Call it what you want – alternative pop or hip-hop, but the new albums by Gorillaz and Beck have enough dance elements in them to pack a dance floor.

An intimidating task if there ever was one, even for a band represented by cartoon characters illustrated by J.C. (Tank Girl) Hewlett, Gorillaz were faced with following up an acclaimed debut album (and tour – you had to be there) and met the challenge head on. My initial response to Gorillaz, a super-group of sorts, was similar to the affection that I felt for, say, Big Audio Dynamite. It struck me as an outlet for someone such as Damon Albarn of Blur (in the case of Gorillaz) to explore another, more dance-oriented side of his musical personality in the same way that Mick Jones (formerly of The Clash) did with B.A.D. It also didn’t hurt that Dan The Automator/Dan Nakamura was also in the monkey house with Albarn, giving the work some dance-floor and club credibility. Even without remixes (of which you just know there are some lurking in the background) the tracks on Demon Days (Virgin), which was produced, by the way, by Danger Mouse, are so consistently funky and fun that dancing to them is as automatic a response as breathing.

“Last Living Soul” waves the reggae dub flag (see early B.A.D.) and “Kids With Guns,” featuring a vocal appearance by Neneh Cherry, gives you something to think about while you move your feet. “O Green World” ups the ante, and the San Fernandez Youth Chorus on “Dirty Harry” (which recalls Tom Tom Club, another illustrated and dance-floor friendly offshoot group) has a youthful appeal. More serious booty-shaking is encouraged on “Feel Good Inc.,” featuring De La Soul; “All Alone,” featuring Martina Topley Bird; and the searing “White Light” and the daring “Dare,” featuring Shaun Ryder (no stranger to dance beats from Happy Mondays and Black Grape) and Rosie Wilson.

Beck has long flashed his dance club charms and if you need a reminder following the stunning, but low key 2002 disc Sea Change, you need look no further than 1999’s princely Midnite Vultures. Or you could just take a listen to Guero (Interscope). Opening track “E-Pro,” with its “na-na-nanana-na-na” thread running through it, has a dance rock vibe, while “Qué Onda Guero” harkens back to Beck’s hip-hop days. “Girl,” with its acoustic guitar and Beach Boys harmonies, will be right at home at beach parties this summer. “Missing” finds Beck continuing to mine the Brazilian musical style that was so prevalent on Sea Change, while the thumping “Black Tambourine” will have you longing for just such an instrument on the dance floor. “Hell Yes” fools with the funk, as the dance party continues in various incarnations on “Scarecrow” and the driving “Rental Car.”

Sometimes climate has an effect on dance music, as in the case of acts such as Röyksopp and Annie.

Don’t let the classical sounding piano at the beginning of “Triumphant,” the opening track on The Understanding (Astralwerks) by Röyksopp, fool you. Wait a few seconds and there’s a synthesizer insinuating itself, not to mention fat synthetic beats. After that, it’s only a matter of time before Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge of Röyksopp roll out the dance party. Based in Tromsø, the “gateway to the Arctic,” these guys know a little something about heating up a room and proceed to do so without a moment’s hesitation on the bubbly-electro of “Only This Moment,” with vocals that linger and crystallize like breath in frozen air. The syncopated “49 Percent” swells over the course of the tune into a lush and lulling dance affair. The arrangement on the instrumental “Sombre Detune,” is reminiscent of recent Kylie Minogue, and the stimulating “Circuit Breaker” is practically guaranteed to be popular with the circuit party scene.

Brundtland and Berge played a role in the creation of Anniemal (Big Beat/ 679/Atlantic) by Norwegian performer Annie (full name Anne Lilia Berge-Strand). Although it’s not one of their compositions, “Always Too Late” (which I originally misunderstood as “masturbate,” go figure) sounds like Röyksopp (and that’s meant to be a compliment). Ironically, the same can’t be said of “No Easy Love,” co-written by Brundtland and Annie. “Chewing Gum” is the antithesis of Kelis’ “Milk Shake,” and is far less fattening, and “Greatest Hit,” the song that originally introduced many listeners to Annie, is as much an homage to Madonna (check out the way the “Everbody” sample is utilized) as it is to sex. “Me Plus One” is a reminder of how fun and carefree a dance song can be, as is the delirious and somewhat non-traditional dance track “Heartbeat.”

The thing about both the Röyksopp and Annie discs is that they succeed in taking dance music to unexpected places, and that is a necessity in a genre that tends to be more than a little repetitive and unoriginal. Everything Ecstatic (Domino) by Four Tet is in the same league. The aptly named “A Joy,” with one of the bossiest bass-lines and finger-popping beats you’ve heard in years, is a colorful way to open the disc, and “Smile Around The Face” is sure to bring a grin to the face of more than a few dancers. There is a touch of the acid jazzy post-rock spirit to some of the disc (“Sun Drums and Soil”), but when Four Tet puts their mind to moving a listener, as they do on “High Fives,” they can’t be faulted.