Americans love combinations. Peanut butter and jelly, baseball and beer, ambient shoegaze folk-rock fusion– the list goes on. But how about hip-hop done over swing music? In Swedish? Don’t worry; as the crowd learned at Chicago’s Beat Kitchen on Friday night, dance is the only language you need to know for a Movits! show, and it’s one that requires no translator.

Before the Swedes got started, a few Chicagoans attempted to show them how we do things in the Windy City, to varying degrees of success. Opener Boutros was a plucky duo on synth and guitar, dressed un-ironically in hipster glasses and sweater vest. Their fans were of the dazed and confused variety, shouting “Boutros!” at the end of each number in the same tone normally reserved for requesting “Free Bird”. The lead singer replied with a straight face, “Boutros!” Every. Time. And yet, the music of Boutros was not annoying. On the contrary, much as their fan base left to be desired, their music was an interesting mélange of synth effects, peppy keyboard, and mellow guitar that leant itself happily to dancing. Their leadoff set was quite enjoyable to say the least. “Boutros!”

Second opener Reds and Blue took that ball and promptly dropped it. A three-piece with a gal on vocals and keys, a non-descript drummer, and a bass player who seemed to have escaped from Ozzfest, Reds and Blue’s vocals were hazy and incomprehensible, their music floaty and vague. They had a song that actually opened with the singer squealing, “Aaaaahhh!” They ended their set 15 minutes early, and no one seemed to complain.

Finally, the Swedes invaded. Zacke, a fellow Swedish rapper and friend of Movits!, started things off with a few fast-paced, very American sounding raps that took the tempo of the room way back up. Then Movits! themselves took the stage, bursting on in their trademark tuxedos and matching sneakers. In addition to their regular three piece, they had a man on the coolest electric upright bass, which added a wonderful depth to their usual layered sound.

Movits! played some new songs from their recent release Ut Ur Min Skalle (translation: Out Of My Head), including “Sammy Davis Jr”, which they had road-tested on their last visit to Chicago, and “Na Na Nah!” — “Everyone can sing this one!” cried energetic lead singer Johan Rensfeldt. A large contingent of Swedish fans was in the audience, much to the band’s delight, and for the benefit of the rest of us, Rensfeldt kept trying to explain his lyrics in English. But it didn’t really matter if you could understand what he was saying or not. Movits! music is unbridled fun, accented by old-fashioned musical workmanship. Dripping sweat, jackets abandoned, their white dress shirts clinging to their shoulders, they danced, played, rapped, drummed. Women screamed when Joakim Nilsson would peel off into a sax solo. DJ and all-around instrumentalist Anders Rensfeldt, brother of vocalist Johan, added occasional guitar and beating a drum pad to his list of duties, and came out from behind his mix table to play a marching snare with great gusto.

The crowd was raving with delight, dancing and crying out, and Movits! seemed to be having more fun than anyone. They added in older favorites, including “Ta pa dig dansskorna” and “Swing for hyresgastforeningen”. They came back out for an encore—and it was a necessary one, an encore not allowed out of politeness but rather demanded by the crowd, as they all should be—for which they played the two songs that made them famous, “Fel Del Av Garden” and “Appelknyckarjazz”. As the expression goes, we could’ve danced all night, but Movits! had already gone way past their allotted time. The crowd clamored to buy their new record and shake hands with the band, fans eagerly crowding around, language differences a barrier no longer after sharing something as universal as music.