press play......... You grok?

What reviewers are saying about Aperiodic Grok:

"I first came across Tenk Van Dool when I reviewed the albums by Temple of Switches, and here he is with Paul Sears from one of my favourite bands, The Muffins. Together they have combined to create an instrumental album which contains the enthusiasm and off-piste style of improvised freeform jazz yet has somehow been contained and brought to heel with multiple layers. Paul provides drums and percussion, with some beautiful touches (some of his triplets are to die for), showing just now much a great drummer can add to proceedings both in how he/she approaches the music and what they play/don’t play. Tenk provides everything else, from a range of different guitars (acoustic, electric, nylon, 12-string, fretless bass, mandolin) and keyboards (Hammond Organ, piano, clavinet, Solina, Mini-Moog, Mellotron) so the sounds are really quite rooted in the Seventies at times.
 

Sometimes the music is approached from the guitar, sometimes from the keyboards, and while prog and jazz are always at the heart there are times when it gets quite heavy, and others where there is more folk. There are big sounds at play here, huge shifts in style, with Paul and Tenk combining to create something which is playful yet serious, deep yet light, as they move with predictable unpredictability so it is never possible to discern the path being taken, only it is far more interesting than the one which is more well-trod. We get distortion combined with cleanliness, concentration combined with levity, heavy funk from the left hand with blues also making its presence felt and drums which may be simple 4/4, providing blasting rolls, or simple cymbal taps for finesse and nuances. The result is an album which is thoroughly enjoyable throughout, keeping the listener on their toes as to what is going to happen next, and is all the better for it."

 -Kev Rowland, November 2024

“Your album is a beautiful work of art that when listening to it makes me want to create things. I think it's the perfect listening tool for painters, sculptures and someone writing a novel.”

  -Prophet – lead singer, lyricist, composer and band leader for St. Madness

 "Tenk Van Dool is a southern California based multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer, and leader of the trio Temple of Switches, who created four albums between 2015 and 2022, though I’m not sure if they are still a going concern. Readers should know Paul Sears was the drummer of The Muffins since almost the beginning, although of late he has relocated from the east coast to sunny Arizona, and started a number of new endeavors. What we have here on Aperiodic Grok is something entirely new, unlike the vocal oriented rock of Temple of Switches, Van Dool has composed a full album of instrumental tunes, and pretty much played all the instruments himself with the exception of drums and percussion, which are capably handled by Sears. For his part, Van Dool plays all manner of guitars (acoustic, electric, nylon string, twelve string, fretless bass, mandolin) and keyboards (Hammond organ, piano, clavinet, solina, Mini-Moog, Mellotron) and even some saxophone. It’s an impressive effort that certainly sounds like a lot more players than just two guys in a studio overdubbing; the core sound – well, there is no core sound, the duo moves effortlessly all across the musical map, taking on elements of rock, jazz, blues, funk, acoustic sounds, odd angular proggy bits, a little bit of shredding – though never overdone, it’s a wonderful stew of musical ideas that seems to exist well outside of any predictable restrictions. A track like the busy “Berkeley Barn Dance” rocks hard and funky and takes no prisoners, with crazed synth lines and searing guitar leads, more or less enshrining the concept of getting as many ideas into a single song as possible, and it succeeds! A mandolin riff leads off the “The Royal Court and the Dirt Beneath,” but it certainly doesn’t stop there, rocking and wandering through numerous portals throughout its five minute duration. Beginning on a bluesy note, “Katie and Natalie” incorporates some melodic jazzy ideas that refine it uniquely among all the other tunes here, while “Köln” is like a conversation between pipe organ and Spanish guitar. The appropriately titled “Empty Hall and the Dancing Shadows” is at once explorative and heavy, bringing a lot of great jazz and rock ideas together under the same spotlight. Ten songs in all, Aperiodic Grok has plenty to offer listeners who want to move beyond the standard forms into something truly inventive."

   - Peter Thelen, Expose Online

"What happens when you set loose in the studio two instrumental geniuses, allow them to come up with a nonsensical album title and write their asses off? You get this.

On Aperiodic Grok -- a jazz-rock hybrid that just might leave you drooling -- Tenk Van Dool (Temple of Switches) plays more types of keyboards than I can mention here, along with all sorts of guitars, basses, a talk box and even a mandolin, while drummer and percussionist Paul Sears (The Muffins) drives each track with as much precision and delicacy as the songs require.

The album opens, appropriately, with “This Song Walks Into a Bar...” -- which serves as a thrilling and thunderous introduction to what’s in store on the rest of this intense, experimental yet dramatic and melodic 10-track album. “Empty Hall and the Dancing Shadows” sounds as melancholy as you might expect, painting sonic pictures of ghostly lovers and bygone eras. Then there’s “The Line at Weird Walter’s Wake,” which veers from Canterbury to metal in under four-and-a-half minutes. Other highlights include the frisky “Berkeley Barn Dance” and the all-too-brief “Köln” (both anchored by a majestic Hammond). And I love the alliteration in the title of “Complacency Catastrophe," as well as the mysterious musical interplay between Van Dool and Sears.

This is outstanding stuff, with Van Dool and Sears playing flawlessly. Yet part of me wishes some of these songs had lyrics!"

- Michael Popke – Sea of Tranquility

 "Multi-instrumentalist Tenk Van Dool (Temple of Switches) and veteran percussionist Paul Sears (The Muffins, Daevid Allen, Fred Frith, and many more) have joined their formidable forces to bring us music in a hard/progressive/jazz rock vein, veering into Canterbury at times. Besides Paul on drums and percussion, Tenk provides everything else, including various synths, electric and acoustic guitars of all stripes, fretless bass, and mandolin"

-Nickie Harte Kelly, Progrock.com presenter

“This album is not to be confused with mainstream music today. This would simply be placed in the musician's music category. When you put a rising star, Tenk Van Dool who is an exceptional multi-Instrumentalist then add a living legend to the mix, Paul Sears, you receive a product that delivers old school and yet keeps it fresh. Aperiodic Grok, well that certainly gives you a very good idea on why this title was chosen. "There are no repeating cycles and you simply understand the album intuitively..." This has all the elements to unite the young and the old in 10 Songs" You'd be mistaken if you didn't take time to hear this! “

- Alan Baillargeon New EARS Prog Show 

“Tenk and Paul have brought you quite the unique album. Cannot say it sounds like another band because it doesn’t sound like anything I have ever heard. The instrumentation and song structure keeps you begging for more. Everyone is going to love what you both have created. Good luck with the upcoming release. 5 stars in my books. Top notch album. Cheers”

- Mike Jobborn - T.A.P., Smart Agri Technologies and Solutions Corp, DJ, Producer, Artist at Head Joint Productions-Hans Heisenberg III, Street Team Promoter at House of Prog 

“Stunning! What a powerful and diverse album that is! My favorite tracks are "Katie and Natalie", "Berkeley Barn Dance", and "It's Raining in Casmalia", which is gorgeous. Well done there, son! “

- Dave Newhouse of The Muffins, MOON X, Cloud Over Jupiter, and others

“Really impressive dynamic interplay between Tenk Van Dool (a wide variety of keys and guitars) and Paul Sears (drums). It seems like there are several musicians in the room skillfully playing off of each other, an impressive accomplishment for 2 musicians, a credit to Tenk as each instrument, bass, keys, guitars seem to establish their own personality with the musical conversations. The music ventures into a variety of adventurous musical territories from RIO to atmospheric modern jazz reminiscent of the great ECM days.” 

- Jef Bek of Morning Breeze/Planetary Jam, KTAL-LP 101.5 FM and on Epic Prog Radio in The Netherlands and recording artist 

“I was under impression that the good old Progressive style music is no longer going to be made again until I've explored few new bands who are keeping that legacy alive still. And happy to see Tenk Van Dool & Paul Sears are continuing that legacy. The jazzy and tasteful drumming of Paul Sears and old style of Hammond/Moog extravaganza of Tenk Van Dool shines like a diamond throughout this album. In my opinion, this is just a phenomenal album and is a very recommended listen. All the Best Tenk & Paul.”

- Raaj DSV

 "Musicians Tenk van Dool and Paul Sears have both been active musicians since the 1970s, albeit with rather different career trajectories from what I understand. How they came to work together is a matter I'm blissfully unaware of, but it will probably be a delightful experience for many people that they chose to do so. The end result of their collaboration is the album "Aperiodic Grok". Initially a self released album, for a short period of time, but due to being picked up by Deko Entertainment the album will now be officially launched in September 2024.

Analysis.
This album is an all instrumental affair, and very much the result of studio recordings too as every instrument is handled by these two musicians. Sears handling drums and percussion and van Dool catering for everything else. Which is quite a lot. What the due accomplish on this album is, for me at least, to create something of a love letter to the art of creating music with a progressive approach and a progressive spirit.

In many ways I believe that the opening song 'This Song Walks Into a Bar' represents the spirit of the album in a very good manner due to how it seamlessly navigates between and combine aspects of jazz, jazzrock, progressive rock, hard rock and possibly also symphonic progressive rock. With a fluency that kind of indicates that at least one of the persons involved and probably both have more than a little bit of experience in playing with bands that makes use of improvisation as one of the tools in their toolbox. In this case it isn't exactly a matter of the song itself appearing to have improvised features, although that may very well be the case, but it is rather the fluency in which style details and orientations are tossed about that gives me associations towards musicians that are well aware of improvisations and that apply some of the skills gained by playing material of that nature into the composition.

Otherwise I note that the twosome to a lesser or greater extent play around with the handful of style variations called out, and that they also bring in some moods and atmospheres that I associate with sacral music on a few occasions. We get a very charming instance of a dirty bassline with the guitar added to that groove later on, but also off kilter and quirky creations that may have borrowed an idea or two from the likes of Robert Fripp; albeit executed in a bit of a different manner I'll hastily add. A tiny little bit of a folk music flirt finds it's way on to the album towards the end too, and prior to that we also get some excursions into slower paced and more atmospheric laden landscapes.

That this album concludes with a number that opens with a little bit of a cosmic feel and then segues over to what I'd describe as a warm sounding and retro-oriented charmer of a jazz tune strikes me as highly appropriate, as the jazz and jazzrock undercurrent is a defining aspect of this production. And that we have a song where the opening part and the subsequent phase the song is transported into may make the listener feel a little bit like a stranger in a strange land, that may be an instance of grok. Possibly an aperiodic one at that.

Conclusion.
While this isn't an album that may be all that typical of that tradition of jazz and progressive rock, for my sake this is an album I'll sort under the jazzrock umbrella. In many ways this is a retro-oriented affair as I regard it, an album that celebrate the progressive approach and the progressive spirit of making, creating and exploring music without heeding traditions or conventions all that much. An expressive and creative take on instrumental progressive rock and jazzrock if you like, filled with the sounds and especially with the spirit of what many would describe as the golden age of music in general and the golden age of progressive rock in particular. And it is a solid and suitably unpredictable foray into these landscapes too as far as I'm concerned.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, August 2024 

"It is an album that encompasses many differing moods all of which, present to the listener, music that is both complex and out of the ordinary. In a sense there is, amongst the ever-changing musical patterns, a tendency for the sound to drift towards an obscure cinematic direction but with multitudes of jazz flavourings, Such jazz embellishments suddenly, but then,repeatedly creeping into the mixing bowl of obtuse sounds. It is a score of interesting arrangements that rapidly glide from the warmth of melodic charm to a seemingly disturbed cacophony of mayhem but never-the-less it is in its entirety a dramatic piece of work literally littered with multitudes of assorted rhythmic percussive patterns from, Paul, a master top of his trade drummer

‘Tenk’ certainly is a musician of extraordinary talents exploring the use of just about every instrument under the sun, a preverbal A-Z of multi instrumentation played with skill and imagination. "

  Geoff Penn – reviewer, Prog Planet and House of Prog