Funk and Snow

So it seems all eyes have been on New Orleans lately. The Saints won the Superbowl and Mardis Gras has just blown through (it's Fat Tuesday today, in fact)-- and Galactic released a new album in time for all of that. A dedicated funk music devotee, I have been a fan of the band for a while and I've seen them change from the Meters-esque funk/soul/jazz combo of their early albums, to full-on "jam-band," to hip-hop track-backers. However, on their newest album Ya-Ka-May (named after some sort of supposedly hangover-curing, New Orleans noodle dish), Galactic combine all of these elements. Truthfully, they toss as many Crescent City influences as they can get their hands on into the mix: 'Bounce' hip-hop beats, Carribean-flavored percussion, swinging horns, Allen Toussaint-style R&B (in fact, Toussaint is featured on the album), and gritty funk grooves.

Their previous album, the merely okay From the Corner to the Block, was a predominantly Hip-Hop oriented affair. Ya-Ka-May keeps going in the direction the band started towards on that album-- they even include a very Hip-Hop 'intro' track-- but they keep this influence in check, instead of becoming subservient to it, this time around. Drummer extraordinaire, Stanton Moore, has fashioned his sound into more of a bombastic presence with each album, and, coupled with Robert Mercurio's ever-lowering bass, it makes for some of the most booming music to be heard out of my car speakers yet. This is especially true on the most Bounce-influenced tracks on the album-- the sub-blasting beats are akin to ?uestlove's drumkit at its most bombastic.

An ode to the Big Easy, Ya-Ka-May calls upon collaborators from many of the city's music makers. Some of my favorites include the swinging horns of the Rebirth Brass Band on "Boe Money" and the bluesy/funky numbers "Heart of Steel (feat. Irma Thomas) and "Dark Water (feat. John Boutte). The three Bounce tracks featured on the album are enjoyable if not somewhat repetitive, while the instrumental tracks-- always Galactic's specialty-- contain more aggressive, rock-guitar bite than ever before. The album, like many albums built heavily on collaborations, is somewhat uneven, but it presents what could be a new direction for funk music-- and Galactic could be just a step or two away from creating a true modern funk masterpiece.

And, in keeping with the New Orleans spirit, a friend recently directed me to this page on okayplayer where you can find a download of Apple Juice Kid's Louis Armstrong Remixed. If you're worried, well... STOP IT-- it sounds great and the spirit of the original recordings is kept very much intact: Check it out.
I'm actually pretty late finding out about this-- it was posted before the new year!

In other news. It recently snowed here in Alabama. It might be hard to understand the excitement, but snow accumulation is a rarity in this State. Even an inch causes schools to close and businesses to give their employees a day off. I chronicled the snow day in my new video-- I tried to edit it together as coherently as possible, and I even soundtracked it (poorly) with my guitar in hopes of keeping it somewhat interesting. It should be interesting though-- lots of funny things where done and said:

Feb. Snow (Flakes, Sled-Boxes, and MillerTV Crib) from Fletcher Ash on Vimeo.