The Presets

Following up their well-received debut album, Beams, Australian dark electro-pop duo The Presets return to dance floors across the globe with Apocalypso. Known as one of the premier dance acts in their native Australia, the act could easily attain the same status on these shores with a style that fuses '80s dark wave and pop with '90s club techno. Despite the fact that the mix was obviously wrung through a digital ringer, the overall vibe is retro enough to maintain a level of faithfulness to The Presets' old-school influences.

Taking more of a flowing and song-oriented approach than your average synth n' drums outfit, The Presets include shades of The Talking Heads ("Kicking And Screaming"), Duran Duran ("A New Sky") and a shadowy Depeche Mode "Anywhere") into their tuneful electronica. Poppier numbers like "Eucalyptus" or "Talk Like That" don't offer as much substance as the rest of the album, but still provide ample excuse to shake ass on the dance floor. The beauty of Apocalypso is its oddly organic vibe. Music that lacks the inclusion of skin to string or stick instrumentation generally comes across as inherently cold and machine-like, but this album tends to breathe much more than expected. Perhaps it's vocalist Julian Hamilton's sullen, yet melodious voice adding that human element, or the hypnotically rhythmic pulse of the richly layered music behind said vocal. Whatever it is, it works and you shouldn't be surprised to hear any one of these songs pounding out of the speakers next time you hit the clubs.

–Ryan Ogle
07.08.08

What with Vince Clarke living in semi-retirement in rural Maine and New Order suddenly realizing after 30 years that they don't like each other all that much, it's a hard time to be a fan of synthesizer dance pop from the '80s. Until the Presets' second album comes on, that is. The Sydney-based duo of singer Julian Hamilton and synthesist Kim Moyes is straight-ahead old-fashioned electro-pop circa 1984, when the fusion of the Human League and Giorgio Moroder was complete but the cold, hard demands of techno and house hadn't yet asserted themselves outside of Detroit and Chicago. Tracks like first single "My People" and its surging follow-up, "This Boy's in Love," have the characteristic blend of steely synths, thumping electronic beats, and Motown-derived soul-tinged vocals that characterized the predominant strain of mid-'80s synth pop. It's not entirely retro -- "Eucalyptus," the Daft Punk-like "Talk Like That," and the soaring "A New Sky" would sound at home in any mainstream club DJ's set circa 2008 -- but the overall feel of the album from its arrangements to the sci-fi-themed cover art and even the album title (which several artists used for songs back in the day, from the Monochrome Set and Lords of the New Church to the Motels and Mental as Anything) harks back to the day when the Fairlight CMI was the height of musical sophistication and Jellybean Benitez and Arthur Baker were the hottest remixers on the block. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide