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*** King Britt Presents Sylk 130

RE-MEMBERS ONLY

(Six Degrees)

WPhiladelphia-based DJ/producer King Britt does his best to re-create the Me Decade on Re-Members Only, the second disc in his groove-oriented nostalgia trilogy. Presented as a Reagan-era radio show, Re-Members Only rehashes the icy new wave, techno-tinged R&B, and golden-age hip-hop of the ’80s with lots of guest stars (Alison Moyet of Yaz, Grover Washington Jr., De La Soul) and timely sonic touches (tinny drum machines, sickly sweet synths). Britt proved himself to be an excellent musical archæologist on 1998’s ’70s throwback When the Funk Hits the Fan (Ovum), and he’s just as successful here.

Too successful, actually. The motivational R&B numbers (“Rising”), electro-soul cuts (“Happiness”), and disco-funk tracks (“I Can’t Wait”) are all lighthearted fun, but sometimes Britt’s authenticity jones gets the best of him. Washington’s soprano-sax blowing on “For Love” registers as major cheese, and the instrumental “Incident on a Couch Pt. 2” could be an outtake from a new-age Vangelis album. Back-to-basics hip-hop party tracks featuring MC Capitol A (“All the Way Live”) and De La Soul (“Cobbs Creek”) punch up the tempo just before Re-Members Only disintegrates into a sticky mush.

— Michael Endelman