Techno

Despite what your friends may think, there's more to techno than cracked glow sticks and four-on-the-floor beats. Especially in the case of our crash course in blips and breaks, a deft mix of modern-day anthems (the sweeping strings and steady throb of "Go," the pounding peaks" and dazzling valleys of "Born Slippy Nuxx"), well-oiled electro (Cybotron, Fischerspooner), and everything from New Order (the dance-rock classic "Blue Monday," aka the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time) to the Orb (the heavenly ambient house of "Little Fluffy Clouds," featuring ghostly samples of an interview with two-time GRAMMY® winner Rickie Lee Jones).

Lucky for you, traces of techno in its many incarnations — from living legends like Jeff Mills to modern-day favorites like the Faint — also help sculpt our Next Steps.

While the icy vocals and Weed Whacker riffs of "Agenda Suicide" may not scream techno, that doesn't mean the Faint's guitar-guided dance tracks aren't rooted in the genre-defining days of warehouse parties and pioneering DJs/producers like Jeff Mills and Josh Wink. In many ways, that's the guiding principle of our Techno Essentials: the many beat-savvy points where rock shows and superclubs cross. That includes obvious choices, like the downright unruly (and incredibly influential) rave anthems of Prodigy, as well as the pop-and-lock electro of Kraftwerk, the psych-steeped acid house of the Shamen, and the gnarly, nihilistic "digital hardcore" of Atari Teenage Riot.

As for our Deep Cuts, they're about to take you back underground — a place where wildly inventive tracks thrive, twisting the very definition of what techno can be.

Can't remember the last time you were at a word-of-mouth dance party — the kind of in-the-know affair with dim lights and speakers stacked to the ceiling? Then close your eyes and listen to the distorted, top-heavy bounce of "Press Your Body." It'll make you feel as if you just walked into a room where walls sweat and DJs predict the future with each needle drop, as will the robotic soul of "Never Tempt Me," the club-bound bluegrass of "Swamp Thing," the dream rap/electro pairing of "We Rock Hard" (Freestylers and Soul Sonic Force, say what?), the hypnotic tech-house of "I Dance Alone," and the starry-eyed synths of "Heaven."

Aside from its ever-present beat — a familiar sound whether it's slowed down to soothing blip/beep levels or sped up to heart attack proportions — techno has taken on countless different forms and faces since its mid-'80s inception in the underground clubs of Detroit. That's why our Essentials playlist is free of filler and bursting at the grooves with instant classics from every subgenre imaginable, including the wailing synths and chunky hip-hop breaks of big beat (Fatboy Slim, the Chemical Brothers, the Crystal Method), the fashion-fueled, instant genre-jamming gratification of electro-clash (Felix da Housecat, Fischerspooner, Chicks on Speed), the epic, stadium-filling singles of electronica (Underworld, Prodigy), and the break-dance-ready productions of early electro (Cybotron and Kraftwerk, which can be heard in the bass-heavy hip-hop tracks of everyone from Dr. Dre to Missy Elliott).