Who knew a great African band could come from Germany? This Munich-based 10-piece’s first album is a dead ringer for the low-budget but highly potent funk that came out of Africa in the early ’70s—its tricky rhythms, its slinky arrangements, its slightly off-key horn sections, even the understated snap of its drum tone. Almost every one of these terse, strutting instrumental grooves takes after a particular strain of the scratched-up African 45s DJs wet themselves over: Nigerian Afrobeat’s reinterpretation of James Brown’s chattering cross-rhythms (“Koloko Pt. 1”), Ethiopian soul jazz built on sour modal scales (“Toure Samar”), Sun Ra’s ­electric-piano evocations of a mythical Egypt (“Debere”). The political charge of the music that inspired the Malcouns is absent, but they’ve got its joyful, intricate bounce down perfectly.

DOWNLOAD “Nyx,” “Passau Run,” “Sahara Swing”