House

After pop culture had left disco for dead, along came the house music underground. Mixing shades of synth-pop, Latin soul, electro, and maybe a diva or two, house is both the soul of basement parties and the sound of the modern supper club. Dive straight into the mix with Chicago house legend Larry Heard (a.k.a. Mr. Fingers) and a heavenly blast of CeCe Peniston.

You've felt the first wave; now it's time for our second dose of classic house . . . in Next Steps.

Clubbers have lost many a good night's sleep moving to these beats — and we've a groove here to suit every house mood, from the various incarnations of production team Kenny "Dope" Gonzales and Little Louie Vega (a.k.a. Nuyorican Soul and Masters at Work) to the relentless Bassheads, who mix samples of the Osmonds and Talking Heads into the superlative "Is There Anybody Out There?"

Our salute to the smooth bass and hard funk of house continues with Deep Cuts.

Deep inside the bass bins sit a thousand slabs of vinyl, never forgotten by the DJ in the know and the fans on the floor. Acid house pioneer DJ Pierre joins fellow Chicago scene luminary Marshall Jefferson for a silky smooth remix of some classic Chic; Deep Dish collaborator Richard Morel fires up an unstoppable rhythm with "True"; and Erick Morillo proves he's a virulent source of beat-infection with "Dancing".

In the early '80s — after punk and indifference had dealt disco a double whammy — along came underground DJs, adding a robotic sheen to the perennial 4/4 beats, dropping the bass to earth-trembling levels, and lacing into the mix shades of synth-pop, Latin soul, dub reggae, and funk. Take a house tour with these club-thumpin' classics that trace a line of evolution from the early, addictive groundbreaking tracks to the masterpieces of generic mash-up that light up the 21st-century club galaxy. It's all you'll ever need for a top-class party night.