R&B-funk-jam band is worth the trip
By Alan Sculley
Photo: Galactic will perform with Erica Falls on March 24 at 20th Century Theater in Cincinnati; photo: Zack Smith
Galactic is putting the finishing touches on its next album, and if you’re a fan of the group’s early albums, you’re going to like what you hear.
“It’s a little more, I think for us, a little more of a throwback, I guess, or a little more sort of taking it back a little bit,” saxophone player Ben Ellman says. “There’s a lot less sort of, I wouldn’t say production, but it’s definitely got a little more of an old school vibe. So it’s fun for us. I think there are just some good things on it. I’m excited about it coming out.”
The new release, which will likely see a summer release, follows three albums that saw Galactic crafting music that fit distinct themes.
The 2007 album From the Corner to the Block brought a hip-hop flavor into Galactic’s funky R&B-rooted sound, as the band brought in several rappers to do vocals and worked extensively for the first time with programmed rhythms and loops.
The 2010 album Ya-Ka-May revolved around the concept of New Orleans – the group’s home town. Then 2012’s Carnivale Electricos used Mardi Gras as its theme, and the album found the band exploring how the music of Brazil intersected with the music of New Orleans and Louisiana.
Creating music that fit those concepts just naturally caused the band to expand its stylistic range, and in the process, Galactic has started to be known for having a progressive attitude about its music.
Ironically, after forming in 1994, Galactic originally had a purposeful retro element to its R&B/funk sound.
Not at all happy with the glossy production of many 1980s albums, the band consciously sought to evoke the more classic R&B/funk sounds of the 1960s and ’70s on early albums like Coolin’ Off (1996), Crazyhorse Mongoose (1998) and Ruckus (2003).
Interestingly, Hurricane Katrina played a role in pushing Galactic – which includes Ellman, drummer Stanton Moore, bassist Robert Mercurio, guitarist Jeff Raines and keyboardist Rich Vogel – toward a more studio crafted and progressive sound on From the Corner to the Block.
“From the Corner to the Block, that started that whole studio thing because it was post-Katrina, and we were sort of, we couldn’t be in New Orleans,” Ellman says. “We went into this studio in the Poconos and we weren’t with Stanton. We had all this time. We had a donated studio. We weren’t with Stanton. So our writing changed. The way we wrote music changed because we were using drum loops and we were making little like percussion things or whatever… The way we wrote music changed. It was no longer like let’s all get in a room and all write this song. It was a little bit of a Frankenstein thing we would do. Then we would sort of re-play the Frankenstein piece as a band.”
The group went on to build its own studio in New Orleans, and with no bills for outside studio time to worry about, Galactic was encouraged to experiment and use studio technology on Ya-Ka-May and Carnivale Electricos.
After that latter album, though, Galactic started to rethink how it wanted to release music. Ellman says originally the band thought it would release a series of singles – but that plan changed.
“We put out a couple of singles, and then we had a bunch more that we were kind of going to release slowly,” Ellman remembers. “Then we started talking about an EP. Then it was like, you know, man, let’s just hold up, man. We’ve got a killer record here. That’s kind of what happened.”
Because Galactic was making singles, not an album, the idea of writing around a concept went out the window. And that just naturally led the band back closer to its original approach of jamming out song ideas in a practice space and recording them live as a band in the studio.
“We did do a lot more playing in the studio and just kind of seeing what came up instead of sort of crafting these things in the studio, perfecting it, looking at it and trying sonically to enhance it,” Ellman says.
With the album nearly finished, Galactic is turning its attention to touring, doing a run of shows that so far extends into early April.
For these dates, the band is joined by New Orleans-based singer Erica Falls, the latest in a series of different singers Galactic has taken out on recent tours. Falls comes with strong credentials and Ellman likes what she brings to Galactic’s live show.
“Before he passed [this past September], she was touring the world with [jazz legend] Joe Sample,” Ellman adds. “So she does R&B, funk, gospel and jazz. She covers the spectrum. She’s like super solid and strong in all of these different styles. It’s really amazing.”
Galactic will perform with Erica Falls at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24 at 20th Century Theater, 3021 Madison Rd. in Cincinnati. The Record Company is also on the bill. For tickets and more information, please visit galacticfunk.com.
Reach DCP freelance writer Alan Sculley at AlanSculley@DaytonCityPaper.com.