The Budos Band's second album, much like their first one, is practically an archeological dig. They've broken down through all the strata of the post-punk/post-disco era to uncover the fertile soil of late 1960s and early 70s Afrofunk and soul-jazz, not to mention funky 70s blaxploitation soundtracks, 60s Now Sound LPs, Ethio-jazz and plain old superbad funk. The end result is something so hip it could kill you in large doses-in the right doses it just plain kills.

The Budos crew hails from Brooklyn, but their outlook is definitely global-- they somewhat restrictively term what they do "Afro-soul," which works well as a basic distillation of what they do and probably at least tells the right people to listen. It's strictly instrumental, but never showy, and they avoid protracted compositions-- there are no twenty-minute Fela-inspired burners on here, just a ton of memorable, concise tracks stuffed with compact solos and big themes played by a big horn section.

The band's rhythm section is truly fantastic. The bass is right in the pocket, the drums keep everything steady and driving, the judiciously employed hand percussion adds a gritty texture, and the guitar does everything from wah'd-out scratching to playing snaky, surfy leads. Checking over the songwriting credits, I was initially surprised to see Smokey Robinson's name in the credit for "His Girl", but listening closely, it is, in fact, based very loosely on "My Girl". It's so thoroughly altered that they could have gotten away with calling it an original, especially at this breakneck tempo, but either way, I'd be willing to bet Smokey never imagined his tune being blasted out by a smoking horn section over a chunky Afrobeat groove.

The band gets into Mulatu Astatke's Ethio-jazz territory on "Origin of Man", which cleverly references Mulatu's homeland of Ethiopia in its title. The dark, deliberate rhythm track is offset by a squealing organ and horns that have just a slight Latin tinge to them. There's not a bad track here, but my favorite might be "King Cobra", which opens with a cool, minor-key passage of film-noir guitar and busts into a crazed horror organ solo after the horns say their part. Opener "Chicago Falcon" has a wicked groove and excellent horn arrangement that pits legato passages against bursts of staccato. It's like the greatest library track DeWolfe never released in the 70s.

This is a supremely entertaining record, perfect for dancing, driving or just providing a soundtrack when you want to nod your head in time to something. The true secret to the Budos Band's success is that they keep it short and to the point. Only a few songs even make it past four minutes, and those are that long because they're able to sustain it. When your whole sound is based on the groove, keeping your listener wanting more is essential, and this does that. While it doesn't really represent a change from their first album, II is proof that the Budos Band's formula is good for a lot of mileage. I know I'll be listening a lot.