Press material for the latest rock band usually seeks to leave the reader with the impression that group X is the best thing since Elvis, the Beatles, the Sex Pistols, or whoever. The truth always comes, however, when the listener places the disc in the player and turns up the volume. Words like "lo-fi" and "power pop" decorate Grey Does Matter's press materials, but they only provide a partial clue to how catchy How to Make Millions in Real Estate is. The opener, "Sinking," and its follow-up, "Zero," are filled with enticing hooks, bitter lyrics, and walls of guitar. The sound is further ornamented with some bizarre synthesizer work and an intense layering of voices. Surprisingly, all of this beguiling noise seems to come from one man, Jason Crawford, who wrote, sang, and played everything on How to Make Millions in Real Estate. This is the type of infectious music that creates volume creep: the listener keeps turning it up until everyone in the house/apartment has to tune in or leave. If the program drops off a little over the course of 11 songs, that has less to do with quality than with just how good the early part of the album is. Crawford's album will not teach the listener anything about making money in real estate, but fans of power pop, lo-fi, and tuneful punk will want to check it out nonetheless.
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