I didn't think Why? had it in him to be a member of Anticon and then pass for an indie rock artist. But then I would be wrong, because he released an indie rock album and it's actually pretty damn good.
The album starts with "Ferris Wheel", which starts with sparse guitar picking then shortly picks up when Why? begins to sing. Soon thereafter some horns begin playing and you can clearly note the slight inspiration Neutral Milk Hotel had on Why?'s direction. It's one of the better songs on the album. "Cold Lunch ([...] Remix)" is a really good song, but will lead me to my first complaint of this album. A lot of the songs are short (half the songs are less than 2:30 long, which 5 of them are less than 2 minutes long). This song, for example, is 1:36 long. It's a good song that I wish could have been maybe a minute longer, but nevertheless good.
Next is "America Afterschool", which leads me to my second complaint of the album. If one were to question Why?'s lyrics as being trite and meaningless, often times I don't think I could adequately defend Why? because I'm often dumbfounded by what he's expressing. But whatever, it's a good song. Now I'll skip ahead to "Early Whitney", the marvel of the album. This song is beautiful and on constant repeat on my iPod. I would love to hear Why? release more accessible songs like this, which he is supposedly doing on a new album.
"Shirtless, Sheetless, And" and "Women Eye, "No"" are funny songs and add to the album pretty well. "Seventeen" is my second favorite track of the album. It has a really good melody and hip hop beat.
This album is great and I'd highly recommend it. But if you have a chance to see him live, I suggest you also (or instead if you're limited on purchases) to buy his tour only album "Almost Live From Anna's Cabin". It's a live album and it has a lot of the songs from this album that sound better "live" (and some that don't necessarily) plus a few other songs he released prior and afterwards.
Whoa...
Thats what i first thought when i listened to Why? How can you mix rap and Indie, but still come out listenable.....yeah...i would say that this is one of the better albums this year. Its very different, but in the best way. Listen
This album is passable. But it feels more like the "never released" songs that got dumped from making Early Whitney than it's own album. This was the beginning of Why? turning awful, his latest album has dropped all the rap, all the punk and adopted more pop, so it's now indie-pop... Good things never last.
