’ve had a couple of negative reactions, but most of the time it’s pretty positive, even when I’m worried about something or how somebody’s going to react. For instance, with 'Simeon’s Dilemma', I gave the record to the girl who that song is pretty much about – the person I wrote it for – and I was really worried about what she would think about that one. But she listened to the record and called me and was like, "Yoni, you’ve done it again. This is a beautiful record, especially song 12" (laughs). Man, that was a relief.

And you know, on Elephant Eyelash there’s a song about my Dad and I was really worried about how he would feel about that. But he’s all proud of it, you know. Whenever we play a live show and he’s there, he’s like, "Play the one about me, play the one about me!" (laughs). It’s pretty cool. I don’t have any ill intentions about these songs, even if they seem dark or dramatic or violent in a way. I think people realise I’m a good-intentioned person.

Dan Rule

Alopecia is out now through Anticon/Stomp

www.myspace.com/whyanticon