Lo-Fi

The acoustic guitar strumming that sparks "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" is enough to send any indie rock lifer into a spontaneous fit of nostalgia and awkward smiles. As will these other lo-fi classics, including the inspired, snappy sarcasm of "Cut Your Hair," the new-wave feminism of "F**k and Run," and the cuddlecore of "Go Fish."

Like a well-crafted mixtape handed down from your favorite record store clerk, our Next Steps skip right to the good stuff with an emphasis on music you may not have heard but should . . . and soon. Happy hour peaks and valleys of curiosity range from the Unicorns' uplifting "Ghost Mountain" to Mecca Normal's freaky-voiced "I Walk Alone."

Lo-fi indie is already an insular genre, so you can certainly expect some revelatory "who's that?" moments among these Deep Cuts. They include the pioneering slowcore of Low; the noise-inflected guitar pop of Dinosaur Jr.; the finger-snapping, British invasion classicism of the Essex Green; and the bleary-eyed poetics of Hayden.

The hiss of a thrift store tape machine, the simple sequencing of a 4-track, and the sometimes pained, sometimes overjoyed honesty of unfiltered emotion — such is the appeal of lo-fi indie rock, the guarded, cultish realm of record store regulars and kids in scuffed Converse sneakers. If you've ever wanted a sneak peek without suffering the wrath of elitists "in the know," we've got tracks here that cast a wide net over both classic (Guided by Voices, Pavement, Sebadoh) and forgotten (the Gerbils, Monroe Mustang, Jack Logan) examples of underground excellence.