The Cincinnati-based project helmed by Yoni Wolf, WHY?, is generally classified as alt hip-hop, but that would be vastly oversimplifying what they do. And really, at present, the music barely resembles the genre at all. It feels more like progressive indie-rock with an avant-rap heart and experimental forays into production and instrumentation (guitar, bass, keys, a blend of organic percussion and drum-machine programming). It’s driven by Wolf’s warm, nasally intonations that shift between singsong rhyme-slinging and tunefully apathetic singing, his ruthlessly self-reflective lyrics climbing and falling over. WHY?’s latest tour falls behind visual album AOKOHIO, which finds Wolf reflecting on his childhood and dissecting feelings of anxious nostalgia. It was released with an accompanying 30-minute-plus film/music video (you can watch on the Joyful Noise Recordings YouTube page) that stars the fantastic Emmy-winning actress Tatiana Mislay (Orphan Black). by Leilani Polk