Last week South Korean R&B duo Takers released their first EP, taking listeners back to the raw days of 1980s and early 1990s R&B, when artists like Leon Haywood, Tony! Toni! Toné! and Bell Biv DeVoe took sonic nastiness to the next level.

And nowhere on the new album is this love of the nasty groove more apparent than on the Takers single "Poison."

The slap bass dials in just the right sound to evoke the era when live bands still ruled the dance floor.

And the Oppenheimer-sounding synthesizer layered on top of the Fender Rhodes is a pleasing mesh of vintage keys.

The one area where the band performance gets a bit grating is with all of the breaks and hits that happen increasingly more often in the chorus.

As an arrangement device that was uncommon for the era, the Tower Of Power-style horn hits accompanied by the rhythm section suddenly jettison the listener from their mellow 1980s house party feeling into post-millennial digital hell.

Fortunately this just happens in brief moments of the song, allowing the rhythm section to lock into some nice rhythmic feels overall.

In the band's defense, the hits probably weren't their idea--the flashy choice most likely came from the arranger or the producer.

Both members of Takers, Pink and CoE, deliver strong performances in "Poison."

Although they might be a freshman group, they seem to possess the confidence of veteran hitmakers.

And that confidence carries over into their riotous music video performances.

In the crack-up video for "Poison" that features a crazed fan capturing Pink with the use of some sort of magic, the pair shine with an Abbott and Costello quality.

Or more accurately a little bit Blues Brothers, a little bit Andy Sandberg and Justin Timberlake in the Lonely Island classic "D*ck In A Box."

Takers could learn something from Sandberg and Timberlake's imaginary R&B duo from the 2006 Saturday Night Live clip, and its two subsequent sequels.

While both groups are mining the era of Bobby Brown, Lonely Island takes the joke even further, keeping the production stripped down and lo-fi, like so many of those classic 1980s slow jamz.

Now granted, one band is a joke and one is real.

But if for Takers's first full-length album's they lost the fusion horn breaks, kept their vocals sounding raw and used 1980s synthesizers and drum machines, the results could be very funky indeed.

But then again, that's their prerogative.

Check out the music video for "Poison" by Takers RIGHT HERE