Prior to my pitchfork, amazon, emusic, and i-tunes days, I used to discover music the old fashioned way. I would go out and find it. I would go to clubs based on the DJ playing that night. I would hang out in record stores talking to people and scanning for interesting cover art. I would sit in the isle at the book store and read the music reviews of all of the music magazines. WestConn had a radio station that turned me on to many great songs and artists. My favorite means of discovering music was to grab a cup of coffee and spend an hour or two surfing the listening stations in a Borders or Virgin Records. A number of factors changed the way in which I find music. The biggest being the internet. Music hunting is now at my fingertips 24/7. The other being that it is hard to justify that time spent browsing for music as a husband, father, and homeowner. Thus, when I have the chance to shop the old way and it produces and great find, the discovery is all the more special.This is part of why I am so infatuated with this album. I discovered The Presets on a listening station at Virgin Records. The cheesy cover art (reminiscent of Daft Punk) and album title caught my eye and the samples sealed the deal. The Presets sound exists somewhere between Depeche Mode’s more industrial dance music, The Rapture’s style of instigating a party, and The Faint’s Danse Macabre. It is a techno album that throbs and commands movement on the dance floor. Furthermore, they are able to find a happy medium between taking themselves too serious and being too silly. The industrial/dance genre is a tricky area to take part in. Being too serious results in music that sounds way to self important and thus goofy. Even though it can be dark and heavy, it is still dance music. It is not the setting for overtly profound wisdom. On the other hand if it is too light or silly, it comes off, again, as goofy or else just meaningless. The end result is a rockin’ dance party. Get down like it’s 1996!!!
It has been a very long time since I have been this excited by any electronic dance music. In the nineties, I lived on this industrial/dance type stuff, but the genre grew stale almost as quickly as it appeared on the scene. Coming across an album like this that not only rekindles life in the genre, but takes it a step forward is so refreshing.
Enjoy. Play it loud!
On their webpage a window pops up that will play songs and videos. I suggest checking out "My People"
