The Presets

(the first track reminds me of "Billie Jean"!)

http://www.modularpeople.com/03/preset/preset.htm has videos, sound, plus the guys doing a track-by-track runthrough of the album (which jars a bit w/my actual experience of the album, heh...)

& for contrast, the Midnight Juggernauts - "Raised By Wolves"

(btw, if anyone could tell me what to expect from "Unc0ntrollable Urg3, Ja1me D00m from B4ng G4ng in Sydney and the Modul4r DJ's", that'd be fab. forewarned is forearmed, &c.)

(& this is probably more of an indictment of auckland that teh genius of the modular guy who DJed, but when, post-presets, he played "crescendolls" => "paris hilton" => "flat beat" => (something) "hey you (what's that sound)" => "saturdays", I almost cried tears of joy on the dancefloor (haha & the usual suspects were like "where's the schmindie? I don't know if I can dance to this music with 'beats'!"))

yes!!

that gold-leaf effect on the cover's a bit much though!

they seem to have a fair few remixes knocking around of late too. the cut copy 'girl and the sea' is much better than the original (which I liked fine enough). not as pretty but great bassline.

i think the presets best tune is i go hard, i go home. i hope they release that on 12" soon with remixes too.

need to hear the midnight juggernauts rmx, stat.

Also, Midnight Juggernauts badly need to release an album if "Raised by Wolves" is any indication. AYEEOOOWWW etc.

+
yes I do the handclaps to 'are you the one'! there is a 'club edit' on the 12" which alas I still haven't heard due to my turntable being outta commission (along with simian mob disco and van she (roffle) mixes).

-- lil' merzbow wow (birthday.part...), May 29th, 2006

wait, "are you the one?" 12"? if so, what/where/when/&c? would be nice to spin the original or a bonus beats/extended mix . . .

new thing to have nightmares about: indie kids with glowsticks.

What have Pitchfork got to do with this?

(lol @ vampire weekend at #48)

is 'if i know you' a download only thing or is it the third single proper?

I can't decide which is worse: the boy one where someone sticks their index finger inside their mouth and pokes their cheek in and out, or the girl one where they splay their fingers in front of their face and make slurping noises. I think they are as not funny as each other.

-- estela (estelaisale...), November 20th, 2005.

http://www.thevine.com.au/resources/IMGDETAIL/160808023038_vansheLP.jpg

they're all class

still better than cut copy

they're about lineball. different moods!

I'm a slow dumbarse, these guys fuckin rock. You could play "this boy's in love" in a goth club and no one'd blink. Hahah maybe thats a bad thing, I dont know, but yeah I like this album. Lots of 80s influence variety.

I still prefer Midnight Juggernauts over these guys, but then I love the Electric Light Orchestra too...

I'm well pleased the Aus electronic scene has developed some decent stuff in the last few years, its about bloody time. Not since Sev Heads have we had something worth getting into, what withthese guys, Cut Copy, Juggernauts, Van She etc.

If I know you is top five awesome. Rest of album is sucky electrodribble.

100% agree with the former, the latter not necessarily quite so much

There's that one song that gave me a fright because of where that girl's voice is in the mix that makes you think someone has just crept up on you.

Just such a loser for those hypercamp Moyet vocals.

i played an austrailian wedding the other day and the (totally fun for once, but still) wedding crew were like "oh, you have the presets?!?!? play that one!" which made me think that these guys must be massively popular in austrailia. cause weddings are like my musical barometer of total middle-of-the-roadnesss. so these guys are basically pop stars in sydney?

this kinda stuff is always huge in Australia though, right? List me some more Reaganomic synth-fop with bloated, swishtastic vocals plz. The more airbrushed and flamboyant the better!

pacifica is out. not heard yet but reviews are effusive so far.

listening to this on Spotify right now; I'm 45 seconds in and this is basically exactly my type of shit, hitting a bunch of Apoptgyma Berzerk buttons

basically the rest of the album could be terrible and I would still call it a win for "Youth In Trouble"

"Ghosts" is kind of sea shanty...? This is fucking great

pacifica is out. not heard yet but reviews are effusive so far.

― * The "no hands" rule can be compared to socialist tax policies (Autumn Almanac)

I'm so far behind what's been happening in Aussie music after being in Europe for a year; NZ is confusing enough. Are they likely to chart as well as they did last time around, or is their less Daniel Johns-affiliated stuff boosting it?

...boosting what?

only #3 :(

That was a slightly mangled sentence, sorry. From what I remember, didn't their last album's crossover nature happen due to Daniel Johns being involved / one of the Presets writing a big song for Silverchair and touring w/him, or something? I wasn't sure if they'd still have the same profile without the association w/Johns.

"Ghosts" is one of my favorite things I've heard this year, which is kind of weird

My reaction to this album is every time they veer away from more straightforward synth pop, they hit my buttons and I love it. The more conventional songs fall flat in comparison; I don't dislike them but they don't stand out to me.

"Ghosts" is amazing. I've only had time to listen to the album once, but it seems great.

didn't their last album's crossover nature happen due to Daniel Johns being involved / one of the Presets writing a big song for Silverchair and touring w/him, or something?

nah, 'apocalypso' was one of the biggest australian albums of recent years on its own terms, 'my people' was just the perfect abrasive anthem for that point in 2008 when the one love club and the melbourne DIY electrohouse cottage industry was at its peak commercially.

did johns end up being the singer of the chorus for 'this boy's in love'? he did cameo (and was credited) on earlier stuff.

might have to pick up the new one on thursday.

yeah Apocalypso blew up v organically on its own and devoid of Johns associations

(Johns played guitar on some of their first EP and both Presets were in the live band of The Dissociatives and Hamilton wrote Straight Lines, but that probably paid for part of his house more than it actually brought any crossover fans whatsoever. MMM's not putting them on the A playlist, you know?)

Yeah The Presets were basically inescapable on mainstream radio in 2008/2009.

and Hamilton wrote Straight Lines

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

whilst this album has nothing at the "if i know you" level of amazingness it is probably their best record otherwise.

fave bits so far:

- the forward-reverse-forward-reverse-forward-reverse sequence of the chorus of 'promises'

- the fact that 'a.o.' paints sydney more accurately than anything else I've ever read or heard

- the whole sentiment of 'fall'

Seing them live tonight!

http://nofun.thepresets.com/
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(needs chrome)

i actually really like this lot.

the mix of hard beats with nitzer ebb styled with shouty vocals, and lush electronica pop hits a lot of my sweet spots.

t/s :- aus electro : midnight juggernauts vs cut copy vs van she vs the presets

i would guess a max of 3 votes should such a poll ever be put in place.

Cut Copy > The Presets > Midnight Juggernauts > Van She

Cut Copy >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Midnight Juggernauts > The Presets >>>>>>>> Van She

haha.

expected such responses.

and i almost go with boxedjoys rundown but with less of the '>>' between cut copy and midnight juggernauts as i happen to think the first 2 MJ albums are perfect examples of how to update ELO with modern technology toys.

That new Nicky Van She thing is horrifying, a dead-eyed evocation to fun and release that just comes off as empty, desperate - a zombie chant of ill-convincing "life". ..."Liiiiiiife..."

I loved the first Midnight Juggernaut's album but I went to see them live soon after and it was very much Big Rock Music and it put me off them to the point where I only managed a cursory listen to the follow up and neglected the third. Their frontman released a good EP under the name Turkish Prison earlier this year though which I really liked.

not heard any of the solo projects as mentioned.

when a band starts to break into disparate solo projects then the end is well and truly nigh.

(the 2nd MJ album is full on ELO meets new toys .. never heard the 3rd ... )

KIM's solo career has always been a v functional side product to The Presets.

and Van She only ever had one good song and were tedious as heck live anyway, but Nick's Daft Punk cover, back when VS were a thing, was both excellent and a harbinger of nothing.

Van She put out a couple of decent enough pop singles 2 years ago. I haven't kept up with midnight juggernauts since, like, "road to recovery"

Still like most of the biggest Presets hits but find the dude's voice fairly grating. Cut Copy are one of my favourite local groups ever.

Also, lol at Muscles posting upthread! Whatever happened to that guy.

did not deal well with his elevation from message-board troll to pop star, melted down at his label, made up, faded away

blimey, seems to be a lot of detail that i am clearly not aware of this side of the planet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roGmGWOOcTA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpZAtLJftQE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P6pJRBYxFI

absolute fucking bangers

these new ones are really brash and ugly and dumb, I love this

whoa, I like Downtown Shutdown better than anything they've done since Pretty Little Eyes

we'll be hearing it in shoe shops for decades to come

these new ones are really brash and ugly and dumb, I love this

― boxedjoy, Friday, 11 May 2018 23:06 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and the album's called hi-viz! it seems they're going hard at the mainstream, which is just fine if the rest of the album is anything like these