The recent video title track and Macy Gray-featuring lead single for latter-day New Orleans funk crew Galactic might have had you thinking that the band were on the verge of attempting to conquer the bland mainstream charts with – er – something really bland and mainstream. But does the rest of the LP find the bearers of the torch lit by Allen Toussaint and co. back in the day go
‘rolling into the deep’ Adele-style or are do they maintain the bayou-soaked vibe with which they made their name? Let’s find out…
1. SUGAR DOOSIE
Riotous party-time Mardi Gras funk. Good start – if things go on like this it’ll be less a doosie than a doozie.
2. HIGHER AND HIGHER FEAT. JJ GREY
Better and better – a contemporary take on a Stax-ish burner.
3. INTO THE DEEP FEAT. MACY GRAY
…though the less said about this, the better. You’d have thought you might conceivably catch Adele channelling Macy but the other way around…?
4. DOLLA DIVA FEAT. DAVID SHAW AND MAGGIE KOERNER
That’s more like it, sleazy back-in-the-day funk filth. You’s a dolla diva and you knows it.
5. LONG LIVE THE BORGNE
Could this searing instro groove be a tribute to a certain Big Easy restaurant? Perhaps it could.
6. RIGHT ON FEAT. MS CHARM TAYLOR
Raucous showcase for the another New Orleans chanteuse…
7. DOMINO FEAT. RYAN MONTBLEAU
…matched by this saucy low-slung groove featuring yet more local vocals
8. BUCK 77
Menacingly tripped out funk-rock instro. Like you just became the victim of some nasty hoodoo conjuration.
9. DOES IT REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE FEAT.MAVIS STAPLES
Score! Getting soul legend Mavis Staples on a cut definitely outweighs any earlier misdemeanours on this
10. CHICKEN IN THE CORN FEAT. BRUSHY ONE STRING
Stank blues funk and an LP highlight featuring the man with just one string to his guitar reprising his track with Galactic in tow.
11. TODAY’S BLUES
Organ blues slowie that sounds like a typical LP closer. Appropriately enough.
BEST TRACKS: Higher & Higher feat. JJGrey, Dolla Diva feat. David Shaw & Maggie Koerner, Domino feat. Ryan Montbleau, Chicken In The Corn feat. Brushy One String
COMMENTS: Phew that’s a relief. Galactic aren’t set on an LP of MOR chart fodder and Into The Deep (the LP not the title track) sees the New Orleans outfit continue to ply their twenty-first century Louisiana funk like it’s Mardi Gras every day in the Big Easy.
(Out now on Mascot Label Group)
