Pop Reviews : Thomas Dolby Gives His Invigorating Mix a Bite

You could tell he’s a Serious Techno-Freak because he brought his own sound system to the Roxy. You could tell he’s a Certified New Wave Hitmaker because he received a self-serving on-stage introduction from KROQ deejay Richard Blade. And you could tell he’s an Arty Eccentric because he walked on stage in a top hat and tiny ‘60s-style sunglasses, looking like a rock ‘n’ roll Mad Hatter.

But you couldn’t tell just how adept Thomas Dolby has become at juggling his roles, personas and styles until he started playing music Wednesday at the Roxy. With his current band, the Lost Toy People, the Los Angeles-based Englishman has whipped up an invigorating mixture that finds him part the synth-pop whiz, part the more atmospheric experimentalist and part a brash, tongue-in-cheek funkster.

Crucially, the latter took precedence for most of the show. Always an impressive technician, in the past Dolby sometimes became so quirky and self-consciously clever that he was downright annoying. But with a tough, funk-based rhythm section behind him, his music now has real authority and bite to go along with the playful mannerisms and satiric jibes.

Dolby concentrated on the manic pop-funk of his recent “Aliens Ate My Buick” album. But he also played a fair sampling of his older material, ranging from such up-tempo hits as “Europa and the Pirate Twins” to his haunting version of Dan Hicks’ “I Scare Myself,” which led into a terrific closing segment.

Here the grooves got harder, the performance more spirited, with the only drawback being that the tough, sassy assurance of new songs like “Hot Sauce” and “Airhead” made the set-closing “Hyperactive” sound cluttered, frenetic and . . . well, hyperactive. But maybe that’s the point--and after all, it’s not a bad dilemma to have new songs so good they make your “classics” pale by comparison.