By no means is New Orleans fixture Galactic an up-and-coming band, and I'm very proud of myself for not reporting as such, considering my widely ridiculed belief that if I've never heard it, it must be new, paint still wet on the album cover. Be careful of stereotyping this AARP-eligible funk band–years of experience has cooled their sweat almost to sub-zero temperatures, while heating their grooves to temperatures that can only be recorded in Kelvin.
"You Don't Know", recorded with legendary Big Easy vocalist and bandleader Glen David Andrews, is a great cut off their most recent album, Ya-Ka-May, released in February 2010. Paying equal homage to Jelly Roll Morton, Buckwheat Zydeco, the Meters and Birdman, Galactic appears to celebrate the incredibly rich musical tradition of the storied city in four minutes, with horn stabs, soft wakka-wakkas from the guitar, organ rolls and a huge breakbeat, all with Andrews wailing over the top. It's a heady track, and it's impossible not to listen to it without having a bounce in your step for the rest of the day.
