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Jam Band Redeems Itself

HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
edited April 2010 in Strut Central
A few weeks back, I had a friend with a history of liking jam bands tell me that I really need to listen to the new Galactic album. As someone who has a history of hating jam bands, I in turn ignored the hell out of his recommendation. Dude stuck with it though, first hounding me to download the album...and then when I didn't do that, he went ahead and burned a cd copy for me. So begrudgedly, I popped the cd into the deck in my truck today...and who in the world could have known that a jam band could actually do music so well? Granted, Galactic is from NOLA and I suppose the idea of them doing bounce music isn't all that crazy. But I was expecting nothing as good as what I'm hearing so far on this here album... And no, I'm not kidding at all. Anybody else on here digging it?

  Comments

  • willie_fugalwillie_fugal 1,862 Posts
    They were already moving in this direction on their last album, From the Corner to the Block, but it mostly featured "backpacker" MCs and wasn't all that engaging. They definitely figured out how to do it much better here, and getting local bounce rappers and legendary NOLA singers helped out a lot.

    IIRC J. Book posted a good interview w/Ben Ellman, the sax player & producer, about this album. They did some interesting things recording Irma Thomas & Allen Toussaint's vocals, then processing them, sampling them and adding them back into the songs.

    IMHO this is easily the best album they've done. [disclaimer: i used to love Galactic when I was in high school]
  • willie_fugalwillie_fugal 1,862 Posts
    Also, I'd highly recommend downloading this mixtape Galactic's Ben Ellman did with DJ Quickie Mart called Gypsyphonic Disko. Came out at the beginning of the year, mostly bounce acapellas on top of Balkan & South American beats. Better than the actual galactic album, imo.





    Download here: http://gypsyphonicdisko.blogspot.com/
  • vintageinfantsvintageinfants 4,537 Posts
    A few weeks back, I had a friend with a history of liking jam bands tell me that I really need to listen to the new Galactic album. As someone who has a history of hating jam bands, I in turn ignored the hell out of his recommendation. Dude stuck with it though, first hounding me to download the album...and then when I didn't do that, he went ahead and burned a cd copy for me. So begrudgedly, I popped the cd into the deck in my truck today...and who in the world could have known that a jam band could actually do music so well? Granted, Galactic is from NOLA and I suppose the idea of them doing bounce music isn't all that crazy. But I was expecting nothing as good as what I'm hearing so far on this here album...



    And no, I'm not kidding at all. Anybody else on here digging it?

    dope. the jobsite stereo will be bumping this all day tomorrow.
  • RockadelicRockadelic Out Digging 13,993 Posts
    HC....been into them for years.....too many bands get the "Jam Band" label by default.
  • Secret_ChimpSecret_Chimp 915 Posts
    Funny, I just got my copy of this yesterday. The guitar and bass player are high school friends of mine. God damn if they don't get some serious guests on their albums. The last album didn't do too much for me, but I am seriously rocking out to this right here. The production is great. IT's been getting some love, too. I heard a very nice review on NPR a little while back, and I think it's been getting a lot of attention elsewhere.
  • willie_fugalwillie_fugal 1,862 Posts
  • jaysusjaysus 787 Posts
    Great band to see live.
  • bigchalzbigchalz 220 Posts
    i last saw galactic in missoula in '99 with the dirty dozen brass band. the show was so good it's hard to imagine seeing galactic by themselves now. angel trumpets and devil trombones, all the elements were in place. if you get a chance to see these two bands together, don't miss it. (if you're into that sort of thing.)
  • minneapminneap 541 Posts
    I got into Galactic by way of the Meters, Zigaboo specifically. It wasn't until later that I realized they were associated with the "jam band" scene. The same thing happened with Medeski, Martin & Wood. I still don't understand why either of these bands have been embraced by the trustafarians internacionales.
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