a sign of things to come perhaps ?
when an album as good as this is being distributed by the band purely in digital form with little or no interest from labels in these cashflow , then surely the writing is on the wall.
in other words : keep your day job and make music instead of watching tv.
microfilm make electronic music.
some of it is of a dance-pop variety, some of it is more mellow.
all of it is beautiful.
the band themselves describe their style as "melancholic disco", which is pretty apt if truth be told.
microfilm are a techno pop duo, with one small subtle difference to most others out there at the moment.
the people behind microfilm are both men : matthew mercer (electronics), and matt keppel (lyrics/vocals).
currently the classic "2 blokes and a keyboard" line up that dominated the electro’d up 80s is somewhat missing in pop.
of course there is erasure, and the pet shop boys, but they are leftovers from the original era of electro-pop so don’t count.
the music throughout the 12 tracks is a blend of minimal but beautiful electronics often encased within atmospheric synthetic strings.
from time to time, there is a slight deviation in style, for example the so-called single, teenage symphonies, incorporates a peter hook/new order styled bass line, keeping the dance floor bunnies happy as well as the headphone listeners.
one point to bear in mind, the laid back vocals throughout are treated with the ubiquitous use of vocoders, and so may prove to be a little too one-dimensional for some listeners, however, for this listener, given that 2008 has been all about music that lacks any vocals, this is not a problem at all. especially when the layered throbbing machine made music that surrounds the vocals is as enjoyable as this.
the attention to detail in the production puts many major label efforts to shame.
i would like to think that these guys should definitely be getting offers of remix work in 2009, and the microfilm name become more widespread.
admittedly tracks like hospitalized for exhaustion and disco demolition derby with their deep repetitive robotic vocals, give the impression that the cold and clinical world of electroclash is being given another lease of life, thankfully, microfilm have a more emotional take on the much maligned genre, and in fact at times remind me of the more moody sounds of the beloved, which is never a bad thing.
quite simply, the slingshot orchestra is highly recommended.
more detail : here