Electroclash is one of those embarrassing genres that some people wish they could forget. Sifting through the mascara-stained ruins of that most disposable of styles, it’s tempting to conclude that nothing of lasting value was ever created in that scene—nothing much, at any rate, outside the productions of the French singer-producer duo Miss Kittin & the Hacker. Listening to the pair’s “1982” nearly a decade after its release, it’s striking how powerfully the track calls to mind the era when trucker hats and white belts were cutting-edge accessories. Beyond its evocative power, though, “1982” manages what only the best music ever does—it still sounds fresh, years later. The same could be said for a handful of other productions by the French act, whose members were born Caroline Hervé and Michel Amato, and whose fondness for Detroit techno and Mute Records loaned their music a rare technical refinement and a mild dose of existential despair.

In 2003, just when the collaborators seemed on the brink of a mainstream breakthrough, they called it quits, breaking up (amicably) to pursue solo careers—a split that in some sense signalled the end of electroclash.

“When we decided to stop, we’d already been playing those songs every week for five years, and we needed a break,” says the Hacker, reached at his home in Grenoble. “I remember talking to people who were like, ‘Are you crazy? You’re in all the magazines and you decide to stop?’ But we needed to breathe, because at that time it was too much. We could have done easy things, like an ’80s cover to have a hit, but then what?”

As solo artists, Miss Kittin has released two albums (including this year’s micro-gothic Batbox) and become one of techno’s most in-demand DJs, while the Hacker has continued to chart an inimitable course of his own, churning out singles that sound like they were buried in some time capsule beneath the Black Forest in 1982.

“What I love in electronic music is the sound of analogue keyboards,” says the beatmaker. “I can’t make music if I can’t play keyboards. I have some friends who make tracks with just a mouse, but for me that would be impossible.”

Last year, the Hacker and Miss Kittin reunited for a European tour and a recording session that yielded a splendid new 12-inch, “Hometown/Dimanche”. The collaboration continues, leading to plans for the release of a new album, the pair’s second. While the Hacker says he’s delighted with the new material, he’s perhaps more gratified to realize that the pair’s old songs—“1982”, “Stock Exchange”, and “Frank Sinatra”—don’t sound old at all.

“In preparing the tour, we realized we didn’t have to make new versions of those tracks for the stage—you know, to make them sound like 2008,” he says. “We play them like we used to play them back then and it still works. When you realize that your music stands the test of time, that’s a wonderful feeling.”

Miss Kittin & the Hacker play the Plaza Club on Tuesday (September 16).