Genre(s): Jazz-Funk; Disco
URL: http://www.wix.com/daniellantz/beat-funktion
Record Label: Do Music Records

Disco never died; it simply moved to Sweden.

Don Cornelius needs to resurrect the “Soul Train” and ride it to Uppsala, Sweden because Da Funk is alive and well in that region, at least with the sextet called Beat Funktion. True to its name, Beat Funktion lives for the rhythm, specifically the soul-fried jams of urban America in the ‘70s. The group’s spontaneously combusting mix of jazz, vintage R&B, and disco is happening stuff. The band’s bracing debut album, “The Plunge,” conjures flashbacks of mirror balls and bell bottoms, Studio 54, and interesting substances in the air.

Featuring trumpeter Karl Olandersson, tenor saxophonist Olle Thunstrom, guitarist Johan Oijen, keyboardist Daniel Lantz, bassist Pal Johnson, and drummer Jon Eriksson, Beat Funktion is a toe-tapping reminder that the best disco of the Me Decade wasn’t disposable bubblegum. Disco, especially in its earlier years, borrowed from jazz, something it inherited from the raw, horn-powered funk of James Brown. The soaring, giddy trumpets that propel “Sweet Donut” and “Why Bother” bring disco back to its roots while still cutting loose on the dance floor. This is disco with substance, played with real instruments and no bogus sampling or programming.

The frenzied, insistent playing of the group members is what keeps the record ticking. For Beat Funktion, the party never stops, even on the final cut, the title track, which is perhaps the most energized of all. The band dazzles as a unit but there are individual moments of brilliance, too, like Johnson’s deliciously distorted garage riffs on “Arantxa and Esti” and Eriksson’s crisp drumming on “Nebula Space Patrol.”

Beat Funktion is a throwback that never sounds dated even though they’re drinking from the well of ‘70s pop culture. But this is disco without the cheese. Stripped of its artificial sweeteners, disco can truly work up a sweat, and Beat Funktion doesn’t stop bringing the heat.