Indie Electronic

Believe it or not, cool kids everywhere have finally uncrossed their arms and started dancing again. Not just to lingering electro-clash cuts (the futuristic fashion-show soundtrack of "Emerge," the grinding guitars and snappy hand claps of "Deceptacon") from the early '00s, either. We're talking about everything from lightly sweetened synth-pop ("Such Great Heights," "We're in the City") to house music raised on a steady diet of Daft Punk and Day-Glo melodies ("Easy Love," "I Believe").

As for the kind of nights that call for beats in the bedroom or basement, we've got that side of the spectrum covered in our Next Steps, right alongside more cutting-edge dance tunes.

Erratic is one way of describing our Indie Electronic set, what with the way it shifts moods and subgenres with the ease of an in-the-know DJ — the type who can keep his/her finger on the pulse of a crowd for hours. "Waltz for Koop" is a woozy downtempo affair; "Losing My Edge" is nearly eight minutes of steam-engine synths and razor-sharp social commentary; "Fancy Footwork" is an ultramodern bust-a-move anthem cast in shimmering analog chords; "Chewing Gum" is pure, unadulterated pop that's glossier than a stack of pricey magazines; and "Saturdays" is caught somewhere between Studio 54 and a classic '80s new wave bill.

While some of the above may sound familiar, our Deep Cuts ventures into cult-favorite territories to make you sound on top of every trend the next time you host a house party.

Kid 606's reputation as a battering-ram technician is obliterated within a few seconds of hearing the subdued, ambient techno in "Spanish Song." It's one of many sonic surprises that unfold during our all-encompassing survey of underground electronic music, including the contagious, otherworldly disco of "I Feel Space"; the highly evolved Commodore 64 soundtrack of "Wayfarer"; the club-bound indie pop of "Do the Whirlwind"; the dashing, moonlit disco-punk of "Born Into the World"; the organ-pumping, swinging post-Stereolab grooves of "Rocket Plane (Music On the Moon)"; and two very different sides of Scott Herren (the digitized downtempo of Savath & Savalas and the genre-jumping hip-hop beats of Prefuse 73).

When "electronica" first burst onto the scene in the mid-'90s, it catered to velvet rope-lined clubs and adrenaline-fueled rock kids, leaving underground music fans pining for their own personal soundtrack to painting the town red in a room of beautiful strangers. And they got it with the following songs, a synth-heavy lot that covers nearly a decade of certified jams. That includes the disco-inferno alias of Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt (Future Bible Heroes), the cooler-than-thou electro of Goldfrapp, key artists from the taste-making rosters of DFA (LCD Soundsystem, the Juan Maclean) and Modular (The Presets, Cut Copy, the Apple-approved New Young Pony Club) Records, and the recent influx of artists who are making it OK to check your attitude at the door and dance like a fool again (Simian Mobile Disco, Justice, Hot Chip).