Back when the B-52's were actually good (in a distant era before many of you were born), a few Japanese kids were listening and paying attention. Something in the simple melodies, surf guitar fills and new wave dance beats stirred the souls of these lost children of Nippon, and inspired them to form a band called Spoozys. If we were to search for a more current reference point, we could call them "Japan or Astro-man?" But let's not call them late for our next party, because this is excellent throwdown music-- perfect for those with a love of all things '80s.

Of course, this being 2000, you can't "dance that mess around" with old-fashioned, linear beats. So, the Spoozys have added some choppy jungle and other assorted techno-savvy elements to their sound. When the title track kicked this album off with aggressive power chords and skittering breakbeats, I was prepared for some kind of Sega Teenage Riot. But next thing you know, a geeky Bowie clone grabs the mic, and the guitarist starts running reverb-drenched blues scales right out of the Ventures' fakebook. There's no question that the Spoozys inherited their homeland's knack for bringing formerly obsolete and disparate styles up to date.

True to its surf roots, this is a guitar-heavy mix, despite nods to the future. Party-punk rockabilly riffs are front and center throughout Astral Astronauts (proving that these guys also listened to the Cramps), with the crude synth textures and occasional odd sample peering in from the shadows. References to the decade of our youth abound. "Then and Now" has a perfectly brief homage to the five-note sequence from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, while "Galaxian" laser blasts are integrated into the rhythm of "Russian UFO." The instrumental "Kuuku Sutte Hakudake" even adds an electro groove to the proceedings, and with its squelching oscillator tones, it stands as this album's most experimental track.

Still, true to their purpose, the Spoozys never stray from the Party Principle with their fiddling. All the shout-along choruses are straight and to the point, and the tempo never slows below an accelerated heartbeat. The downside to this record is that some of these memories are less pleasant than others, and you're only going to want to "go '80s" now and then. But when you do get that feeling, the Spoozys provide the new wave healing. Cornelius says he wants these guys to open for him when he plays the first party on the Mars space station. As long as they find enough ice in those polar caps to keep my drinks cold, I'm there.

-Mark Richard-San