THE PRESETS
Apocalypso
MODCD078
Modular 2008
11 Tracks. 50mins53secs

The first track on Apocalypso, the latest release from electro-rockers The Presets, is called Kicking And Screaming. And, it’s excellent. It’s everything this electro-house-rock-whatever movement should be in its most pristine form: manic and panicked, just the right amount of New Order influence, with an arpeggiated synthesizer that Giorgio Moroder would gush over. It has a fantastic breakdown toward the end before climaxing in with smooth, processed vocal wails sitting on choppy acidic synth lines. Continue Reading »

CUT COPY
In Ghost Colours
MOD103CD
Modular 2008
15 Tacks. 50mins54secs

Four years have passed since Melbourne quartet Cut Copy released their debut album, Bright Like Neon Love, and the heavily eighties influenced sound the band have championed from as far back as 2001, has almost become vintage in its own right, and has even been badly trampled over by the New Rave craze that briefly blew a tepid breeze last year.

Formed in early 2001 in Melbourne, Australia, by Dan Whitford, who was later joined by additional musicians Bennett Foddy. Mitchell Scott and Tim Hoey, Cut Copy were rapidly signed to Modular, home of The Avalanches, Klaxons, New Young Pony Club and Soulwax to name but a few. Having delivered a number of EPs between 2001 and 2003, the band released their debut album the following year, followed by a contribution to the ever expending FabricLive series in 2006.

Fast-forward to 2008, and the next chapter in the Cut Copy story. Recorded with DFA producer Tim Goldsworthy, who invited the band to make good use of the facilities of the label’s Plantain Studio in New York, In Ghost Colours is a much more confident and consistent affair, which alternates strong pop songs and short instrumental interludes. Continue Reading »