As a drummer in not just Galactic, but Garae-a-Trois amongst countless other well known funky, groove based outfits, Stanton Moore doesn't get an enormous amount of the attention in any of these ensembles. It's true that his style of drumming - extracted as much from his New Orleans upbringing as from straight funk bangers from the '60s and '70s - isn't the most overtly imbued with flair. But he's still recognized as one of the finest musicians of his epoch sitting on a drum thrown.

First making a name for himself in the early '90s with Galactic, the band quickly endeared themselves to the jam band crowd, playing festivals with sets engorged with instrumentals and all too danceable breaks. But even in this approach to NOLA based musics, there was and remains a pretty enormous debt to jazz in all of its forms. The playing of not just Moore, but everyone that he surrounds himself with - from George Porter, Jr. to Skerik - have a very specific, playful and exploratory bent to their playing.

This music could be called many things, experimental is probably not one of them. But the vast array of sounds that Moore and his group attempt to work into his funk is progressive to say the least. There aren't shards of noise or any sort of out playing - Moore is focused on the groove. And however elusive that might be for most players, it seems that this drummer is more than capable of arriving at it whenever he pleases.

Over four properly released albums - and a new downloadable one available from his website - more has worked with a variety of players. And on last years Emphasis! On Parenthesis, he's decided to work in a trio setting with guitarist Will Bernard and organist Robert Walter. The latter should be familiar to funk aficionados based not only upon his gig leading the 20^th Congress, but also with the San Diego based Greyboy All Stars.

The joke of the title and the names of each track stems from Moore's constant inclusion of parenthesis in his song titles as he brings them to Galactic. And while that might be an in-joke, it serves as a light frame to this collection of eleven tracks.

In contrast to III from a few years back, which focused more on slight, electric jazz grooves, the songs here seem to be a bit more noisy and given over to some explosive maneuvers from not just Moore, but his two partners. "Who Ate (The Layer Cake)?" finds the group treading some pretty aggressive territory before settling into a funky keyboard groove to carry the track out. But straight funk isn't the only influence being tendered here.

On "(I Have) Super Strength," there seems to be as much trip hop backing as anything else. And that oddly enough, gives Bernard a good amount of space to work out some slide guitar that actually ends up making a great deal of sense. The album, much like this track, pushes together some disparate but still groove related genres - and too good effect.