Released April 18, 2025. Available on Bandcamp.
Why Bother? is a band from Mason City, Iowa. You Are Part of the Experiment is their most recent release with a runtime of just under fourteen minutes.
Like their previous releases, Why Bother? seems to pull a lot of influence from classic punk of the 70’s and 80’s while remaining relevant to the modern era in a way that feels authentic. There is often an element of joyous misery in their music that cuts through at their best moments – sardonically reveling in the wrongs of the world.
You Are Part of the Experiment is a short release with only five songs. The first three are a bit more traditional, but the fourth song is an instrumental, and the final song is more of an experimental sound collage than a song. It feels like they had three songs but decided to have fun and pad it out with an extended two-part outro, which isn’t a bad thing.
Favorite picks from this album are “Listen” and “Speck’s Lament”. There are no bad tracks here, though – they all do their job well as part of the experiment.
It’s always good to hear another quality release from a band like Why Bother?, although it may be a brief one. Anyone who wants to keep up with the best of modern punk needs to take a listen to You Are Part of the Experiment.