Galactic performs on Saturday at Revolution Live after its stint on the Jam Cruise.

When you come from the world capital of Mardi Gras, if you’re in a band, you’re bound to run across the annual party as a subject of your music.

In the case of New Orleans quintet Galactic, Mardi Gras is the jumping-off point for what looks to be its most ambitious album yet.

Carnivale Electricos, which will be released on Feb. 21, not only gets inspiration from New Orleans’ annual celebration, but also that of Rio de Janiero.

Drummer Stanton Moore said the group has wanted to make a Mardi Gras album at some point, but took it beyond their initial idea.

“We wanted to make it interesting and blend the two carnival cultures,” said Moore in a telephone interview. “Doing that is something I’ve been doing rhythmically for a long time. We wanted to blur the lines between the different cultures.”

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Blurring lines is something Galactic – who’ll be performing Saturday at Revolution Live – has been doing for a long time. Starting out as a funky New Orleans outfit, Galactic has absorbed an amazing number of styles, from hip-hop to electronica to world music to old-school New Orleans jazz.

Moore said the method of seeing where a Galactic song will go is a gradual process.

“It usually starts out with us laying down some beats and groove ideas,” he said. “We add to it slowly, and usually end up with about 20 to 30 different ideas and pick the ones we like. We try to think of ones that might work with special guests.”

Guests have been another feature of Galactic’s music over the years – the band, made up of Moore, bassist Robert Mercurio, saxophonist/harmonica player Ben Ellman, keyboardist Rich Vogel and guitarist Jeff Raines, has had no permanent vocalist since its early days. Instead, they concentrate on both instrumental tracks and bringing in the right kind of people to add a voice.

On the 2007 album From the Corner to the Block, which was strongly hip-hop influenced, guests included rappers Boots Riley, Gift of Gab and Chali 2na. On Ya-Ma-Kay, a more New Orleans-centric LP, it was the likes of Trombone Shorty, Irma Thomas and Allen Toussaint, but also New Orleans Bounce artists like Cheeky Blakk.

For Carnivale, Galactic picked up a broad number of artists, both from Brazil and the United States, including Moyseis Marques and Cyril and Ivan Neville. One of the biggest coups was getting rapper Mystikal to work with them.

“We reached out to him for this, and now he really wants to work with us,” Moore said. “We’ve been big fans of his for a long time.”

Currently, the band is mixing in some of its new tunes on its live dates, including shows on the current Jam Cruise. For these shows, Galactic has brought along Corey Henry from the Rebirth Brass Band and singer Corey Glover from the group Living Colour.

“It’s been great,” Moore said. “We’ve had Corey Glover singing, and we’ve got a few tunes, but we’re holding back on debuting all the material. The first two tunes that we’ve pulled out are a lot of fun to play, and we’re going to have songs where a giant horn section will need to be added. I can’t wait to add some of these tunes.”

• Big shows just added: Last week, we saw some pretty big shows pop up, such as Elton John (whose tickets go on sale Saturday) and Kenny Rogers. This week’s big names include the likes of Diana Ross and Nickelback.

Ross’ show is coming on Feb. 23 to Hard Rock Live, and tickets go on sale Saturday. If her November 2010 show was any indication, there should be a wide range of songs, going back to her days with the Supremes all the way and even back to some Billie Holliday covers.

Nickelback, the Canadian pop-rock combo, is coming to the BankAtlantic Center on May 5. They’ve got yet another big album, Here and Now, under their belts. The opening acts are Bush, Seether and My Darkest Days. Tickets will be on sale on Jan. 21.

Other big shows added recently include Rodrigo Y Gabriela, the Mexican-born guitar duo who had a few tunes in the animated movie Puss in Boots (Fillmore Miami Beach, May 1, tickets on sale Jan. 20); punk mainstays Rise Against (Sunset Cove Amphitheater, April 28, tickets on sale Friday); Northern Irish pop-rock combo Snow Patrol (Fillmore, March 30, tickets on sale Friday), and the Fresh Beat Band from Nickelodeon (Fillmore, April 24, tickets on sale Friday).