Offbeat – October 2003

Ruckus is not one of those records you have to listen to five times to really understand or get into, its impact hits you right in the gut at the opening bell and continues to hand out beat down after beat down for the next twelve rounds with few chances to catch your breath. Ruckus is a departure for a band who thrives in the live setting and one that has always attempted to relay this truth through its recorded material. But Ruckus is bare bones Galactic. There is not a single vestigial note on this record, not one horn blast or kick drum thump that is not absolutely necessary. This approach adds to the muscularity of an already beefy band and results in some of the dirtiest and deepest grooves they have ever laid down. Because of its simplicity it is easy to see why some detractors may say that this is Galactic’s least adventurous record but this kind of opinion is shallow and superficial in light of the band’s more improvisational albums prior to Ruckus. For this particular band, the musically stripped-down feel, and control exhibited on the album are exactly why this is its biggest stretch to date. Besides the desire of the band to focus on its musical ideas into more concise packages, the sound and direction of the record is also attributable to all-star producer Dan the Automater. Here Dan uses his hip-hop and electronic music expertise to shape the aesthetics of some already vicious grooves. Stanton Moore’s beats are essentially hip-hop beats from start to finish and Dan folds them seamlessly into what is at times very organic and rootsy material. Never before has acoustic guitar and harmonica sounded so good along side thumping hip-hop drums. Some might be surprised at the relative absence of effects and knob tweaking Galactic has come to love, especially in light of Dan’s involvement with the project. While these elements do certainly make more than a few appearances, Dan’s influence is really felt in the construction of the album as a whole. Sections of Ruckus listen a lot like a turntablist record with its attention to simple, short and effective instrumental breaks over funky hip-hop influenced drum tracks, spliced with mantra-like vocal overlays. This is best exemplified in tracks like “Bongo Joe,” “Mercamon,” “Kid Kenner,” “The Beast,” and “Doomed.” Hopefully the band saw fit to press this album on wax because if they did DJ’s all over the world are sure to be rocking parties with samples lifted form it. With Ruckus, Galactic has proved once again why they are the flagship of 21st-century funk and how they can effectively push the envelope in new and fresh directions while still holding true to the prime directive of New Orleans music…Make it funky!