Modern Love Songs

Love, abandon your threadbare clichés — hipsters will simply not stand for ordinary tunes. Here, you will find only the coolest of the cool, as we deliver a bunch of freshly picked heart-melters with a sideways glance and an insouciant wink. Fall head over heels (while appearing suitably aloof) to the gorgeous busk of the Kooks ("She Moves in Her Own Way") and the divine catatonia of Mazzy Star ("Fade Into You").

Don't say it with flowers — say it with Pixies, in Next Steps.

How do hipsters say, "I love you"? Why, by playing air piano to Ben Folds' "The Luckiest", of course. Or, they might add extra handclaps to the wistful folk pop of the Fruit Bats' "When U Love Somebody," affect a look of ironic disinterest during "La La Love You" by the Pixies, or — instead of dancing like a robot to Daft Punk's "Digital Love" — they could always translate the lyrics into French and recite them in sonnet form to the object of their amour.

Love can be gentle — or it can be fast and loud, as you'll hear in Deep Cuts.

The rule book says that love music must weave together the twin strands of gentle strumming and consumptive sighing . . . but rules are for fools, which is why we've supercharged the list with Jet's tonsil-bustin' "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" and Nirvana's crackling "Love Buzz." Here, the fastest way to the heart is through a broken eardrum. When the time comes to slow it down a bit, there's plenty of backup in the shape of Ryan Adams, Beck, and Rosie Thomas.

Our playlist of the hippest love tunes in the history of pop, lust, and yearning leaves all you effortlessly cool kids with a dilemma. Sure, you could download these magnificent heartstring-pullers, perfectly rendered by the likes of Coldplay, the Magic Numbers, Morrissey, the Postal Service, and more . . . but if you're truly hip, you'd own them already, which means you're too late on the scene to be cool, and you're just jumping on the bandwagon. Our advice: buy in secret, act indifferent, fall in love, elope.