Jon Crocker - The Dust Will Settle

Gosh, I love hooks. Don't you? In fact, where would music be without good hooks? I like hooks with vowel alliteration, like "Two timin' me, nickel and dimin' me". OH! and "What have you been sellin', tall tales are the only kind of truth that you've been tellin'". Hooks, man. Hooks. Those little subtleties. inflections, and instrumental/visual hook-line-and-sinker mechanisms that just send the song through the roof. They separate the Neil Youngs from the Nickelbacks, the Sex Pistols from the Fall Out Boys. Hooks, folks. Look 'em up and tell yr neighbors, because maybe we can cleanse the FM airwaves that way, and maybe even rock 'n' roll in general, and...okay, enough of that.

That nonsense aside, one of my favorite things about Jon Crocker's new(er) album The Dust Will Settle (besides its hooks...) is that it really has the ability to appeal to a wide audience despite its strictly rustic folk sound. Under the acoustic guitars and banjos, it's not hard to spot the Beatlesque melodies, Tom Waitsian storytelling, and Beach Boys-style knack for pretty songcraft. It plays out like a total classic; opener "Skipping Stones" wastes no time
with bridge or reprise or aolo, just a wonderfully satisfying, ultra-catchy verse/chorus format, the musical equivalent of three scoops of ice cream. Coupled with the utterly perfect "Tall Tales", it took a few weeks to even begin to explore the rest of the album. I just played and replayed those two songs.

But can things get even better?! Kinda. As with any album, there are a few tracks floating around that you won't play over and over again; yet it's not that you'll find a necessarily "poor" song here-- Crocker's sound is too familiar-sounding to come across that way. But there's no denying the simplistic beauty of tracks like "All That I Have Left", "Don't Wait Up For Me" and "6 Day Sinner's Son". The whole thing is enhanced with tasteful production, and although my common complaint of barely any variation used in the basic instruments still holds, the album proves itself as totally mesmerizing and strangely hypnotic in its appeal.

Nothing really beats a solid alt-folk album, and Crocker has delivered yet again. He's currently on tour with Adam Faucett and William Blackart, be sure catch his show in a town near you. The greatest and most simple compliment I or any music reviewer could give tends to apply; "The Dust Will Settle" is just really great music.

www.myspace.com/joncrocker

The Top Grossing Films Of 1984 and Existential Hero - Be Yourself/Be Others

Let's get this out of the way, I love lo-fi and DIY music. I have infinite respect for artists such as Kimya Dawson, Daniel Johnston, Jad Fair, Moldy Peaches, and Beat Happening. However, I believe there is a point where a song decides to quit being enjoyable and tuneful and is crushed under the weight of its own forced DIY-ness, rendering it unlistenable. While this 2008 split between Illinois' The Top Grossing Films of 1984 and California's Existential Hero doesn't completely cross that line, it veers very, very dangerously towards it.

"Be Yourself/Be Others" is not only a split between two artists, it is also divided between covers and originals (and confusingly, at one point, Existential Hero guests on the other artist's side.) But on to the music - Top Grossing Films leads off the first side of the album, and all four of his contributions feel like complete throwaways. This is very frustrating considering the artist's potential and ability as a songwriter -- it feels like he just isn't trying much. "Cat Song" makes an attempt at carrying an actual tune, and has a tiny gleam of lyrical charm. However, anything enjoyable about the song is lost in the forced off-key clangor. Sadly, the contributions end here with much to be desired. I desperately wanted to understand these songs, but I could not bring myself to play them more than once or twice. While I have enjoyed a lot of this artist's past work, this offering left me cold.

. Existential Hero takes the helm for the next half of the album and things get a bit better, or at least more listenable. His interpretation of Neutral Milk Hotel's "The King of Carrot Flowers pt. 1" is weak, but passable. Perhaps the most interesting attempt is his revamping of A Drum And An Open Window's "Summer Camp Pop Song". Although the stripped down, cheerful pop of the original is stripped away to a slow, repetitive R&B beat with a bizarre overuse of vocal autotune, it still stands out among the weaker tracks of the album. The entire CD finds its best track in Existential Hero's cover of Daniel Johnston's "Broken Dream" - Johnston's mood is channeled very nicely into a crudely strummed nylon string guitar and a whole lot of honesty. It's a great song that fits Steven Ray Morris's interpretation well. R&B attempt number two "Leave The Door Open" is strange, funny, and oddly stellar.

I'm starting to think my appraisal of the album, especially The Top Grossing Films of 1984's side, is unfair. Maybe I simply don't understand where the motive for this stuff comes from, and maybe I should give these guys credit on the fact that they're just making music to have fun. However, I have no choice to say that my critical opinion stands. Although "Be Yourself/Be Others" is bursting with creative and experimental talent from both sides of the field, and I desperately pleaded...PLEADED with myself to actually like the music and to muster up the necessary strength of will to overstuff this review with ego-stroking praise, I'd be fooling myself if I didn't call it a letdown.

:'(

www.myspace.com/existentialhero
www.myspace.com/thetopgrossingfilmsof1984