The Presets

Over the past 24 months, a new breed of music has been unhurriedly clawing its way out of the pit of everlasting damnation electro-clash dug for itself. Call it electro-rock, disco-punk, post-clash, maximal or whatever the hell you want to call it. It's here to stay, and it's got no better representative that Sydney's The Presets.


The tandem formed by Julian Hamilton & Kim Moyes first gathered attention with Blow Up, the 2003 EP on which they first attempted to define their sound, missing the mark by the narrowest margin. Guest guitarist Daniel Johns (Silverchair) contributed to three of the tracks, his heavy riffs clashing horribly with The Presets' music. Luckily, the boys didn't bring back any more guitars on their subsequent releases.

In 2004, the gentler ballad-filled Girl & The Sea EP came along, on which The Presets' sound is greatly refined & polished, along the way growing closer to that of Modular label-mates Cut Copy.


Fortuitously, they didn't turn into Cut Copy-Cats, and by late 2005 Jules & Kim had a full-length ready, Beams, in which the duo finally delineate their sound fully, wonderfully balancing sweeter subdued ballads (a few borrowed from their previous EP) and driving rock thumpers such as "Are You The One", presented below.

Throw in a little help from the internet hype machine, a couple of killer tracks and a few remixes by the likes of Captain Comatose, Cut Copy, Digitalism & Simian Mobile Disco, and what you end up with is the first chapter of a success story in the making.

The Presets will be playing at Sunday's Neon Nights main event at La SAT, alongside Riton & Jordan Dare.