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Why?, "Sanddollars"
Sanddollars, serving as an extended teaser for Why?'s Septemberfull-length, is easily Anticon's most agreeable record of the year todate. In fact, so much of it is so poppy—and at times (gasp!) radiofriendly—that it arouses suspicion. Is Sanddollars here just tomove units, swelling label coffers and providing funding for the nextworlds'-most -abrasive rap record?
Anticon
It's not that Anticon is forbiddenfrom or incapable of releasing a pleasurable disc—13+God comes to mind,and that was just last month—but Sanddollars's eight tracks areso pleasantly arranged, breezily instrumentalized and playfullydelivered that I can hardly be blamed for suspecting foul play. Thelikability does come at a cost: some substance seems to have beensacrificed along the way. Though Yoni Wolf and bandmates are masters oftheir sound—and a notable sound at that, coming to us via turntables,keys and keyboard effects, samplers, strings as well as stringedinstruments and maybe even a medieval woodwind—Wolf's songwritinghardly reaches the heart of the matter, barely showing a hint of hispoetic ability ("and they've been givin me a thousand bucks to sing myautobiography/ but they're not givin a flying fuck about mymeloncholisty"). At times Wolf tends to drone on, singing aimlesslyabout arguing on Internet message boards and only being famous on theunderground; accessible and inoffensive but coming very close topedestrian. The title track is the best-constructed pop song and themost bubblegum friendly, with slick piano bridges, a "ooo-ooh" chorusand little intrinsic meaning. Fans of Oaklandazylum, despair not: Sanddollarsis not all saccharine and polish. The dark and fast paced 500Fingernails gets a little creepy; Vice Principal, anchored by vocalscoming over a public-address-system delivering cliched adonishments,provides goofy comic relief. But shining through it all is Yoni Wolf'sskill as a composer. Where his poetry borders on the bland or evenfrivolous his music is there to save the day, cancelling out allcliches or unimportant ramblings with sweet hooks andbeautifully-phrased melodies and rescuing Sanddollars from irrelevance. On the whole, Sanddollarsproves to be a delightfully-written miniature collection of tunes thatwill raise expectations and bolster anticipation for Why?'s upcomingfull-length.
Anticon
It's not that Anticon is forbiddenfrom or incapable of releasing a pleasurable disc—13+God comes to mind,and that was just last month—but Sanddollars's eight tracks areso pleasantly arranged, breezily instrumentalized and playfullydelivered that I can hardly be blamed for suspecting foul play. Thelikability does come at a cost: some substance seems to have beensacrificed along the way. Though Yoni Wolf and bandmates are masters oftheir sound—and a notable sound at that, coming to us via turntables,keys and keyboard effects, samplers, strings as well as stringedinstruments and maybe even a medieval woodwind—Wolf's songwritinghardly reaches the heart of the matter, barely showing a hint of hispoetic ability ("and they've been givin me a thousand bucks to sing myautobiography/ but they're not givin a flying fuck about mymeloncholisty"). At times Wolf tends to drone on, singing aimlesslyabout arguing on Internet message boards and only being famous on theunderground; accessible and inoffensive but coming very close topedestrian. The title track is the best-constructed pop song and themost bubblegum friendly, with slick piano bridges, a "ooo-ooh" chorusand little intrinsic meaning. Fans of Oaklandazylum, despair not: Sanddollarsis not all saccharine and polish. The dark and fast paced 500Fingernails gets a little creepy; Vice Principal, anchored by vocalscoming over a public-address-system delivering cliched adonishments,provides goofy comic relief. But shining through it all is Yoni Wolf'sskill as a composer. Where his poetry borders on the bland or evenfrivolous his music is there to save the day, cancelling out allcliches or unimportant ramblings with sweet hooks andbeautifully-phrased melodies and rescuing Sanddollars from irrelevance. On the whole, Sanddollarsproves to be a delightfully-written miniature collection of tunes thatwill raise expectations and bolster anticipation for Why?'s upcomingfull-length.samples:
