Why?, an indie rock band with a hip-hop sensibility, or vice versa, is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of its second record, “Alopecia,” from 2008. The record sounds strangely prescient now.
Frontman Yoni Wolf’s intelligence, emotionality and genre-blindness have proved to be style goals for a lot of indie hip-hop artists working today. Early Beck and lo-fi misanthropists Holy Sons have made music similar to this, but Why? is more painfully candid and raw. Wolf is often equally funny and dark.
There’s a nasal-nerdiness to Wolf’s singing, but he comes off as both dead-pan and deadly serious. He’s laser-beam smart. He’s said that music is a projection of himself, almost like a hologram, and Why? sometimes has that quality of depth and light. This will seem ridiculous, but sometimes “Alopecia” sounds like a composite of They Might Be Giants, David Mamet, Danzig and Kendrick Lamar. It’s music that’s based on lyrics and radical honesty. Performing the record in its entirety will be a feat.
See Why? at Space Ballroom, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden, on Nov. 25 at 8 p.m. Tickets $18. 203-288-6400, spaceballroom.com
