Man, do I put up with a lot of crap from my friends about my music tastes.

I'll be the first to admit it, I'm a pale white guy who can't hold a beat for his life who loves electronic music, or electronica, as the genre seems to prefer today.

Paul Oakenfold has been accepted as the world's most popular and successful producer of electronica for years now and it is with much bittersweet sentiment that he released Bunkka in 2002. I say bittersweet because some hardcore fans and critics could say that the international star had finally sold out with the album's release.

While Oakenfold's albums are typically two-disc sets full of mixed club tunes blended one into the other -- already enough to send electronica haters running for the hills -- Bunkka acts as an "Oakenfold for Beginners" album. Eleven individual and widely varied tracks make up the 51-minute CD, immensely short for the normally prolific artist.

"Ready Steady Go" kicks the album into gear, a catchy, although still not quite radio-friendly song that mixes powerful beats with a deliciously evil-sounding guitar riff -- a fun synthesis of electronic and rock that, to put it simply, doesn't suck like most imitators and attempts.

Echoing ambient noise, a repetitive dance beat and female vocals sound like the ingredients for a generic electronica ditty, but "Southern Sun" proves to be a difficult adversary. Oakenfold keeps the tune slow and varied enough that it actually feels like a song and not just another rave beat, despite a lack of any musical bridges or interludes. However, if you are brave enough to admit you like electronica as much as myself, go download the DJ Tiesto remix of this tune to satisfy your wannabe raver needs.

"Zoo York" is the album's only instrumental piece and while it overdoes it with the vocal warblings of an Indian-sounding singer, the piece picks up a couple minutes into it by sampling the score to the morose cult film Requiem for a Dream. Low-but-light bass beats with an almost hip-hop beat create a very unique interpretation of the original composition.

No album is without its faults, however.

Interestingly, the songs that are the album's weakest are the ones where Oakenfold pulled out the big musical guns and collaborated with such musicians as Perry Farrell and Nelly Furtado.

Furtado's "The Harder They Come" sounds like a reprise to the song it could've been while Farrell sounds like a crappily re-mixed rock song sporting laser beam sound effects. The exception is Ice Cube's appearance on "Get Em Up" which creates a warm old-school rap feeling reminiscent of the days of Public Enemy and, well, Ice Cube.

The album's most well known tune is also one of its best.

"Starry Eyed Surprise" blends scratching, a simple beat (that even I could dance to), a sparkling sound and just a generally happy aura that's hard to dislike.

Bunkka won't please many Oakenfold enthusiasts, but if you're a closet case ready to dip your toe into the pool that is electronica, you can't go wrong with this album.

No matter your skill level, you'll want to "dance all night to this deejay."