Trance, house, and techno have had their moment, but now the percolating, super gay-friendly dance genre known as electro is gunning to be the new nightclub sound. "We've been battered with the same music for the past 10 years," says music impresario Larry Tee. "It's time to mess with the formula and shake things up." Although some critics dismiss the synth-pop riffs and computer-programmed beats as nothing more than rehashed 1980s new wave, that isn't stopping devotees from donning their fashionable best (often '80s-inspired attire) and bopping into joints such as New York's Tribeca Grand Hotel and Club Luxx in Brooklyn's trendy Williamsburg neighborhood. (Europe's capital of cool, Berlin, is also an electro hot spot.). And on October 11 thousands of hipsters, DJs, and performers will converge in New York City for the second annual Electroclash Festival, which then begins a three-week national tour.

"People are hungry for something that's exciting and glamorous, which of course always attracted the gays," declares Tee, who--as the organizer of the Luxx parties and the festival--has emerged as the scene's go-to guy. Before long, he predicts, electronic beats and lyrics about life in a modern polysexual world will soon be blasting out of speakers at dance clubs everywhere. "It's a very creative, performance art-based movement," adds Andy Salzer of the up-and-coming band Hungry Wives, whose members sometimes sing their catchy hit "It's Over (I Am Legendary, You Are Not)" as film scenes of car crashes are projected on them. Another electro trait: Women and men get equal time in the spotlight. The October tour of America features a heavily female lineup, including Peaches, a Berlin-based bump-and-grind schoolteacher-turned-rapper whose X-rated lyrics would make Lil' Kim blush, and the New York trio WIT, whose girly charms have made them the scene's It babes.

As the buzz surrounding electro grows ever louder, the music industry is starting to pay attention--last year's festival headliner, the avant-garde band Fischerspooner, recently signed a reported $2 million contract with the British label Ministry of Sound. The group, famed for its over-the-top costume extravaganzas, is fronted by flamboyant Casey Spooner. Although coy about proclaiming his sexual orientation, the singer isn't at all shy about parading onstage in a jockstrap and feathered headdress.

"They're all kinds of sexy dorks," says Tee about his newfangled brood. "And no one cares a fuck about whether people think they're gay or straight."

Simpson is editor of the gay and lesbian section of Time Out New York.

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