If you thought disco was dead you’d be correct. But I guess that would make Stevie Kotey the Reanimator. He first began experimenting with his revamped disco sound in the early ’90s with Akwaaba, a disco DJ/production trio that carried Stevie toward starting his own disco/Baleric/ cosmic-pop label, Big Bear Entertainment. He’s remixed and produced under different aliases and now, released under the Afrobutt moniker, Wunderbutt is Stevie’s debut solo album: his first chance to freely experiment with a genre that apparently can be quite versatile.

The album starts out sounding very vintage. Little echoing 808 claps and grainy synthesizers give the impression of post-70s electronic disco. I felt like I was listening to the original soundtrack for Scarface or something. Tracks like “Banger Disco” and “Kali Dreams” have a little bit of island flavor in the percussion, adding to the 80s Miami nightclub vibe. The latter of the two tracks features a bad ass, wildly exciting piano, horn and string breakdown, calling back to the earliest days of disco. From here on out the beats get much funkier. The dazzling synthesized guitars and warbly electronic water-bass of “Disco Mudma” prove that Stevie can find the pocket when he wants to. This is, in my opinion, the better half of the disc. But the fact that Kotey can bring such diverse sounds together is quite impressive.

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