Unusual Animals Volume 4
On this fourth volume of the Unusual Animals split vinyl releases we find a larger-than-life classic of the Disco era shrunken down to miniature size by the Bay Area's premier paranormalists, Cryptacize . Whereas the studio magic of Steely Dan can only be attributed to millions of dollars in major corporate backing, Cryptacize pulls it off with just a couple of claves, an autoharp, and a fuzz-pedal, arranged and recorded by Cryptacize with help from up-and- comer Dominique Leone. On the B side, Cryptacize's Bay Area neighbors WHY? (Anticon) reinterpret Dylan into a bass driven mystery night train anthem for reflection and cruising.
Cryptacize began across the street from the C&H Sugar Factory in Crockett, CA, where Nedelle Torrisi and Chris Cohen lived in an apartment slightly tilted. They discovered something even stranger - a video of a drummer named Michael Carreira playing his cowbell. Having only this video, they sought him out and convinced him to join their band and shortly there after began working on their first album.
WHY? fiddle around with skins, strings and bells through microphones ARTIST: Cryptacize / WHY? attached to tape, presenting their “findings” to the waiting world. Yoni and TITLE: Unusual Animals Vol. 4 his brother Josiah Wolf and Doug McDiarmid , in created and/or contributed LABEL: Asthmatic Kitty Records to a number of freewheeling rap and lo-fi bedroom-rock related projects, CATALOG#: AKR406 some still unexcavated: Miss Ohio’s Nameless , Apogee , Greenthink , RELEASE DATE: July 22, 2008 Reaching Quiet , and the now seminal cLOUDDEAD . WHY?’s latest, brightest, FORMAT: 7” darkest smile-twisted opus, Alopecia , is a fantastic offering of raw sweat and FULL 12-DIGIT: 656605640679 dreams inspired by nothing more or less than the infinite erring bits of daily BOXLOT: 25 existence. FILE UNDER: Indie/experimental EXPORT RESTRICTIONS: None The Unusual Animals Vinyl Series pairs Asthmatic Kitty roster artists with friends and sometimes-unlikely bedfellows. Each record includes a beautiful rendering of one of Mother Nature's stranger inhabitants by illustrator Jared Chapman . 6 56605 64067 9 Critics on Cryptacize: "No two songs are alike, and yet they all sound like the same band, an impressive feat for any debut album. . . " - Houston Press Track Listing: • Cryptacize "Peg" (Becker/Fagen) 2:38 "Torrisi’s lovely voice and show-tune delivery style sometimes call to mind Judy • WHY? "As I Went Out One Morning" (Dylan) 3:08 Garland crooning “Over the Rainbow,” but in the land beyond Cryptacize’s rainbow fly creatures far stranger than bluebirds. It’s a peculiar and inviting Selling Points: place." - Resonance • Cryptacize features Nedelle Torrisi (former Kill Rock
Stars artist, The Curtains, Why?, Xiu Xiu), Chris Cohen (The Curtains, Deerhoof, Cass McCombs) and Mi- "Dig That Treasure might be the year's first incredible indie-rock album" - Signal chael Carreira (music teacher), To Noise • Cryptacize touring nationally in June, • WHY?'s Alopecia reached #6 on the cmj top 200, Critics on WHY?: • WHY? and Cryptacize recently finished full US tours, “Liquid in the sieve of genre: put it on headphones and it begs to bump; recite • WHY?'s Alopecia received an 8.2 and recommended lyrics aloud and people will look at you with loathing usually reserved for religious review on Pitchfork Media, and was recently fea- leaflet canvassers and slam poets; try and decode the words in your head and tured in xlr8r and on the cover of west coast per- you'll only hear the melodies behind them.” -Pitchfork former, • Limited Edition 7" Vinyl (limited to 500 copies), “WHY? is the alphabet soup of independent music. Clever, biting, creative, • Selective radio and press servicing. intense, storied, and lurid. There’s really nothing else like it.” -Tiny Mix Tapes