Hot Chip, The Warning (2006)

Label: EMI, Astralwerks, DFA Records

In the middle of the aughts, a handful of bands introduced dance music to the cool kids, the ones who wouldn't normally dance. They did it by appealing to listeners' love for ironic posturing and clever snark. But it always felt like a bitter coating for real sentiment and emotion. Take Hot Chip's second album, the record they still haven't topped. What do you remember? Bopping to “Over and Over” and its smart lyrics: “Over and over, and over, and over, and over/Like a monkey with a miniature cymbal/The joy of repetition really is in you.” That's pop music in a nutshell: the song we want to hear again and again, the chorus embedded in your brain, scratching the same itch in the right way every time.