Perhaps more than any other musical genre or sub-genre, funk builds from the bottom up, so it's appropriate that South Florida funk quartet Sub Groove is based closed to the southernmost point in the United States. And it's the goal of vocalist/keyboardist MC Kal El, guitarist SK1, bassist/vocalist Dre and drummer/percussionist/vocalist Time-X is to build funk back up from that rhythmic foundation.

Not so long ago, funk was a predominant style, with artists like James Brown, Earth, Wind & Fire; Kool & the Gang, Stevie Wonder, War, the Ohio Players, Average White Band, Parliament/Funkadelic, and Mother's Finest providing the undercurrent for popular music. Then came the rise in popularity of R&B, the surge (or scourge) of disco, and the advent of hip-hop -- and with them, a de-emphasis on syncopation and polyrhythms and an emphasis on repetition, melody, programming, and production over performance.

Recorded using vintage analog equipment, 'Sub Groove' instead captures the performances of a scintillating live band in a studio setting. The opening "Just Keep Running Away" mixes the influence of Wonder and Steely Dan through its loping groove, vocal harmonies and SK1's jazz-influenced solo. "Slide You Up" pushes the energy northward via Dre's muscular, moving bass line, and the culinary ode "Recipe" would fit into the song list of the late Godfather of Soul.

"(I'll Be) Moving On" provides a breather via MC Kal El's moving vocal and the offbeat pulse of Time-X before the marauding, Rage-meets-Chili Peppers funk of "While the Sun Shines," the socio-political "Modern Times" (influenced by modern lyrical titans Chuck D and Tupac Shakur), and the sing-along, funk-rock mix "Red Wine, Dirty Mouth."

The versatile quartet also shows it can rock out through a Van Halen-esque "The Money Cries (When You Smile);" dub reggae into funk on the sparse "Last Shot," and provide bluesy light and shade like Led Zeppelin on the closing "Where You Belong" -- which, like all worthy final acts, will leave listeners wanting more.

A longtime South Floridian, MC Kal El was born in a northern funk capital, Philadelphia, before moving to the Sunshine State to study theater through high school. He's continued to appear in musical productions since. Time-X was born in South Florida, and honed his natural funk skills through drumming influences from Clyde Stubblefield to John Bonham.

And while those two southerners form Sub Groove's natural funk nucleus, the other two band members are its wild cards. Native New Englander Dre moved south to study at the University of Miami, and has fused his natural metal inclinations into a singularly rhythmic bass-playing style. Ditto the Toronto-born SK1, whose rhythm parts and solos alternately echo guitar heroes from Steve Vai and Joe Satriani to Jeff Beck and Larry Carlton.

The resulting mix is as unique as its personalities. In Sub Groove's hands, funk is no longer a four-letter word.