A lot has been made in the online press of the fact that Microfilm is the love child of Matthew Mercer and Matt Keppel, a gay couple whose first album in five years represents "a dissection of the archetypes of masculinity, but still something you can dance to." While the gay angle is nothing to underline, I mention it only because it's an interesting experiment to explore the conventions of masculinity though music - whatever your sexual preferences.

Leaving the sexual angle of the artists aside, and the subject of masculinity, Aggropastels is a well crafted and funky electronic dance album. The masculinity thread that ties everything together is merely the icing on the cake.

The album opens with 'Chemical Wings', which slowly introduces us to the style of that which is to come. The vocals are obviously masculine, if it's at all possible to attach a masculine tag to a singer's vocals.

Aggropastels is impressively retro in its sound - with an obvious nod to the late '80s, early '90s. Personal favourite tracks include 'Chemical Wings';'Emmanuelle XXX'; and 'Airlock: Open'.

The album contains 13 tracks and has a running time of 57 min, 41 sec.

8

Nick Smithson