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Album Review

GROK
Ruined Music For Everyone Dedear Records

Article written by James G - Jul 11, 2008

GROK

First things first – here’s part of Grok’s press release:

"GROK have no songs. GROK are a band of the moment, creating spontaneous, improvised music uncluttered by traditional notions such as planning or rehearsal. There are no mistakes in GROK. This open approach lends the music a vital, dynamic, unstructured feel. In GROK a chance hook can form the basis for a repeated refrain, or a meandering atmospheric can suddenly burst into a three minute pop song."

Ulp. Also, each of the 11 tracks here is a highlight of a 30 track recording session. So, track 6 is called ‘GROK 18 Otters’. I’ll just refer to them by their titles. ‘The Ruined Map’ starts us off, and is a brooding song (sorry, I forgot – they have no songs) that swells like waves on their way to shore, and telling us ‘I have to get back to you’, before repeating ‘people go missing/ on trains’. Many times. Bleepy, swirly, and mid-paced, one can picture the heads of the guitarists and drummer nodding away as they have a right old workout.

‘The Original Solaris’ takes a walk on the sunny side of the universe, then morphs into ‘Penguin And Palinka’. Next up is ‘Pink Shirt’, one of the shortest tracks at 3’45”. It’s also the closest we get to a pop song, being an almost melancholy attack on the City Boy and his differing, yet regular choice of apparel, dependent on the day of the week. ‘And so you wear your gloomy scarf on Monday… why the hell would you wear a pink shirt/ you have no feminine side’. Quite. ‘Otters’ is a shimmering, thoughtful display of yearning… ‘I wanna be something/ that will change… things’. Not sure if I agree with the sentiment regarding otters always looking happy, though. Any track called, ‘My Relationship And Other Appliances’ should be a fantastic song (whoops), and this one is. Nearly. ‘Trapped In A Server Room’ rings my geek alarm, but is actually a pleasant 5 minutes. ‘Drastic’ and ‘Transmission From A Dying Civilisation’ shake off any suggestions that Grok are ONLY part of the NWOBP.

My nagging suspicion was that this would be a pretentious, deliberately awkward listen. Thankfully, that’s not the case. GROK have the musicianship and vocal skills to make this a pretty entertaining and absorbing way to pass 50 minutes.

Links:
http://www.futronica.com/grok/index.php
http://www.myspace.com/grokmusic