Apocalypso

Wow, this album kicks. Crazed, electronica in parts, dark like Covenant/Rotersand in other parts, and generally just feel good hard grinding punk-influenced dance music with echoes of everything from YAZOO to New Order on into the modern dance-punk electronic scene.

It sounds like more than 2 people can create all this, but if that's the case, so be it. The Presets, from Australia, have tapped a vein!

Excellent.

Jim Harris
A Bottle of Rain
Nowhere Near the Sea of Cortez

The Presets won 3 Aria's last night in the following categories:
1. ALBUM OF THE YEAR
2. BEST GROUP
3. BEST DANCE RELEASE

Read more @ http://www.ariaawards.com.au/news.php but if you didn't see the show you missed out on their amazing live act. I want a headdress like the drummer's for halloween!!!! This group is really popular with young Australians - My People!

Having been a raving fan of this develish duo for several years, and having seen their evolution from bedroom rockers to international dance acclaim, I was very keen to get my hands on their sophomore effort.

At first listen however, I was panicking that the Presets had sold their electro souls to ensure dance chart success. It seemed every track on Apocalypso was unashamdely directed towards the dancefloor.

Yet after reading several interviews with the band, it became clear just how much they have both become raving ravers due to their incessant touring in nightclubs around the world. This has greatly affected the way they write and produce their brand of music. After I understood this ethos, I could easily appreciate this effort and the sheer quality of each track.

Julian's voice especially stands out on several of the tracks as he uses more of his unique vocal style to lead the tracks. The production and instrumentation is once again a cut above anything else I've heard in the electro-alternative realm.

If you're an early presets fan, give this a spin and some room to grow, and at the very least put it on at your next party. If you're new to the Presets, you're in for one hell of a ride.

loved Beams, was very excited to get this. 'If I Know You' is a very lovely song, but the rest of it is pretty forgettable, and tracks 3, 4, and 5 work the same exact riff...huh? The lead singer's overwrought bombast seems like a weak Depeche Mode ripoff ('Talk Like That'), and his yodelly yawp gets tired. It works great on 'If I know You', very passionate, but not so much anywhere else. Where Beams was incredibly diverse , and full of hooks, this is fully of lazy synth lines, generic drum machine plonk, and little else. oh well.

The first time i heard The Presets was on a music channel shortly before Beams was released, it was the then current single - Are You The One?
Purchasing their debut album Beams, it delivered exactly what i was looking for... thundering electro mixed with some low-key tracks and instrumentals.

For this reason i rate Beams as being better than Apocalypso. It is more varied - while Apocalypso has it's non-dancey tracks, they don't seem to equal the tracks from Beams. Some could see this as a progression from their first album but i feel like they have lost a bit of the variety they used to have, instead focusing on the more danceable side of their music.

Apocalypso is a great album and it's far more easily accessed than Beams. From the very start with Kicking and Screaming it smashes its way through your head and assaults your eardrums in a flurry of distortion and thumping percussion, only breifly alleviated by tracks like Aeons and If I Know You.

This album is perfect for those who love a good slice of rough electro,
however i feel it lacks the depth and diversity displayed on Beams.