Milwaukee's Codebreaker was hot Saturday night at The Social, 434 S. 2nd St., in Walker's Point. The quintet kept the crowd waiting for a good half-hour after Signaldrift performed, building anticipation.

Then they took the stage motocross spacemen style. The place blew up all keyboards, strobe lights and '80s sex pop. The crowd seethed and frothed as frontman Steven Hawley hit the girls with fine-tuned showmanship and fever-induced vocals. When not working the Farfisa organ and the Micro-Moog, he didn't hesitate to work the crowd, or dance on the bar, or give them a big freaky bang for their buck.

No shoe-gazing at the Codebreaker show. "It's Beach Boys meet Kraftwerk at a Falco orgy" one awed spectator opined.

The band formed in '97 with Steven and the brothers Riesing: Timmy (guitar, samples) and William (drums). At the time, all they could agree on musically was Bad Brains and David Bowie. They've since gone through keyboardists and bassists like quarters at the arcade, but landed two solid players in Sage Schwarm (bass) and Nate Vest (percussion), both formerly of The Thousandaires.

Hawley has taken over keyboards to end the band's hiatus. He also designs their exhibitionist wardrobe. Beginning Sat., Feb. 23, Hawley will spin '80s new wave records at Orbit Saturday nights until the androgyny level reaches critical.