From the Corner to the Block

New Orleans’s Galactic has been serving up its potent blend of funk, jazz, and rock for more than a decade. On From the Corner to the Block, they embrace rap like never before, enlisting an impressive roster of spitters, singers, and players. The band seems revitalized by the hip-hop milieu and delivers a consistently engaging, often thrilling album that deftly blends loops and effects with more organic sounds. Three of the MCs — Lyrics Born, Gift of Gab, and Lateef the Truth Speaker — come courtesy of Quannum Projects, the highly respected California collective. Bassist Robert Mercurio and drummer Stanton Moore propel the lively “…And I’m Out,” featuring Mr. Lif, and the aggressive “Hustle Up,” featuring the Coup’s “raptivist,” Boots Riley. “Second and Dryades” slices and samples the Mardi Gras Indian chants of Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, while the sultry “Squarebiz” fuses Ladybug Mecca’s prickly rhymes with Nino Moschella’s falsetto croons. “Tuff Love,” a pulsating, electrifying instrumental romp with young Trombone Shorty (on trumpet, of course), proves they’re still a mighty force with microphones turned off.