On Wednesday, I went with a couple friends to see DJ Z-Trip with Aceyalone and Gift of Gab at the Brickhouse in Phoenix for the final stop on the tour to promote Z-Trip’s All-Pro Soundtrack (previous post No. 1, previous post No. 2).

What do I even say about this guy that I haven’t already? This tour was a spectacle: visual elements, a live drummer (Pete McNeal, who has worked with Mike Doughty and the Breakestra), MCs … there was even a temporary sound outage, which isn’t really surprising seeing as how the bass was making the hairs on my arms shake.

We even went to an after party at a small art gallery where Z-Trip and DJ Tricky T, a Phoenix boy Z took on tour, spun even more – a great time that upstaged the real show.

Z-Trip’s feel for an audience always has been his greatest strength. He’s a guy that can make hip-hop fans like rock and rock fans like hip-hop without them even thinking about it. He got the crowd jumping to Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name just as easily as he did laying down a hip-hop track.

And, oh, he played the drums just for good measure. As Tricky T said: “How many DJs do you see doing this shit?”

That’s why it’s not a surprise to see him working with New Orleans funk band Galactic on the group’s newest CD From the Corner to the Block (Anti), an album that features crazy guest spots: Mr. Lif, Gift of Gab, Lyrics Born, Chali 2na, Boots Riley, Juvenile, etc.

I haven’t absorbed the album in full yet save for a couple tracks – Bounce Baby with Z-Trip and Think Back with Chali 2na (mp3 available at Chali’s MySpace).

An instrumental exhibit in funk, Bounce Baby is so tight Z-Trip just seems to effortlessly blend in without disrupting Galactic’s flow.

Here’s a story I just wrote on Z-Trip, previewing his Phoenix stop.

Pick up From the Corner to the Block at eMusic.

• Galactic with DJ Z-Trip | Bounce Baby