It's hard to accuse a band whose members sport Roy Orbison sunglasses and Village People mustaches of being stylish. However, from image to sound, Sweden's Parker espouses a retro kitsch that totally works for them. "Oh great", you say, "another one of those bands." Not so fast: this trio takes the '80s by a different set of horns. Whereas the Faint mines Adam Ant and The Cure for their dance macabre, Parker goes for a rollickin' rave up sound on Le Petomane.

With Eva Parker's vocals out front, it's easy to make comparisons to the girl-fronted alternative rock that made rotations on 120 Minutes, but Parker builds on their predecessors; an opener like "I Miss You" is more than punk-era Siouxsie and the Banshees, where tight power pop chords overshadow gothic underpinnings. "Wham Bam Bam" one-ups The Primitives' girly hooks and dirty pop sheen, and the sublime "Pogo Pogo" injects Madness ska and horns that will have you doing the Molly Ringwald before you can say "neo-maxi-zoom-dweebie". Blithe and timeless tunes like these are Parker's specialty. By repurposing all that good, forgotten '80s stuff as shimmering, three chord party rock, Parker puts up a nostalgic front that's hard to resist.