Apocalypso (The Presets Album)
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''Apocalypso'' is the second studio album by
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n
electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...
duo
The Presets The Presets are an Australian electronic music duo of Julian Hamilton (vocals, keyboards) and Kim Moyes (drums, keyboards). Formed in 2003 and signed to Modular Recordings, Modular Records, The Presets released two EPs (''Blow Up (EP), Blow Up ...
. The album was released by record label
Modular Module, modular and modularity may refer to the concept of modularity. They may also refer to: Computer science and engineering * Modular design, the engineering discipline of designing complex devices using separately designed sub-components ...
on 12 April 2008 in Australia, on 13 May in the
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, and 2 June in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. The album features the singles " My People", "
This Boy's in Love "This Boy's in Love" is a song by Australian electronic duo The Presets. It is the second single from their 2008 album '' Apocalypso''. Music video The music video for "This Boy's in Love" was directed by Danish photographer Casper Balslev. The v ...
", " Talk Like That", " Yippiyo-Ay", " If I Know You" and "Kicking and Screaming". At the
J Awards of 2008 The J Award of 2008 is the fourth annual J Awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J. The announcement comes at the culmination of Ausmusic Month (November). In 2008, a new award for ''Au ...
, the album won Australian Album of the Year.


Production

After two years of non-stop touring, The Presets began production of ''Apocalypso'' in early 2007 by going to a farm in
Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah'') is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of New South Wales, Australia (in Bundjalung Country). It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a headland adjac ...
for two weeks. The duo had no songs written or any idea what the album would sound like before hitting the farm. Basing themselves in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, the band continued work on the album while touring in Europe. The majority of the album was recorded by the band themselves at their own individual home studios. The songs were finished at a friend's studio and the album was mixed at BJB Studios in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and at Seedy Underbelly in
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. The album was mastered at The Exchange in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
.
Kim Moyes Kimberley Isaac Moyes is an Australian musician, producer, mix engineer, composer, songwriter, DJ and one half of the Sydney-based electronica duo, The Presets. Note: n-lineversion established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 200 ...
, describing the album, said "There is a few songs on ''Apocalypso'' that have been informed by our live shows in terms of their energy, after two-and-a-bit years of touring we really found out what we liked playing and what works well live, but the album as a whole however is not all bangers, there are some very delicate moments too." The group also wanted ''Apocalypso'' to be far more song-focused. Moyes told ''
Rolling Stone Australia ''Rolling Stone Australia'' is the Australian edition of the United States' ''Rolling Stone'' magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture, published monthly. The Australian version of ''Rolling Stone'' was initially published in 197 ...
'': "With revious album''Beams'', we didn't think too much about it. The more fucked up it was, the better. But now the vision’s been refined and instead of instrumentals, now we're like 'fuck, let’s just have killer songs.'" In an interview with Australian national radio station
Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...
, the band members discussed how they came up with the album's title, stating that it evolved from "Apocalypse Wow", a suggestion by Hamilton. "Y'know the idea of the
apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE) but persisting in Christianity and Islam. In apocalypse, a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a ...
and a calypso together. Something very dark, very intense, you can't get much worse than an apocalypse. And then a calypso which is just super fun, like mojitos, steel drums."


Reception

''Apocalypso'' was the album that brought the Presets to mainstream audiences. The album debuted at number one on the
ARIA charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...
, and achieved gold
certification Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...
within two weeks. The album has since gone platinum. In October 2008, the album won the 2008 ARIA Awards for Best Dance Release and Album of the Year. By winning the ARIA for Album of the Year, ''Apocalypso'' became the first dance album to win the award. It also won the Artisan Awards for Best Cover Art (Jonathan Zawada) and Producer of the Year (The Presets), missing out on the award for Engineer of the Year (
Scott Horscroft Scott Horscroft (born 27 October 1977) is an Australian music producer/sound engineer, the owner of The Grove Studios and an Executive A&R Consultant for Universal Music Australia Career In 1999 Horscroft completed a bachelor's degree of Fi ...
). It was also nominated for the Highest Selling Album in 2009. In December, the album won the
J Award The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J, and which also extend to sister stations, Triple J Unearthed and Double J. The award ...
. In October 2010, it was listed in the book ''
100 Best Australian Albums ''The 100 Best Australian Albums'' (a.k.a. ''One Hundred Best Australian Albums'') is a compendium of rock and pop albums of the past 50 years as compiled by music journalists Toby Creswell, Craig Mathieson and John O'Donnell. The book was ...
''.


Track listing


Singles

# " My People" #* The first single released in late 2007. The song continued to climb the ARIA Singles Chart after successful performances, and heavy radio airplay. It peaked at number 14 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and certified Platinum despite never reaching the top 10. # "
This Boy's in Love "This Boy's in Love" is a song by Australian electronic duo The Presets. It is the second single from their 2008 album '' Apocalypso''. Music video The music video for "This Boy's in Love" was directed by Danish photographer Casper Balslev. The v ...
" #* Released as the second single in early 2008, it peaked at number 23 early on, and continuous climbing and falling the single maintained sales. After the band's win at the 2008 ARIA Awards the song re-entered the top 50, and was certified Gold. # " Talk Like That" #* Released as the official third single in September 2008, the song was a club hit, spending several weeks outside the top 20. When the band won at the ARIAs the song re-entered and climbed the charts to a new peak of number 19. A few weeks before falling out of the singles chart completely it was certified Gold. # " Yippiyo-Ay" #* Released as a digital-only single, the song gained airplay week-by-week. It debuted at number 94 on the singles chart based on downloads alone, re-entering several times before peaking at number 72. # " If I Know You" #* Speculated as the album's third single when it received substantial airplay, the official third single was announced as "Talk Like That". Peaking at number 57 on the singles chart in May 2009, the song charted on downloads alone. The song became the fifth single from ''Apocalypso'', and was officially released on 27 March 2009. # "Kicking and Screaming" #* Announced as the sixth single in late May 2009, a live video was released to accompany the radio release. Cover art then surfaced, but a physical release did not eventuate, making it the second digital-only single from the album. "Anywhere" was also released in 2008 as a promotional single from the album.


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


Personnel

*
Julian Hamilton Julian Thomas Hamilton (born September 1976) is an Australian singer-songwriter and keyboardist, who, with bandmate Kim Moyes, formed the electronica duo, The Presets in 2003. They have issued four studio albums, '' Beams'' (September 2005), ' ...
vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
, keyboards *
Kim Moyes Kimberley Isaac Moyes is an Australian musician, producer, mix engineer, composer, songwriter, DJ and one half of the Sydney-based electronica duo, The Presets. Note: n-lineversion established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 200 ...
drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
, keyboards *
Scott Horscroft Scott Horscroft (born 27 October 1977) is an Australian music producer/sound engineer, the owner of The Grove Studios and an Executive A&R Consultant for Universal Music Australia Career In 1999 Horscroft completed a bachelor's degree of Fi ...
mixing * John Fields – mixing * Nilesh Patel – mastering * Lyn Balzer –
photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...
* Anthony Perkins – photography * Jonathan Zawada – art direction


References


External links

* {{Authority control 2008 albums ARIA Award–winning albums Modular Recordings albums The Presets albums