"Horses" by High Highs

This is a wonderful cross between acoustic folk-pop and dream-pop. It's got a solid beat, too, and the harmonies are nicely done.

"Brothers" by Mux Mool

Old-school hip-hop beats meet buzzy electronics to create a laid-back, groovy listening experience.

"Tarzan Boy" by Baltimora

I still have no idea what "Tarzan Boy" is supposed to be about. Beyond the fantastic hook and chorus, there's not really a narrative to the song outside of painting a picture of romping through the jungle. Like so many other great pop songs, coherence or statement-making is beside the point when your song has the kind of dance-pop hook and euphoric strangeness that '80s New Wave did so well.

"SW9" by Fort Romeau

Fort Romeau have got the club-ambient thing down pat. Just because you can blow out listeners’ ears with sound, doesn’t mean you always have to. Less is more, when it’s in the right hands.

"Smalltown Boy" by Bronski Beat

Bronski Beat were one of the few openly gay bands to emerge from New Wave, and they did not shy away from addressing social issues in their songs. In this case, a heartbreaking lament of loneliness and isolation, which would send a lot of musicians reaching for an acoustic guitar and candles, is set to a pulsing electronic rhythm. Disco meets Post-Punk, and the result is a powerful expression of feeling.

“After You” by Chastity Brown

A deep, soulful track that brings to mind love and travel. It’s got a groovy beat and an international feel similar to what Paul Simon did on Graceland.

“Sinful Nature” by Bear in Heaven

This is one of my favorite "I found this song on the Internet" tracks. Enjoy this, brooding, post-industrial, indigo-colored jam from Bear in Heaven's album I Love You, It's Cool. It makes me want to head over to the nearest Darkwave club and make sexy (yet self-consciously melancholy) moves on the dance floor.

“Just Got Lucky” by JoBoxers

This song from JoBoxers is one of the seemingly endless stream of New Wave singles that came out of England in the ‘80s and found a temporary home on MTV, pretty much their only exposure to American audiences.

This is a sunny, bouncy love song with a great refrain, the kind of song (If I may skew old and cranky for a moment) that they just don’t make anymore. The English have always been very good at being influenced by sounds from other places like American R&B and you can hear the flavoring this genre has in this track’s beat and vocals.

"Get Your Gun" by The New Law

A hushed, intense Spanish-style guitar riff with a stiff bass line underneath that slips into a High Plains Drifter-ish Hip-Hop groove, this track from The New Law could be the soundtrack to a modern Western fable like There Will Be Blood.

"Are You Ready" by Luscious Jackson

I don’t know much about New York's Luscious Jackson apart from their excellent mid-‘90s alternative hit “Naked Eye.” This new millennium track from the band reminds why they’re still going strong – their method of loose and funky pop fun just doesn’t go out of style.

"Cada Dia" by Banda de Turistas

One of the benefits of music globalization is the wonderful interpretations of styles that started in one country and have taken root in another. For examples, enjoy this up-tempo alternative guitar pop, sung in Spanish.

"Nite and Day" by Al B. Sure!

Al B. Sure's 1988 hit is modern RnB at its finest, combining the best characteristics of Soul and Pop while avoiding the clichés that have caused so much mediocrity in contemporary Black music.

Instead of overwrought vocal gymnastics, the melody is clear and concise. The lyrics are impressionistic instead of jarringly literal. And the music is light, almost ethereal, setting a mood instead of demanding one.

Where so many artists insist on ripping their hearts out with dramatic gusto on every track, this is an example of how subtlety (with a great hook) can work, too.

"Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba

Pop Radio played this single straight into the ground when it was first released (mainly because at the time pop radio music was already becoming a desert, creativity-wise), but the constant repetition wasn't able to kill the song's appeal completely. A now defunct anarchist music collective stitched together a pub chant, a New-Agey/Folk vocal line, and an alternative-pop rap to create something that's pretty damn fun and made for a perfect late '90s summer pop song.

"The Night" by School of Seven Bells

It starts out as a lo-fi, fuzzy arpeggio of blips, then bursts into a muscular piece of dream-pop, thanks to the driving bass drum and hi-hat, with Alejandra Deheza's silky vocals gliding over the instruments.

"Heart and Soul" by T'Paul

This track from a British band named after a Vulcan priestess from the original Star Trek TV series has got one foot in pure '80s bubble-gum synth pop and the other in R&B, with lead singer Carol Decker playing dual vocalist by singing and rapping at the same time. The two tracks bounce off each other melodically, each acting as the backup for the other.

Although the band had success in Europe, this is their only song to chart in the US. Of the songs that get played on FM radio stations during their "Best of the '80s" shows, this is one of the few that I can listen to all the way through.

"Walk With Me" by Memoryhouse

Denise Nouvion of Memoryhouse has a beautiful voice, airy and direct, and it’s just right for this gentle dream-pop track. Play this one when you’re thinking about your sweetie, or pining for the one you don’t have.

"Heaven" by Eurogliders

This track made more of an impact on MTV than on the overall US pop charts (it peaked at #21 in the States), and is pretty much all that was heard from this band on this side of the ocean. It's glossy pop music that does everything a pop song is supposed to do, with a danceable groove and a memorable hook.

This song came around right in the middle of the Second British Invasion (even though this band is Australian), when New Wave briefly perfected a formula that could get it over to the Top 40 pop charts. Sure, it’s plastic, but it also has energy and life in it, and it works.

"Oh Mercy" by Food Pyramid

By layering droning synthesizers over an ‘80s Hip-Hop beat and vocals that distantly echo a vague plea for mercy, this track combines ‘90s dance and 21st century ambient in the same space.

“Kal” by Cardinal

It’s difficult to describe this track. It’s like a pop song, but not quite. It’s ‘60s Psychedelia (there’s some Lonely Harts Club Band in there), but also modern Alternative. Whatever it is, it’s very good.

"Replicate" by Dissapears

This is meat and potatoes urban rock with a distinct alternative edge, featuring scorching blasts of guitars that roll in and out over a big, steady beat from the rhythm section.