The Left of the Dial concert series, presented by the Smith College radio station WOZQ and UMass station WMUA, brought listeners yet another sonic experience to the Iron Horse Entertainment Group Monday evening. Berkley, CA four-piece Why? displayed their swirling, self-described “folk-pop, indie-hop, sometimes-mustachioed, psych rock” to the Iron Horse Music Hall with Oakland’s Cryptacize. Cryptacize’s noticeably different style strongly contrasted with that of the former, drawing what can best be described as confused applause from the crowd. Cryptacize took the stage after somewhat local (Montague, Westfield) opening act The John Bobbit Experience made their rounds. The trio pumped out some danceable, mutilated noise jams as well as murkier, ambience-filled pieces, despite one of their guitarists’ failing amplifiers. Layers were piled on thickly by the electronics twiddler/vocalist while the drummer cranked out some head-nodding grooves, all in front of a seated, near comatose audience. The drummer eventually abandoned the drum set in favor of a guitar, which also meant mostly abandoning a sense of rhythm and beat to pursue more atmospheric, noisy territories. Next to take the stage was Cryptacize, another three-piece consisting of minimal percussionist Michael Carreira at the center, flanked by Nedelle Torrisi (autoharp, guitar, vocals) and Chris Cohen (guitar, vocals). The percussion consisted of a single tambourine-like drum, a hi-hat and a bass drum, occasionally accompanied by various other pieces such as a triangle, spoons, cowbell and a banana-shaped maraca. He was joined by Torrisi’s soft female vocal, which with Cohen often harmonized, as well as whimsical guitar phrases. Cohen summoned sharp tones reminiscent of Grizzly Bear, while Torrisi created appropriate foils to his sound, strumming seemingly simple, jagged notes. The modest musicianship brought to mind 1980s Pacific coast anti-instrumentalist band Beat Happening, whose short, angular songs needed no virtuoso musicians, but instead a shared love of rhythm and jarring noise. Cryptacize seemed to mimic this ideal, though the band lacked almost any semblance of structure. Their songs flourished when the band collaborated to create a bit of rhythm, scratching the surface of a groove but never delving too deep into that idea. The stop-and-go mindset of the songs may have held the audience back from being more interested, though the sounds they created were as aurally pure as they were pleasing. Why? provided the unquestionable highlight of the evening, treating the audience to their strange brand of folky indie-pop that borders on the brim of hip hop, while showcasing many of the stronger songs on the quartet’s recently released record “Alopecia,” as well as some tunes from their previous full-length, “Elephant Eyelash.” The hip hop grooves found on their studio material were sacrificed in favor of more organic sounds, with extremely successful results. Vocalist/lyricist/odds and ends instrumentalist Yoni Wolf’s deadpan delivery droned over and beneath the heavy percussion, keyboard and guitar layers. Lyrics were often harmonized, or more appropriately, echoed by drummer (and Yoni’s brother) Josiah Wolf. Yoni’s half-spoken, half-sung vocals added to the dark void of his poetic lyrics, which delve into references of drugs, sex/death imagery and other shock factors. His cold stare focused beyond the audience was serious and unflinching, and obscured by his curly mop of hair draped over the side of his face. He smiled, but no more than once throughout the performance, and even that was in response to his own joke about booty-shaking. Josiah’s drumming emerged as the most impressive portion of the set, as he simultaneously beat out low-end rhythms on his drum set and chimed angelic tones on vibraphone, all of which surrounded him. His dizzying percussion, coupled with Yoni’s frequent additions of maraca-wielding, cymbal-crashing and snare hits, made for a nearly nauseating sonic landscape. Highlights included the crowd favorite “Yo Yo Bye Bye,” from 2005’s “Elephant Eyelash” LP, as well as the faux-uplifting spirit of “Rubber Traits,” from the same record, in which Yoni advises the listener to “always be working on a suicide note.” During the same song, Yoni curiously edited himself, opting to recite his wish to “hump gentle on a bed of nails” as “do something on a bed of nails.” The tracks from “Alopecia,” released earlier this month, sounded like nearly perfect renditions, including “The Vowels Pt. 2,” “The Hollows,” and “These Few Presidents.” Instrumentation came off as very natural and organic in the live setting, where drumming and other instrumentation imitated the more electronically-produced cuts on the record faithfully. The studio takes found on their records consistently up the hip hop aspect of this project, though the band has been moving further and further from its hip hop roots, founded by Yoni as a solo performer, and transitioning now into a full-band, indie-pop/rock sound. As Yoni’s outsider poetry and hip hop lyricism have evolved, his words have become more conducive to a verse/chorus/verse archetype, allowing for more focus on sonic moods, complex instrumentation and textures. Evolution and fusion are key aspects of modern music, and Why? is a sparkling example of today’s artists melding genres and seeking new ground on which to tread.
Ian Nelson can be reached at [email protected].
