Late for the Future

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

A drink they serve in New Orleans is called cafe brulot: coffee mixed with spices and liquor, served flaming. Add a beignet, and you've got the culinary equivalent of the music of the New Orleans-based band Galactic: a brew of deep funk, acid jazz and stomping rock, with a bit of sugar-sweet melody. Not all the songs on Late for the Future work: a fair number lack rhythmic complexity, and these tracks wash out of the listener's mind quickly. But Galactic is a jam band that revels in the moment. The best songs on this album feel live and spontaneous, even after repeated listenings. The fire still burns as you sip them down.

--By Christopher John Farley