After a 16-year hiatus, Athens, Georgia's party quartet dusts off its keyboards and bouffant hairdos for Funplex, a bouncy electric luau that lives up to its exuberant title. The disc's array of retro-futuristic dance tracks is custom-made for summer, conjuring images of beach parties, drag races, surfing safaris and strip malls. The fast and catchy "Pump" jumpstarts the album, pitting Fred Schneider's patented nasal sing-speak against the siren harmonies of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson. The electric organ-infused suburban heartbreak title track finds the record at its most absurdly fun, with lyrics like, "Faster pussycat, thrill, thrill / I'm at the mall on a diet pill." The closest we get to the Dadaist absurdity of "Rock Lobster" is on the playfully sexual "Love in the Year 3000," where Schneider enthuses, "We're making space love in zero gravity!" An addictive, utterly danceable electronica cut, "Eyes Wide Open," continues the fun, while "Juliet of the Spirits," a beautiful, wistful ode reminiscent of Cosmic Thing's "Deadbeat Club," adds a little depth to the album's party-hearty feel. The B-52s' first two albums in 1979 and 1980 were recorded in the Bahamas, where the band incorporated Caribbean percussions into its synthy sound. The bongos are back here, comingling with jangly guitar and cowbells to create a dance party that balances complex musicianship with energetic, catchy pop. The Bs' "beach party in space" vibe may no longer be cutting edge, but its new album is still un-ironically, unselfconsciously, undeniably fun.

-- Rob. Walton