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Hailing from Sydney, Australia, the electronic power-hitter duo that is The Presets burst onto the scene in 2005 with their debut album Beams, and have since then changed the game for electronic music. Their award winning sophomore album, Apocalypso, is the one I feel deserves more focus though. This album single handedly took the two Sydney-ites out of the seedy underground electronic music scene of Australia, and thrust them into mainstream success.
Characteristic of most electronic music, Apocalypso abounds in the sounds of hard hitting kicks, droning, stagnant bass, and screaming synth lines. Yet, The Presets have combined these electronic normalities with the inner mechanisms of their own minds, having a metaphorical baby with electronic music and producing a new and exciting voice.
Their sound is a ruthless one. It is pissed off. The Presets have an uncanny ability to create very evil sounding music; nightmarish and cold. If there were a visual representation of their music, I’d have to say it would be a freakish hybrid of a Tim Burton film and Tron, or the offspring of Phantom of the Opera and Daft Punk.
A few stand-out tracks from the album include “Yippiyo-Ay”, “Eucalyptus”, and “A New Sky”. “Yippiyo-Ay” is in all meanings of the term- a dance song. Don’t let the shell of electronica fool you. The raw powers of funk are deeply rooted in this track, almost tangible in the rolling bass line and the chorus of the song. It is hard not to find yourself moving some part of your body when this song is playing.
“Eucalyptus” is cocaine. This song is on edge, fast paced, and angry. The bass line is remnant of a riff from some punk/metal band, and when juxtaposed against the very floaty, dream-like chorus of the song, it creates a very unique flavor that is hard to find.
“A New Sky” begins with a hypnotizing, trance-enticing, chant like singing, which sounds almost regal, as if I should be worshipping something. The verses of the song are a tad bit bland in my opinion but the chorus, and the bridge of the song highly makes up for it. The bridge occurs in the middle of the song, in this funky little ‘break it down’ section. The bass line pops and bubbles and bounces, as an orchestra of percussion sounds fuse to create what I think, is a very sturdy bridge.
The pinnacle of the album in my opinion is their hit song “My People”, the longest charting single in Australian chart history. This song is the beast that lurks in all shadows, behind every corner, and beneath every bed. This song is evil. Desperate sounding vocals that seem to echo out to you overlie the punchiest of punchy kick drums, combined with a wicked and unforgiving bass line.
This album bears great sentimental value for me, hitting me on an auditory and spiritual level. It reminds me of my experiences in Australia, bumping these tracks out of car speakers, cruising the bustling streets of Brisbane. This album makes me long to be at Splendour in the Grass, an annual music festival in Australia, in a field somewhere, in a sweaty mass of people jumping and fist pumping to the sounds of The Presets. Going crazy with all of “My People”…
