IT'S been a while since dance music could muster anyone but the wide-eyed and stupified, so far had it descended into the creative doldrums, but things are looking up.

Not only do we have the likes of Klaxons confronting our preconceptions, there's the laughing gas-fuelled disco-punk kids making a joyful noise once more and the godfather of them all, James Murphy, back on the block with the startling second LCD Soundsystem set.

From skeletal, trancey essays like Time To Get Away, through the guitar-edged yowl of North American Scum, to the Bowie-esque closer New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down, Murphy melds genres and expectations like some beat-crazed alchemist.

All of a sudden there's hope out there on the dancefloor.