Apocalypso | 
| Artist: The Presets
Label: Modular Interscope
List Price: $10.98
Buy New: $6.98
You Save: $4.00 (36%)
New (25) Used (12) from $4.95
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 10169
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 67
UPC: 602517570245
EAN: 0602517570245
ASIN: B00171NZFI
Release Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW Factory Sealed - Ready to be shipped within 24 hrs from California - Average 5 workdays delivery time - Excellent customer service - Buy with confidence!
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| Tracks:
| • | Kicking & Screaming | | • | My People | | • | A New Sky | | • | This Boy's In Love | | • | Yippiyo - Ay | | • | Talk Like That | | • | Eucalyptus | | • | If I Know You | | • | Together | | • | Aeons | | • | Anywhere |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Album Description
The Presets are a Sydney-based electronic duo, consisting of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes. In September 2005 they released their debut album, Beams, to positive critical response. That same year Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes also toured with The Dissociatives, which is co-fronted by Daniel Johns of Silverchair and Australian dance producer Paul Mac. Johns also played guitar on Presets single "Cookie". Hamilton and Moyes are also members of Sydney instrumental group Prop. 11 tracks.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great 2nd Album! May 26, 2008
Brian Lange (Chicago, IL)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
The Presets sophomore effort, Apocalypso, does not disappoint in the slightest!
The formula is the same, the content is as high fueled as "Beams" if not more! I feel it to be a much more consistent and well rounded album than "Beams" Of course there were hits off that record that are hard to surpass, but this album delivers a whole slough of new work that is sure to get the bodies moving. They deliver great tracks, and it the album never lags. Hard solid beats and crazy aussie vocals laced with sythy presets. How can you go wrong?
& see them live.
Australia strikes again! June 6, 2008
Benjamin Norman (Washington DC)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Australian duo The Presets return to the scene with their 2008 sophomore record, Apocalypso. The album features a very strong dance vibe with industrial and pop undertones.
If you don't know The Presets, here is your introduction. Julian Hamilton is one half, and the side we would know as the voice. His singing is monotonous and can almost at times be described as yelling in key. Along with Kim Moyes, who is in charge with percussion, they both provide the keyboards and synths. It's a complete dual effort, as the songs would lack something if either the beats or words were gone from their compositions. Hamilton and Moyes are prevalent in the Australian electronic scene, and partially in the rock scene as well. They are good friends with Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns, as well as his Dissociatives counterpart and producer Paul Mac. They have remixed fellow Australians Cagedbaby and Architecture in Helsinki, been remixed by Cut Copy, and share a label with Wolfmother and The Avalanches. Their first album, Beams, met with mixed reviews, but when it shined, it shined brightly. "Are You The One?", the second single off the album, was featured in one of the final episodes in season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance.
Which brings us to Apocalypso. The album finds The Presets picking up on the vibe that worked, something that was mostly developed while touring based on live performances. The lead single, "My People," is an extremely heavy, fast-paced, and dark electronic pop song, and also a cry for social reformation in Australia. "Let me hear you scream if you're with me!" Hamilton yells, like the man with the megaphone. "Talk Like That" seems custom-tailored for the dance floor, complete with sexual connotations and classical breakdowns. Hamilton and Moyes make sure to let us know when to expect a big drop into some heavy beats as the instruments climb the scales, and the tension rises. Just when you think it can't go on any longer, right on the beat we hear, in almost a coy fashion, "Uh oh!" to let us know it's time to dance. "This Boy's In Love" is the album's second single and is one of the softer notes available on Apocalypso, but don't be fooled by that description. It's still a very danceable number. Every time I begin to listen to "Kicking and Screaming," the opening song, I think, "Wow, I really don't like this song." Then the chorus begins, and I'm reminded of just why I love The Presets. "Aeons" is, in my opinion, the only downer on the album. Earlier I had mentioned that without both members contributing their individual strengths, Hamilton with his voice and Moyes with his beats, The Presets lost their edge. "Aeons" is an instrumental track, and thus feels like it is missing something.
You'll typically find The Presets in the rock section at your local CD retailer. This is incorrect, as The Presets are very far from rock. Hamilton's voice and the dark tone of the music threatens to drag their music into industrial territory, but the production from Moyes and the general song structure supply club and pop elements, giving us a very twisted form of electro pop. This album borders on being a non-stop party album, and the most disrespect it can be shown is to be lumped into "Pop/Rock." It belongs in Electronica, and maybe people will wise up to how much talent and potential these two men have.
Summary: Buy it. Some find Hamilton's voice a little grating, but I find it a refreshing change from the screaming diva and breathy vixen that dominate the dance floor. "Talk Like That," even with an extended mix, could rock the floor.
A very decent second album April 10, 2008
Richard Thornton (Sydney)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
It ain't as fluid as "Beams", track 4 "This Boy's In Love" is a cracker and there isn't a bad track on the album.
Better than their first album... but different. June 15, 2008
ol' dirty media junkie (san diego, ca)
The Presets- clever, fresh, fun, danceable, smart music with some good edges you can wrap your ears around. If you liked their first album, you'll probably like this one too- I actually find this one has more listenable tracks. But it's darker, you might call it gothic synth-pop. Which is cool, it's in a genre all it's own. All my friends dig it and say "where do you find all these cool tunes?" But my friends are kind of douchebags so forget about them. Anyway, this is a rockin album. Check it out.
Great album, but Beams is better July 10, 2008
ziral
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.
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