Why Not? is the latest instalment of twisted shambolic indie-pop from Jad Fair’s Half Japanese. Over a 42 year career the band have made 16 studio albums that will make you laugh, cry, dance, shout and whatever else you feel like doing. Album #17, Why Not? is no exception.
“Why Not? is a magical thing – it’s Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run’ recorded in a cupboard, it’s an ode to love, it’s a Wire song with two duelling guitarists being Zappa on helium, it’s Parquet Courts in a tantrum, it’s The Crickets contorted into ? and The Mysterians, it’s everywhere and nowhere, baby, it’s where it’s at.
On Why Not? nuances are mused, situations explained, questions asked. Outside, zombies and demons roam and everyday aliens emerge…
…from spaceships: it’s a technicolor film transcribed by Jad Fair and friends John Sluggett, Gilles-Vincent Rieder, Mick Hobbs and Jason Willett, their faces at the cracked window of their subterranean habitat looking out at the real world.”