Galactic

On their fourth studio album the New Orleans sextet Galactic may have unwittingly invented a new musical device: the Jam Compactor. Or perhaps it is producer Dan the Automator who found said device in a pawn shop and brought it into work one day. In any case, the result of its usage is a slew of truncated tracks (all under four minutes!) in the funk/soul/jam mode. While this innovation may help rock the ADD funk nation it doesn't necessarily make for better music. Singer Theryl "The Houseman" DeClouet has a great honey/gravel mixture for a voice, but the (sub)urbanised production waters it down into a yellow/brown goo that all but disappears in the mix at times. The presence of the Automator may have been to establish some hip-hop cred, but instead of a Cajun Kool Keith the end result is a slightly funkier Uncle Kracker.