Crock

***Coming from the brilliant minds of QUASI’s SAM COOMES and HELLA’s SPENCER SEIM, CROCK’s debut record Grok is the end product of several years of refined collaboration, and truly a sound and vision unlike any other. Each song shifts and burns through an albums' worth of ideas in the compact space of 4 minutes. It's not so much a collage as it is some new kind of sonic highway where it's always rush hour. Amid all the electronic fragments, outsider doom riffs and dozens of other sounds racing by, at the center of the songs are the signature sounds of either of the creators. Coomes' instantly-recognizable vocal harmonies push some of the best songs from prog-freak out territory into the realm of Beatles-y pop wonder. The spazzy, sputtering drum work by Seim is not only on par with the best Hella moments, but serves as an anchor to the trails of sometimes blissful, sometimes crazed composition shooting off in all directions. The very simple cover art (by JANET WEISS of Quasi/Sleater-Kinney) could serve to sum up Crock's debut; some kind of controlled neon explosion that looks different from different angles. There's a lot going on, but every different view will show you something new. LP pressed on neon colored vinyl. Limited master tape CD edition of 500 copies. (STREET DATE - 9/27/2011)