Galactic: Ya-Ka-May

Ya-Ka-May is a Chinese soup enjoyed by New Orleanians, made from meat (just about any kind will do), noodles, a hard-boiled egg and green onions. Galactic’s latest, Ya-Ka-May, is infused with the same spirit, combining disparate genres and a diverse cast of Big Easy characters into a charming, substantial dish. Galactic is an instrumental group composed of horns, guitar, keyboard and percussion players, and the album features local jazz, funk and bounce performers. (Though bounce is best known as the call-and-response party music popularized by such early Cash Money Records’ rappers as Juvenile, the sound has been taken over nowadays by gender-bending artists including Katey Red and Sissy Nobby, who appear here on the supercharged “Katey vs. Nobby.”) Unlike Galactic’s last album, which featured mostly conscious MCs from outside the city, Ya-Ka-May is a wholly unique, fully New Orleans creation. For that reason it is a blast, literally, from beginning to end. (Anti-) 4 out of 5 stars