Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

It's an exceedingly thin line that divides madness and genius and Jason A Thompson appears to be walking that wobbly tightrope with his album 'Crunchy Maggotts'. This is a huge, huge album covering every musical style you can think of from the dance feel of the hilarious opener "Dalek Rap" through a mishmash of samples, wild sound effects, weird vocals and tacky music that sound like cultv themes. If you're familiar with Frank Zappa, that's the only term of reference diverse enough to contextualise this album. It is wonderful, it is completely wacky, I don't understand most of it but it sounds great and made me laugh! Never heard any other music made by a Christian that sounds anything as interesting as this. Drawing on a bizarre variety of influences Jason is clearly a very talented musician who has married his talents to an avant garde idea and created something that thankfully lands on the right side of the genius/completely dotty divide. If you don't have an off-the-wall sense of humour, you'll hate this! Anyone who can call a song "Svetlana Glyco's Adhesive Forehead" is clearly off his head! Then again, Jason A Thompson is perhaps simply reflecting his Heavenly Father's wonderful diverse creativity. Listen and enjoy but don't try and make sense of this.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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