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Mason City, Iowa's WHY BOTHER? return with 'A City of Unsolved Miseries', their third album in as many years. Their patented basement recording setup has yet again captured something magical, thirteen originals in all. From the fringes of a small, landlocked Midwestern city - WHY BOTHER? have honed in on a punk sound that is original, self-driven and shows no signs of slowing. Swirling in darker thematics, such as the still unsolved 1995 disappearance of Mason City TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit, the album speaks to every outcast living out their days underneath dark, grey skies. However the music strikes you - WHY BOTHER? have defined yet another chapter of their enigmatic existence with the genius sounds captured on 'A City of Unsolved Miseries'.
Our take: Feel It Records brings us the third full-length in as many years by this Iowa band (they’ve also released a few EPs in there too!). Given their prolific release schedule, lo-fi recordings, and home base in the Midwest, I wouldn't doubt Why Bother? gets a lot of comparisons to Guided by Voices. While that comparison isn’t off-base—I’m sure a GBV fan would find a lot to like in Why Bother?’s music—the band that springs to mind when I listen to A City of Unsolved Mysteries is Hüsker Dü. The singer sounds kind of like Bob Mould, the guitar sounds tend toward the tinny, and my favorite songs feature big, melancholic pop hooks that wouldn’t have been out of place on Zen Arcade or New Day Rising. “Get Used to It” is the best example of this, but even sunnier-sounding tracks like the surveillance anthem “Eyes Everywhere” and the synth-forward “She’s a Vamp” bring to mind the ‘Dü, though perhaps Grant Hart’s songs more than Bob’s. There’s also a killer cover of the Alice Bag Band’s “Prowlers in the Night,” a song you’ll remember from The Decline of Western Civilization. Throughout the record, the songwriting is top-notch, the energy level high, the lo-fi textures innovative and surprising… A City of Unsolved Miseries is a quiet masterpiece, its understated sleeve and modest 300-copy pressing barely hinting at the brilliance in its grooves. If you have a place in your heart for the best late 80s and early 90s indie, give this a listen… if you’re anything like me, it might not blow your mind on the first note, but you’ll think, “that was a fantastic song,” after pretty much every track.
Our take: Feel It Records brings us the third full-length in as many years by this Iowa band (they’ve also released a few EPs in there too!). Given their prolific release schedule, lo-fi recordings, and home base in the Midwest, I wouldn't doubt Why Bother? gets a lot of comparisons to Guided by Voices. While that comparison isn’t off-base—I’m sure a GBV fan would find a lot to like in Why Bother?’s music—the band that springs to mind when I listen to A City of Unsolved Mysteries is Hüsker Dü. The singer sounds kind of like Bob Mould, the guitar sounds tend toward the tinny, and my favorite songs feature big, melancholic pop hooks that wouldn’t have been out of place on Zen Arcade or New Day Rising. “Get Used to It” is the best example of this, but even sunnier-sounding tracks like the surveillance anthem “Eyes Everywhere” and the synth-forward “She’s a Vamp” bring to mind the ‘Dü, though perhaps Grant Hart’s songs more than Bob’s. There’s also a killer cover of the Alice Bag Band’s “Prowlers in the Night,” a song you’ll remember from The Decline of Western Civilization. Throughout the record, the songwriting is top-notch, the energy level high, the lo-fi textures innovative and surprising… A City of Unsolved Miseries is a quiet masterpiece, its understated sleeve and modest 300-copy pressing barely hinting at the brilliance in its grooves. If you have a place in your heart for the best late 80s and early 90s indie, give this a listen… if you’re anything like me, it might not blow your mind on the first note, but you’ll think, “that was a fantastic song,” after pretty much every track.