A multi-faceted alternative hip-hop and indie rock artist who co-founded the popular Los Angeles-based independent record label , Yoni Wolf was born Jonathan Avram Wolf in 1979 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Raised in a Messianic Jewish household, Wolf caught the music bug in his first year at high school after procuring an old 4-track recorder from his father's synagogue. Honing his production chops via a constant stream of drumming, rapping, and poetry, Wolf headed into his college years with both material and experience. While studying art at the University of Cincinnati, he met future co-founder Adam Drucker (AKA ) and started a live improvisational group called -- Wolf and Drucker would work together for many years under numerous monikers. The pair issued their debut LP together, It's Not Easy Being…, under the name Greenthink in 1998. A second album, 1999's Blindfold, saw the duo grow into a three-piece with the addition of producer , and adopt a new name, . That same year Wolf began releasing material under the name . After issuing a second solo LP as , 2003's Oaklandazulasylum, Wolf decided to turn the project into a band, adding brother on drums, guitarist Matt Meldon, and utility man Doug McDiarmid. The newly minted group released their debut studio album, Elephant Eyelash, in 2005. The band's sophomore outing, Alopecia, dropped in 2008, followed closely by Eskimo Snow in 2009. 2012's Mumps, Etc. was preceded by the EP Sod in the Seed. An avid collaborator and producer, Wolf has released material with Reaching Quiet and Hymie's Basement, and has collaborated with and . Wolf issued the LP Testarossa with the latter under the moniker in early 2016. ~ James Christopher Monger, Rovi