The Chemical Brothers

For all the desperate acclaim accorded the first inklings of a "nu-rave" movement, it's undeniable that the house/dance/techno scene has suffered a drastic dip in recent years. The Chemical Brothers remain just about the only copper-bottomed prospect remaining from the Nineties big-beat heyday, and We Are the Night shows how much this is just down to taste and hard work.

The duo's taste is evident not just in their sounds but in the diversity of collaborators such as Midlake, Klaxons and Canadian beat poet Bill Bissett. Mason's eco-conscious lyric to "Battle Scars" and Midlake's post-drug commentary on "The Pills Won't Help You Now" both deliver their messages more articulately than Shaun Ryder manages these days, while the subtle transformation of tracks such as "All Rights Reversed" enables them to continually morph around their central cores, in a satisfying way that The Happy Mondays have neither the wit nor the application to emulate.