YACHT

Portland, Ore.'s Yacht began as a side project of the irrepressible electro-pop duo the Blow. But Jona Bechtolt's pleasure cruiser quickly outpaced the winds of his other act, as Yacht refined its low-slung, party-ready brand of indie dance on records for States Rights, Marriage and finally DFA. Yacht's first album, Super Warren MMIV, was a collection of blippy instrumentals that suggested a kind of computer-aided needlepoint, bristling with nubby LEDs and analog synths as soft as cashmere. After Mega, which contorted the material into a more tangled shape, Claire L. Evans came on board and steered Yacht into deeper, fresher waters where acoustic instruments and sung melodies intermingled with electronic dazzle. After touring with LCD Soundsystem, the band signed to DFA and released 2009's See Mystery Lights, their most fully realized effort yet, fusing quirky sound design with crack songwriting and offering Hot Chip some stiff competition for the 21st century electro-pop throne.