synthead: October 2008

Just when you thought the whole sleazy electronic punk thing was starting to sound a little tire, along comes this single that get you all excited about what music can be. So this is the continuation of my wicked electronic bands I'm on goingly discovering, mostly from the record label 'Modular Recordings' but it's not limited to them. Last time I talked about New Young Pony Club, an angular guitar driven rock band with dance rhythms, disco-pop gloss & synths. A great band as they maybe, they are no match for the this time I wanna talk about THE PRESETS, a Sydney-based two piece band that plunges you into the darkness of a filthy nightclub atmosphere, hallucinating synths, POUNDING BEATS & luciferian vocals that would make a nun commit adultery. Worried? Good...This is hardcore.

According to their myspace page, Kimberley Isaac Moyes was but a young man (small of stature but big of heart) down on his luck, doing the odd performance in a downtown gay bar & eating anchovies from tin cans discarded in the alley behind a local Italian restaurant, putting all his dollar bills in a pillow, with the dream to one day have enough money to buy a Moog synthesizer. Touching.

Julian Hamilton (robust and ambitious) was the new bus boy in a food joint, taking out the trash and sweating like a malaria ravaged wrestler when he one day chanced upon poor Kim out the back, sucking on those oily little fish like he'd never tasted such a delicacy.

The Presets came into being when drummer Kim Moyes ran into keyboard man Julian Hamilton at that food establishment. There are rumors of shared sardine sampling, plots to overthrow bosses and discussion about collaborating music. Somewhere along the line came the idea of creative a futuristic pop band. Despite having no real sense of what it was they were attempting to create (explained in "Bad Up Your Betterness.") The Presets nevertheless compiled a debut E.P. titled 'Blow up'' & sourced around for some radio & public support.

They officially formed in 2003, inspired by bands like Trans Am and Daft Punk, and found themselves part of the Modular Recordings fold. Releasing 'Blow Up' at the end of that year, The Presets soon began to filter into clubs known for their support of band like Depeche Mode and Cabaret Voltaire. Somehow the duo had managed to deliver what many would consider the undeliverable - electropop mixed with a distinctive rock and roll forcefulness.In a series of small gigs in Sydney, the public began to show determined interest in the strange outfit.

On their second E.P. 'The Girl & the Sea', The Presets wander away from the meandering bass and crystal clear keyboard lines of the title track, and rather embrace a darker atmosphere and bleeping electronic sounds like on 'Kitty in the Middle'.

In September 2005 they released their debut album 'Beams', to much positive critical response, which spawned the dance floor monsters 'Down Down Down', 'Are You The One?' and 'I Go Hard, I Go Home'. Although my favourties on this record are 'Kitty in the Middle' 'Steamworks' & 'Girl & the Sea'.

So began two years of non-stop touring. From playing to clubs in Barcelona, New York and Istanbul, to over one hundred thousand people at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and every imaginable key festival in-between, Julian and Kim have covered almost every corner of the globe with their take no prisoners live show.

After two years of non-stop touring, The Presets began production of 'Apocalypso' in early 2007 by going to a farm in Byron Bay for two weeks. The duo had no songs written or any idea what the album would sound like before hitting the farm. The majority of the album was recorded by the band themselves at their own individual home studios.

The album was released in April 2008 & debuted at NO. 1 on the ARIA charts, & achieved gold certification within two weeks. The album features the singles 'My People', 'This Boy's In Love' & 'Talk Like That' ( I love this tune & my other favourites on this disc are 'Yippiyo-ay' & 'A New Sky' !).

So I've realized, after 6 days of writing this, that I could go on for ages talking about The Presets and how they've turned around my thinking of music today! They may only have 2 albums but they also have about 12 E.P.'s, all of which include tunes not on any other album and great remixes, like 'The Girl & the Sea (Cut Copy Remix)'!!! So for now I'll end this here but there will certainly be a continuation on The Presets later on :)

To be continued...

FUN FACTS

Along the way the band has remixed and been remixed by many of the modern dance music alumni. Additionally songs were picked up for use in hit TV programs such as The OC, CSI: Miami and CSI: New York as well as appearing on dozens of compilations!!!

Kims favourite pop star is Serge Gainsbourg

The Presets started their career with a very risky video for the song "Cookie," it was never released officially due to controversial shots of minors in pornographic positions (creative if you ask me, nothing wrong with that. Its not like they went out and raped children), see for yourself...

In an interview with the national radio station Triple J, the band members discussed the inspiration for the albums title stating that they wanted to mix 'the end of the world' with something fun and light hearted. Possible names were 'Apocalypse Wow' (as a pun on the war movie Apocalypse Now, they thought this was hysterical) before they settled on 'Apocalypso', as a mixture of Apocalypse and Calypso.

Julian Hamilton does not believe in star signs/horoscopes.

When Julian Hamilton was a little boy his worst nightmare was as he describes "I dreamed that I was standing next to this road that was filled with millions of screaming human heads. My dad drove over them in his white commodore and they exploded like watermelons leaving two long bloodied tire trails down the road. The other heads kept screaming. Lovely stuff."

Kim Moyes favourite snacks are lemon tarts.

Julians heros are Dmitri Shostakovich (composer), and his Grandfathers.

Julians favourite snack is toast with ricotta cheese and honey.

Julian Hamilton's TOP 10 FAVE SONGS
Lou Reed - Satellite of Love
A Certain Ratio - Waterline
Stereolab - Cybele's Reverie
Kraftwerk - Computer Love
Bela Bartok - The Lost Cat
Alice Coltrane - Spiritual Eternal/Wisdom Eye
Cannibal Ox - Iron Galaxy
The Smiths - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Shostakovich - Prelude and Fugue No.1, Op.87
Donny Hathaway - Jealous Guy

Kim Moyes TOP 10 FAVE SONGS:
"There is a Light and it Never Goes Out" The Smiths
"Play for Today" The Cure
"Witchita Lineman" Glenn Campbell
"She bangs the Drum" The Stone Roses
"Sound of Silence" Simon & Garfunkel
"Love Will Tear us Apart" Joy Division
"Tanned" Arab strap
"If I Ever Feel Better" Phoenix
"A Perfect Day" Lou Reed
"Dreams" Fleetwood Mac

SOME OF MY OWN SHOTS FROM SHOWS

Remixed by Presets
Midnight Juggernauts - Devil Within (The Presets Remix) 2005
Paul Mac - Its Not Me, Its You (The Presets Remix) 2005
Caged Baby - Hello There (The Presets Remix) 2006
Lenny Kravitz - Breathe (The Presets Remix) 2006
Howling Belts - Low Happening (The Presets Remix) 2007
Silverchair - Straight Lines (The Presets Remix) 2007
Architecture In Helsinki - Heart It Races (The Presets Remix) 2007

Remixes done on Preset tunes
The Presets - The Girl & The Sea (Cut Copy Remix)
The Presets - I Go Hard, I Go Home (Club Mix)
The Presets - Are You The One (Simian Mobile Disco Mix)
The Presets - Are You The One (Lifelike Remix)
The Presets - Talk Like That (Dave Spoons Televized Mix)
The Presets - Talk Like That (Miami Horror Remix)
The Presets - My People (DIM Remix)
The Presets - My People (Dj DONR MOS Remix)
The Presets - This Boy's In Love (Adam Day Remix)
The Presets - This Boy's In Love (Lifelike Remix)
The Presets - Down Down Down (Digitalism)

VIDEOS

TALK LIKE THAT

THIS BOYS IN LOVE

MY PEOPLE

ARE YOU THE ONE (LIFELIKE REMIX)

ARE YOU THE ONE

DOWN, DOWN, DOWN

KITTY IN THE MIDDLE

E.P.'s

http://www.myspace.com/thepresets
http://www.modularpeople.com/thepresets/
http://www.thepresets.com

In the ’90s, glamour in electronica was hiding anonymously in the background of trance tunes, never allowed to take centerstage just in case it detracted from the geek-boy technicality of the genre. And when it did finally take spotlight in the early 2000s (courtesy of bands like Ladytron or Miss Kittin) it was always strapped down, genderless and robotic; sexual suggestions that were about as sexy as a slap in the face with Gary Numan’s old pants! It was as if the electro bods were terrified that their music would be tainted as pop or disco at the merest sign of femininity and only felt safe with their girls stripped of all passion and identity, portrayed purely as she-droids – their sexuality defined only by their mechanical subservience.

Then electro-clash broke through the electro-fabulous levees, and the ladies took control! Peaches grabbed the baton, flaunting her glam-sex brutality with fantastic abandon. Le Tigre became the femdisco Beastie Boys! Goldfrapp surrounded herself with unicorns and dolphins and got sexy despite being 286 years old. And now we’ve entered a flamboyant new world of danceadelica: Lovefoxxx, Robots In Disguise, Tigerpicks, Crystal Castles, The Ting Tings and, shimmying sparkly cheeked across some celestial dancefloor in high-heels and party dresses, Tahita Bulmer, the ice cream queen of the new glamtronic generation.

There are so many wonderful indie dance, electro-pop, discotech, noise-electro, electronica type bands out there right now that are not getting the recongnition and credit they deserve! I admit I used to think that the years that I had not been able to experience would never repeat themsleves like historians like to tell you, the 80's! Being born in the 80's I unfortunally missed out BUT there is hope, bands started to come through in the early 2000s! I found a record label "Modular Recordings," who seem to be the pinnacle of all this glittery gregariousness! This record company really knows who to sign ;) I felt it was necessary to share with you some of the GREAT indie bands I've recently discovered from this label (and some other labels too.)

First, New Young Pony Club, a five piece electronic band from London, England.

Forming in 2004, New Young Pony Club, draw influences from new wave bands such as LCD Soundsystem, Talking Heads and Blondie (or Vodka, Cake and Emotion as they like to say), combining angular guitar driven rock with dance rhythms disco-pop gloss & synths which is an enthusiastic and dance-y reminiscent of new romantic stars of the 80s or just a synth band with guitars...whatever.

As they explain at SPIN Magazine, Tahita Bulmer & Andy Spence, co-founders of NYPC, were introduced by mutual friends, they shared the same love for punk rock and dance music, from Gang of Four to Tom Tom Club. Tahita Bulmer is a vegetarian who describes herself as loving animals, and is interested in animal rights. She wasn’t very good at sports as a kid & she is Trinidadian mixed with English but spent her childhood living in New York, London and Europe. And Andy Spence, a graduate of UOL: The University Of Life, with his peace-activist, CND-mad mum.

The pair began writing together as a duo originally, intending only Tahita to preform the songs. Andy later assumed a larger role when they decided to form a proper band, so they gathered Lou Hayter for the keyboards, Igor Volk for the bass & Sarah Jones on the drums and became New Young Pony Club. In early 2005, they released two limited edition 7” singles, cult hit 'Ice Cream' & 'The Get Go' on an indie label 'Tirk Recordings' before like-minded label Modular Recordings picked them up & signed them to a worldwide deal, that was just one year after they had formed with all five members.

After that they exploded everywhere! They toured extensively in 2006 and 2007, a support tour with Lily Allen was followed by a spot on the 2007 NME Indie Rave Tour along with CSS, The Sunshine Underground and Klaxons. The band went on to their first headline tour to promote their debut album, Fantastic Playroom. The sold-out tour launched on May 30th at The Cockpit in Leeds, and concluded at Winter Gardens in Eastbourne on June 9, 2007. The band continued to play festivals throughout 2007. The band brought in the 2008 new year at the famous Rhythm & Vines festive in Gisborne, New Zealand. Their performance was considered a success.

Fantastic Playroom (NYPC’s effortlessly bubblely 10-trackdebut) is an example of the potential NYPC has. Modular sure knows how to pick 'em . It’s got the icy-cool foundations of Ladytron, the pose and punch of Peaches,the samba sexiness of CSS and the electrogiirrrrrrl ’80s pop scene of Robots In Disguise!! This is the best indie synth crossover record I've heard in a while!

SOME MORE FUN FACTS ABOUT NYPC

Tahita and Andy initially pressed 1,000 copies of their debut seven-inch single 'Ice Cream,' but the entire lot sold out in just three days.

Petas website finds out in an interview that the band’s name came from lead singer Tahita Bulmer’s desire to be part of a club or team at school. Her original idea for the band name was the more concise “Pony Club”, which she describes as “quirky and kinky and fun”. A pre-existing Irish band had already claimed the name, and the prefix “New Young” was added to reflect that the band are “a newer, younger and kinkier Pony Club.

Their song 'Ice Cream' is featured in a commercial for Intel Core 2 processors , in episode 4 of Secret Diary of a Call Girl and in an majority of the Gossip Girl commercials.

It also featured in the episode of legal drama series Shark, 'Here Comes the Judge', when Julie Stark drinks at a party. Also in the Grandparents seduction scene in Wedding Daze.