M83

The cover of M83's breakthrough album — four snow angels frozen in time — says it all. Whether you start with the torrential synth lines and dizzying dreamscapes of Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts or get swept up in the gauzy pop songs of Saturdays = Youth, this is music you mute the rest of the world to, a one-way ticket to the twilight zone in Anthony Gonzalez's mind. And what's going on in there, exactly? Well, there's everything from the spare, ambient Eno nods of "Dancing Mountains" and "Coloring the Void" to the creepy serial-killer score of "Car Chase Terror!" and dovetailing melodies of "Don't Save Us From the Flames." No wonder why Sasha — one of dance music's most stirring super-club producers — chose to turn "Couleurs" into a total walking-on-sunshine anthem.