Toronto artist Josh Reichmann and his Oracle Band are a theatrical performance group that have taken their post punk roots and thrown them out the window. Instead, of herky jerky angular songs, Reichmann and company have pooled together soul, funk, roots rock influences, and a sense of the theatric for this new group. The results, as heard on Crazy Power is intriguing and dramatic.
With a five piece band that's not afraid to get down or experiment, JROB uses everything at it's disposal (including sax, keys, a dancer and bass lines thicker than an offensive line) to get the job done. Songs play themselves out almost as if they were acts and numbers from a giant production of Josh Reichmann This Is Your Nutty Life.
Crazy Power is a diverse album that takes its influences and turns them upside down on their head just to see what they might sound like. The songs, as it happens, sound completely different than some sort of modern retro soul group. Instead, much of Crazy Power is strange and psychedellic without really trying. In fact, it seems as though the JROB just creates divergent material by nature without pre-meditated thought. It's as if it's in their blood. Their curious and assorted approaches to writing songs is our gain simply because every song offers the hint of something new as part of the ongoing saga that makes up Crazy Power.
JROB have created a bizarre pseudo musical with Crazy Power and it plays itself out over the course of ten songs. Filled with twists and turns and musicianship that's top notch, Crazy Power is a musicians record that it's ok to like. It's not a record that you'll run home to listen to day after day, but if you've ever picked up an instrument JROB have created a record that will keep your musical mind busy for ages.
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