Radio K presents WHY? and DEERHOOF
WHY?
WHY? is also a trio of handsome Cincinnatiborn men who fiddle with skins, strings, bells and microphones and present their findings to the listening public. Singer Yoni Wolf grew up the second son to an art book editor and a rabbi. He got his start recording bad poems and sloppy beats on the family synagogue’s 4-track. In junior high he discovered hip-hop. At art school, he learned how to drop out. Yoni’s brother Josiah played drums at Rabbi Wolf’s worship service as a kid, became a band geek as a teen, and fell in love with Thelonious Monk on his way to study music at University of Cincinnati. Doug McDiarmid would eventually get expelled from that same school for carrying a stun gun, but first he was raised by two French teachers and taught piano while in kindergarten. He also went to high school with the Wolfs, where he played in Steve Miller cover bands. In various permutations together and with other now-notables (i.e. Doseone, Odd Nosdam, Mr. Dibbs, Atmosphere’s Slug), these three created and/or contributed to several freewheeling rap and lo-fi rock-related projects including Greenthink, Miss Ohio’s Nameless, Reaching Quiet, and the seminal cLOUDDEAD outfit. Their wildest dreams were achieved when they relocated to Oakland to make pop-inflected psychedelic folk-hop.
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For four years, WHY? comprised Yoni Wolf alone. He honed his trademark delivery – a sickly sweet, half-rapped, singsong style – shined up his wry, picturesque poetry, and developed a clip-and-collage aesthetic using keyboards, toys, guitars, samplers and anything worth banging on. When Doug and Josiah moved west to join Yoni, they brought with them a hoard of instruments and the ability to wail on every last one. By chops and imagination, WHY? grew into a thing of flesh, bones and fully fledged songs, resulting in 2005’s Elephant Eyelash album. Critics swooned; ladies lauded; WHY? neither resisted nor rested. They toured – with Silver Jews, Yo La Tengo, and Islands. They collaborated – with Danielson Family, Department Of Eagles, and Subtle (Yoni also recorded with Fog’s Andrew Broder as “Hymie’s Basement”). They put out yet more music. In February of 2007, the WHY? trio temporarily relocated to Minneapolis and officially inducted Fog players Andrew Broder and Mark Erickson. Recording live as a five-piece, WHY? created two distinct albums from those sessions: Alopecia, with its taut rhythms and biting wit, and Eskimo Snow, a shadowy and sprawling set that finds Yoni resigned to and ever-awed by those infinite erring bits of existence that make WHY? what it is.
DEERHOOF
By turns cuddly and chaotic, San Francisco's Deerhoof mix noise, sugary melodies, and an experimental spirit into sweetly challenging and utterly distinctive music. The group began as the brainchild of guitarist Rob Fisk and drummer/keyboardist Greg Saunier in 1994; early releases, such as the 1995 7"s Return of the Woods M'Lady and For Those of Us on Foot, had a more traditionally harsh, no wave-inspired sound, though they also included the quirky tendencies that dominated their later efforts.
Vocalist/bassist Satomi Matsuzaki joined the group in time for 1996's self-titled double 7" on Menlo Park, but other members passed through Deerhoof, including Chris Cooper of Angst Hase Pfeffer Nase. The following year they released their full-length debut, The Man, the King, the Girl, on Kill Rock Stars and the Come See the Duck 7" on Banano a year later.
Fisk left Deerhoof after 1999's Holdy Paws, an experiment that saw the band trying to write songs that favored composition over individual sounds, and pursued similar ideas in his solo work and in Badgerlore. Halfbird, which was recorded before Fisk departed, was released in 2001, after John Dieterich was recruited as Deerhoof's new guitarist. That year the group also released the My Pal Foot Foot 7", a cover of the legendary Shaggs song that also appeared on the Better Than the Beatles tribute. In 2002, the group released the critically acclaimed Reveille; 2003's Apple O' followed soon after, and also featured auxiliary guitarist Chris Cohen. Their fifth album, the much more cohesive and focused Milk Man, appeared in spring 2004. The following year was another busy one for the band: not only did they embark on tours of the U.S., Europe, and Japan, but they released the Green Cosmos EP, the full-length Runners Four, and a Deerhoof tribute album that was only available on the band's website.
In 2006, the group toured with the Flaming Lips, the Fiery Furnaces, and Mary Timony, among others. That spring, Cohen left Deerhoof to concentrate on the Curtains, and that fall, a ballet based on Milk Man was performed in North Haven, ME. During that time, the band recorded its own songs and collaborated with composer Ed Shearmur on the music for Dedication, a film directed by Justin Theroux. The concise yet eclectic Friend Opportunity arrived in early 2007. Guitarist Ed Rodriguez joined the band in early 2008, and played on that year's Offend Maggie; prior to the album's release that fall, the band gave away one of its songs, "Fresh Born," as sheet music so fans could make their own versions of the song.
SOUTHEAST ENGINE
Southeast Engine’s folk-rock aesthetic emerged from the Ohio underground in 1999. The Wrens discovered SEE in 2006 and led Misra Records to the band later that year. The esteemed A Wheel Within a Wheel was released in 2007 and followed with 2009’s From the Forest to the Sea. While preserving the signature sound that garnered Forest/Sea critical acclaim, Canary marks a dramatic step forward in regards to both songwriting and arrangement.
