Telluride loves Galactic to the moon and back. No strangers to the valley, the New Orleans ensemble is returning for another electrified delivery of its hard-to-pigeonhole sound. Whatever you hear in any given track, be it funk, pop, R&B, world, jazz or hip-hop, the band guarantees one cool musical excursion after another.
“I’ve never been able to put a label on what we do,” saxophonist Ben Ellman says. “I could say it’s funk or I could say it’s R&B or jazz or whatever else, but really, it’s all of that.”
Their influences are indeed diverse and the band takes joy in collaborative efforts with both rising stars and with marquee artists that range from Gift of Gab to Macy Gray, Princess Shaw to Mavis Staples.
Like so many other artists locked down by the pandemic, they’ve happily hit the road again, this time around with featured artist Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph, a vocalist whose work with Tank and the Bangas drew well-deserved notice. She’s the self-assured voice of Galactic’s single, “Float Up” a percolating little kiss-off of a number that though released in early 2019, resonates today as we rid ourselves of the shackles of 2020’s party-pooping virus.
Galactic’s driving rhythms, shape-shifting jams and astounding musicianship concoct the perfect antidote for our music-starved souls. Drink deeply of these jams. Get Galactic and float up.
