2008 is probably high time for a new watershed in electronic music. For a genre that is usually where people look for musical progressiveness, retrospectivity has been the name of the game for quite a while now. Justice's 2007 full-length Cross reimagined disco with its robo-glam beats and low-fi synths, while albums from both The Presets and Digitalism brought a rock philosophy to a new brand of abrasive, muscular electro.

As far as musical retrospectivity goes, the burgeoning chiptune scene has it in spades, and it could just be the watershed we're looking for. Using the 8-bit noises from 80s video games immediately sounds to me like a great idea- in all honesty there is something totally fresh about the sound. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that video game music history cannot be separated from its electronic origins; while rock and jazz have a illustrious social and musical history behind it, game music was born as digital notches in Japanese consoles, and stands as such an alien and completely recognisable sound. It's important to remember that the music in landmark games like Super Mario Bros. serves a completely different purpose to concert music. Game musix is  composed to directly complement a narrative, unashamedly forcing an emotional reaction in the listener; its the domain of the victory and the death theme, the ominous brooding tune when you enter a dark cave, and the euphoric melody whe you pass a level. With childlike innocence it wears its every emotion on its sleeve.

But is chiptune that watershed? Despite its appeal, as it stands right now its pretty inaccessible, as it can't deliver a lot of what makes conventional music fun. Try getting a thumping bassline or ascerbic, IDM-style beats out of a GameBoy. What chiptune needs is a showcase album to demonstrate its merits without letting it miss the mark of enjoyability.

Crystal Castle's self-titled debut is that album. Having gained attention from the mainstream for the appearance of their single 'Alice Practice' on the British teen drama Skins, Crystal Castles have shown that they can craft totally original, devastating chiptune dance pieces with complete emotional honesty. 'Alice Practice' is a video game firestorm, with martial beats against a highly layered synth melody, made all the more compelling (yet tortuous) with the banshee vocals of Alice Glass. It sets the pace for the rest of the album, with other fantastic dance efforts like 'Xxzxcuzx Me' and 'Love and Caring' driven with the same powerful bass and hyperactive sample melodies.

But even during its many slower moments, Crystal Castles never runs out of steam. The playfulness of 'Crimewave' (featuring noise band HEALTH, a recent collaborator with the duo) and 'Untrust Us' is a joy to listen to. The second single 'Courtship Dating' superbly executes the band's many meritable ideas and is probably the best electronic song I've heard since Simian Mobile Disco's 'I Believe'. I was happy to hear (what I thought was) a bit of Aphex Twin influence, not just from the masterful intricate beats, but also the casual melodies on songs like 'Magic Spells' and 'Knights'.

Crystal Castles has also gained attention because of the interesting persona of its vocalist, Alice Glass. She is not a ubiquitous presence on the album, but her turns in 'Courtship Dating' and 'Good Time' make her one of the most interesting vocalists to listen to, up there with Bjork and James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem). Vocals on what is essentially an album of video game music may seem heretic, which may be true, but here they can't often be distinguished from the music itself. The alien, animal-like calls and chirps in the fantastic 'Air War' is another example of a bit of a trend in music at the moment: vocal alteration (see Bloc Party and Battles). The vocals in this album never go against the grain but always make it something special.

There is a danger for an album like this that the use of video game sounds would be gimmickry; it is often true that the use of a distinctive and not-often drawn upon style of music is jumped upon by an artist in an attempt at originality (see Venetian Snares' Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett, a drum and bass revisitation of 19th century Hungarian classical music). This is not the case here at all: this album could through and through be mistaken for video game music, as it embodies all the emotional honesty and innocence of the game music philosophy. But even forgetting its chiptune flavour, Crystal Castles is simply completely original electro, filled with lots of new and interesting ideas, and turning its influences into something fresh. Most importantly, its awesome to listen to.

9/10, and i can't wait for more.