New Orleans' Galactic is one of the most restless acts to emerge from the jam band scene of the 1990s. With every album they've expanded their musical palette to embrace other sounds and styles while keeping the musical gumbo of their hometown squarely at the center of everything they do. Already Ready Already, their tenth offering, is the shortest record in Galactic's catalog: Its eight tunes total just 24 minutes, and it plays like a mixtape. Released on their own Tchuop-Zilla Records, this set finds the NOLA outfit taking a distinctly contemporary approach in expanding their already progressive sound. Galactic juxtapose modern dancefloor and funk rhythms alongside electronic instrumentation in putting across their ass-shaking funk pop & roll. Produced by members Robert Mercurio and Ben Ellman, Galactic's choice of five different singers lends unique and distinctive flavors to their grooves. Where Galactic's live sets are chock-full of improvisation and surprise, their studio recordings tend to focus on tight songwriting and arranging; this offering is no different -- there are few solos on this set and there is no jamming.
Already Ready Already is bookended by two of three high-powered instrumentals, titled appropriately enough "Already" and "Ready Already." While the former is under two minutes, and the latter is under three, they offer twin impressions of intro and outro to the proceedings. Things kick into gear with "Going Straight Crazy," featuring NOLA singer (and YouTube sensation) Princess Shaw. Her throaty, soul-inflected vocal amid the laid-back groove results in the most straight-ahead pop song Galactic has ever released. It's followed by "Clap Your Hands," featuring Miss Charm Taylor upfront (it was her voice on the killer "Right On" from 2015's Into the Deep). This jumper careens across blaring horns, squalling harmonica, wispy B-3, and layers of organic and synthetic beats as it marries funk to gospel to hip-shaking, Slim Harpo-styled blues. "Touch Get Cut" (featuring Galactic touring vocalist Erica Falls) goes all in using a minor-key gospel groove as swooping synths, snare breaks and touches of second line strut poke through the mix. "Dance at My Funeral" features punk cabaret vocalist Boyfriend in a fast, jagged, syncopated rap with a punchy tenor sax solo, fuzzed-out bassline, loops, chunky organ, and spiky breaks. The instrumental "Goose Grease" delivers Galactic's post-midnight brand of Meters-inspired jazz-funk inside a sound-effects tunnel riddled with synths, gunshot samples, and swelling B-3. The outlier here is "Everlasting Light" that pairs the only non-NOLA based singers, David Shaw (the Revivalists) and Nahko of Nahko & Medicine for the People in a late-night slinky exercise in Rhodes- and horns-inflected jazz and warm, bass-driven NOLA soul. Already Ready Already may be brief, but its impeccable taste, forward-leaning sonics, and abundant heart make it indispensable for any Galactic fan.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo