Customer Reviews

Beams

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoy this album because of its electro and bass feel. Songs like: "Are You the One", "Down Down Down", and "Girl and the Sea" can easily get u to the dance floor. While songs like "Kitty in the Middle" and Bad up Your Betterness" gives you that extra sexual boost with its bass foundation. This album also has a few instrumentals like "Worms," "Black Background," and "Beams" that have no change to its intrumental pattern (no breakdown no nothing). The song "I GO Hard, I Go Home," has a Kapoera sound that destroys the whole vibe of the album. It should have been a hidden track or something. In Conclusion, Purchase the following MP3's:

Are You the One
Down Down Down
Girl and the Sea
Kitty in the Middle
Girl You Chew my Mind Up
Bad up your Betterness

and buy the CD if you really want to feel my review first hand.

Finally it all makes sense. Like a pack of cards without an ace of spades, a jigsaw missing numerous pieces or a Monopoly board without a `Second Prize In A Beauty Contest' Community Chest card, The Presets' output to date has been like a nagging puzzle impossible to solve. Keeping their audience at a distance by releasing just two EPs since forming in 2003, the enigmatic nature of The Presets has worked both for and against the Sydney duo. Their weird imagery, ethereal New Wave EP Girl And The Sea and recent work with Australian rock maestros such as Daniel Johns and The Sleepy Jackson have all helped build the excitement about their debut LP, yet the flipside - having an insubstantial back catalogue - may have worked against them. Nonetheless, The Presets' meagre output of puzzling electronica has been buffed up, bolstered and blasted into hyperspace with their debut Beams, finally offering a complete look into The Presets mindset rather than the prior brief teases.
Current single Down Down Down has regimented bite, squelchy Worms sounds like a Bowie instrumental from the experimental Outside era and the eerie throb of Steamworks wouldn't have sounded out of place on the new Goldfrapp album. Even I Go Hard, I Go Home, amusingly described by Julian Hamilton as "mindless music written for mindless people", is a ravey slice of fun that sits neatly between the Add N To (X)-meets-Backstreet Boys sounds of Girl (You Chew My Mind Up) and the slipping beats and Xanax slur of Bad Up Your Betterness.
With Beams, The Presets enigma is finally solved. Julian and Kim Moyles have created an Australian electrorock experience that rivals last year's debut from Cut Copy, proving that you can never wear too many musical hats - or freaky masks, for that matter.

The Presets have released two great EPs already, and they have completed the trifecta by releasing a great debut album. The songs cover a whole different spectrum of emotions, from dark, raw grit on such tracks as 'Are You The One?' and 'Down Down Down', to light, chilled-out tunes like 'Girl And The Sea' and 'Kitty In The Middle'. Electro has never been so cool!

These guys make music that appeals to both ravers and indie lovers, by utilising dancey synth loops, deep bass, vox fade-laced vocals and generally dirty beats. These guys are touted as being a major hope as a future music leader in Australia, and it's not hard to see why. They break so many musical barriers that it is impossible to lump them into one genre. But when music is this good, genres are irrelevant. Check it out now!

I bought the Presets' second album (Apocalypso) a few months back and loved it. Every track got huge playcounts on my iPod and PC; the unique Depeche-Mode-goes-Dance style was incredible, and enough to make me a huge fan. Like any good fan boy I decided to go back and buy their first album... well, at least it was cheap :P To be honest, it's not awful; the production quality is low, it's repetitive, and half the tracks are instrumental (or whatever the electronic equivalent of that is), BUT it's catchy, has a good dark vibe to it, and gets in your head like you wouldn't believe (good luck not having "Are You The One" or "Girl (You Chew My Mind Up)" stuck in your head for hours. Still, it sounds like it was recorded in someone kitchen, and a lot of the tracks feel like they'd be entertaining for about a minute but drag on twice as long as necessary.
If the track samples blow you away, or if you're a fan/collector of The Presets, then you should buy this, otherwise I'd recommend steering clear (and buying Apocalypso if you don't already have it).

the familiar made strange again, and vice versa
really gritty and draped like a hustler's hips
and produced in brilliant detail

I am all over this record, one of the best things I've heard in a while

I bought this CD after hearing just one song: Down Down Down.
Based on that track, one would envision an "electronic punk" band.
The CD starts off with a toe-tapping,
"B Movie theme" of a song in Steamworks,rolls into a true-rock sound with
Are You the One, and follows up with the dancy, Down Down Down.
Up next, we take a detour into the classic '80s sound of Girl and the Sea,
and an interlude into two instrumentals:Black Background(at 1:37 seconds long) and Worms .
While moody, I think the songs lack some depth in ambience that should define mood music.
Or maybe that's 'cause I can't wait for Kitty in the Middle of It to start ...
Hill Stuck(at 1:41 seconds in length) does porvide a nice ambience, right before
an off the wall track in Girl(You Chew My Mind Up). I Go Hard, I Go Home shows
a nice, dark techno side of the Presets,spiced up with some interesting vocal bits.
From here, we delve into an almost neo new-wave feel of Bad Up Your Betterness,
and cap the CD off with the surprising title song Beams.
Another instrumental,the track Beams is a cut above the other songs, and completely
out of place on this disk ! It's dreamy; with horns and a great ambience that leaves you
with a feel-good notion that most of the noise on this disk was crafted by someone with
real talent. Not that I liked the song all that much...but that's cool .
In review, The Presets / Beams CD music is different than anything else in my collection ,
it defies any genre because of the diverse music tracks,and is well worth the price of admission..
live it, play it over and over again, get a feel for the Presets !

I expected more, even after listening to the preview tracks...

'Are You The One?' and 'Girl in the Sea' are great tracks, to me they're the saving grace of an otherwise forgettable album.

A lot of instrumentals that get a little repetitive, but better than a lot of other stuff out there. They do acheive some creative sequencing from time to time.

Que me recuerden el Pop de los 80's preñado de teclados con miras a electrónica como el de Pet Shop Boys, el Punk al modo de The Smiths, con ese aire a música elíptica de Daf Punk, que con todo y eso puedan separarse y coquetear con estilos experimentales como los de Nin Ich Niles y Björk, ¿Qué es lo que me gusta de The Presets?
Que con todas esas grandes referencias el dueto australiano compuesto por Julian Hamilton - quien se destaca en la producción, los teclados y vocales - y Kimberley Moyes - hace lo mismo que Hamilton pero además le mete a la batería y la programación- creó sonidos originales, nuevos y enérgicos desde 2003 inscritos al género del Rock cuyo estilo se define como NeoElectro. ¿Qué son The Presets? Una invitación a averiguarlo y clasificarlo según los propios referentes históricos musicales. Esa es la magia de The Presets tienen un algo "universal" y atemporal que se encuentra en su elepé Beams y en sus sencillos Blowup, Are you the one? y Down down down.
Beams

What a fun funky crazy beat to Whig out to! Love these guys! The CD came in good time and in perfect condition! thanks~

The Presets are contemporary, but not cliche. Their style reminds of The Talking Heads and Depeche Mode, but it has its own niche. They have a crunchy hard-edged funk that stands out and jams. Trippy and fun, they are as original as The Mars Volta, but more groovy and accessible. They are a band that you don't have to learn to like.