In Robert Heinlein's Martian tongue, "grok" is a term that implies a nearly transcendent, sublime understanding, a sort of fundamental grasp of a concept across emotional and intellectual levels that immerse the observer in understanding of the concept. If Martian-raised humans weren't so busy running away from World Federation cronies, they'd probably be grokking a lot of good music -- that full-being understanding always comes with an amazing record.

You'll probably understand Grok on an intellectual level (the band's a pop act based almost entirely in improvisation). You might even understand Ruined Music for Everyone (it's a cross between space rock atmospheres and shoegazer guitar tones). But will you feel Grok? Will you grok Grok, so to speak? Probably not.

Grok's live incarnation is where its real story is. With nothing prepared in advance, the band climbs on stage, invites an audience member to spin a wheel to select the key in which the band plays. Singer Scott Brodie then chimes in with stream-of-conscious lyrics that draw from a menu of intentionally vague topics brainstormed before the gig. If it sounds like an indie-rock take on a hippie jam down, you're grokking it.

That makes a recorded effort a strange and, usually, uncomfortable proposition: Without the tension of a crash-and-burn improvisational disaster always looming on the horizon, Grok loses its edge and its angle. What it's left with is a studio-album version of one of those Widespread Panic bootlegs full of jammy improv, only lacking the spontaneity. That leaves Ruined Music hinging on listeners' generosity: Although it never sinks into depths of annoyance, without a bit of charity, Ruined Music isn't much more than the byproduct of a concept that doesn't translate from the stage. "Grok 25 - Penguin and Palinka" is an interesting study in the tension between post-rock guitars and digital sounds as well as cleverly building and receding arrangement, but ultimately it goes nowhere, leaving listeners feeling a little abandoned from the concept. "Grok 3 - My Relationship and Other Appliances" features one of Brodie's most accessible, if still abstract, vocal tracks, and the band gets close to finding a hook from which to hang it. "Grok 1 - The Ruined Map" and "Grok 16 - Sitting with Photos" are interesting when viewed from a product of loose improv vantage, but, like virtually all of Ruined Music, they rely upon the band's concept for excuses, apologies and justification.

The worst part is, you'll want to grok Grok. The band's concept injects some much-needed anarchy into the performance arena. Its skills are obviously there on Ruined Music for Everyone, and, with a little bit of editing, reworking and elbow grease, its songs could have blossomed into something truly competing. As it sits, though, you'll be left feeling as if Grok is from Mars and listeners like you are from Venus.

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- Matt Schild

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