GET GALACTIC

Sometime last fall, I discovered Galactic for myself, right between Peter Gabriel and Godsmack at my local metropolitan library. If I could do it again though, I would like to have discovered them on the small stage of a poorly-lit, smoke-filled, bourbon-soaked bar in New Orleans. Somehow, that just seems more fitting. Galactic is a sextet masterpiece, comprised of some of the finest musicians in their genre and compromising nothing when it comes to laying down the snake-oil slickness that is their musical artillery. In addition to the guitar, organ, bass, saxophone and drums, the group also employs soulful vocals in their nonstop quest to move the crowd. Galactic's sound flows unwavering between a mutated Delta Blues and a Southern Baptist spiritual. This band is at ease in a sea of professionals, outflanking your platoon with the jamming prowess of Medeski, Martin and Wood and strafing your village with the broken-glass-finesse of The Lounge Lizards. Don't believe me? See it all for yourself at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus on Friday, April 5th. It's a prime opportunity to experience a fine jazz band the way it was meant to be heard: live and in your face, slicing through the air with stiletto-sharp curves, licking your eardrums with tobacco-sour kisses.