By: Logan Podbielski

The latest offering by Adapted Records' producer and guitarist Joel Jakub aka Orphic is a 3-song EP Jelly Jive, a tastefully futuristic trio of songs that combines the abstract sounds of bass music with scintillating and funky instrumental riffs that will have you feeling like you are at a Stevie Wonder/Opiuo concert. The funk music undertones you hear come as no surprise as Jakub is from the Detroit area and attributes a lot of his musical influence to the Motown music that began there and his latest effort is yet another attempt to revive and update that long lost sound.

The first song off the EP, “Toppling Tortoise,” builds up the tension nice and slow before moving into a classic Orphic abstract bass line. That beat trots along until it's joined by a compact, but powerful guitar riff and an electrifying saxophone, before returning to its downtempo origins.

Moving forward, the second tune “Kaleidoscope Jazz,” opens with a smooth guitar line reminiscent of a GRiZ song then dives head first into a pool of instruments and effects. Organ, saxophone, ambient synths, and compressed bass all fuse together in a fantastically energetic way sure to get some pelvises (pelves? pelvi?) gyrating.

The song creating the most noise off this EP, though, is its final track “Jogglehopper,” a tune that was selected as the Staff Pick here at The Untz during our competition this past spring. Following his musical fusion formula, this song is where smooth blue-grass bridges meet glitch-bass refrains. This hit track starts off with some pleasant plucking until taking a heavier turn. After the addition of sharp, hard hitting bass, the strumming comes back and joins an elevator music piano riff before finally finishing strong and combining all the elements of the song to create a final minute that is an explosion of psychedelic bass, banjo, and guitar.

Having just finished a successful summer tour on top of this recent release it seems the sky is the limit for Orphic. He is the newest member of Los Angeles based Take Back the Night Productions while also being on the aforementioned Australia based Adapted Records. He does join a recent noticeable surge in funk revival groups like Turbo Suit (formerly Cosby Sweater), SunSquabi, Collidoscope and more but with his energetic sound and global connections there should be no shock if Joel Jakub becomes the best of them all.