The Presets’ Apocalypso
Dark and somewhat extraterrestrial, The Preset’s sophomore album Apocalypso has just landed on my desk and I’m beside myself. Starting off with the aptly titled Kicking and Screaming, the boys, true to form, dress their fans in space suits and rocket around the galaxy with techno pop anthems such as My People and If I know You. Halfway along the trip, you’ll discover the inspiration behind the intergalactic soundscape — Prince, Boy George, The Addams Family, and a serious amount of touring in sweaty nightclubs to thousands of fans. I couldn’t think of a better album to play on the first commercial flight into space.
Tagged: electro music, techno pop
- 3
- 2
RELATED
The Music of 2008: a Year in Review
It’s getting towards that time of the year when ‘The Lists’ start to come out. They are the end product of endless screaming matches over whether 2008 was one to remember, or whether it went down deep. Yes, there are still a few weeks left, but mid-December is a time when the belly rolls out and our musicians carry a stiff whiskey into hibernation. Music-wise, 2007 was a hard one to follow. Hidden amongst all the offensive tripe that made the charts were some real gems: Tinariwen, Panda Bear, Yeasayer, and so on. This year was no different, but missing from the respected lists out there were some classics. Yes, Bon Iver may well have trumped it, followed closely by a whole armada of artists such as Fleet Foxes [White Winter Hymnal, DJ Doc Rok Remix below], Santogold, Vampire Weekend, M83, and others — and most people are in agreement about them. But what about the ones that somehow slipped off the radar? The genre-traversing Richard Swift; tropical Velvet Underground-style Shortwave Set; the knee-quaking sexiness of The Do; the afro-dream pop of School of Seven Bells; the beautifully stripped-down subtlety of Au Revoir Simone [above]; and more, more, more. So if your partner thinks you’re pretty cool, thinks you left the middle of the road years ago, then prove her right this Christmas.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The uber-hip French producer M83 has compiled a Secret Playlist for us in which he props Brian Eno, Julee Cruise, and Tears For Fears’ Head Over Heels: ‘This song was the biggest influence for my new album. Our track, Kim and Jesse, takes a lot of inspiration from 80s bands like Tears for Fears. This is one of my favourites’. Read the rest of M83’s Secret Playlist.
Exclusive interview with Fujiya and Miyagi
We love the coolly detached electro mash-up of Brighton group, Fujiya and Miyagi. So we checked in with vocalist-guitarist David Best to find out more about their latest album, Lightbulbs [out on Pod through Inertia], and the place it all started for them — their hometown of Brighton, England: ‘Brighton was just full of wanna-be mods with cravats dancing like they were in Quadrophenia’, he says. ‘It was awful. It seemed to be very unfashionable to be an electronic group back then. Now everybody combines synths with guitars. It makes me want to start a mod group’. Read more
Also by KATE SUTERS
From the dusty depths of Western Australia comes the making of another great Aussie band. Tame Impala have just released their self-titled EP and it’s already seducing ears across the airwaves. With a psychedelic sound akin to the rollicking groove of Led Zeppelin mixed up and delicately caressed with the sound of modern day hope and desire, this is an EP that absolutely deserves your attention.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
David Holmes’ The Holy Pictures
David Holmes’ fourth solo album has been a long time in the making. The man who is best known for his scoring of films such as Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13, and remixing for bands like U2 and The Manic Street Preachers, took just over ten years to make his latest album. Read more
As the final festival devotees gather their bags, pick up their muddy gumboots, and make their long journey home, the hills of Byron Bay seem eerily quiet. Over 17,500 music fans poured into Belongil Fields for the three day Splendour in the Grass event to watch music juggernauts Devo, Sigur Ros, Wolfmother, The Presets and The Cold War Kids do their thing. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (2)
Andy said | 17 April, 2008
I’m spinning this for the first time right now, sitting in a very cool outdoor cafe in Austin. Loving it… and had an amused glance around when ‘Together’ was about mid-song… I thought there was some hipster love going down!
HAVE YOUR SAY
It’s incredible the vintage looks Jeremy Edwards can get using an iPhone and various photo apps. I wonder if they retain their convincing look when they’re blown up.
I recently bought a 1960 Oyster Perpetual Datejust and I love it. Read more
Shorpy is a great blog dedicated to digitally restored photos, mostly from the first half of the 20th century, but some from as early as the 1840s. Read more
Oh man! I just want to curl up inside one of Will Cotton’s artworks and immerse myself in the sweetness of its surrounds. Read more
The very talented Jess Snow, the first video artist to be featured by Female Persuasion — the original site for provocative and political female artists — has created this ethereal short video for Lost At E Minor. We feel it. We love it. [see also the promo video Lifelongfriendshipsociety created for us]
Who says the Swedes have got a monopoly on seasonal ice hotels? This one in Kemi, northern Finland, is the world’s largest snow castle, standing seventeen metres high and with walls that are 1,100 metres long. It has restaurants, an art gallery, a hotel and a chapel. In fact, since opening in the early 1990s, it’s been quite a hit for tourists to get married at the snow chapel. Hmmm, now that would be a frosty start to any marriage. Read more
It’s the final, sultry day of Barcelona’s experimental sound-fest, Sonar, and weary punters are gazing listlessly at an empty, smoke-filled stage. Before long, a vocalist, beatboxer and grand pianist stride on, and what follows is a startling and, at times, deeply melancholic cabaret-electronic hybrid, prompting jaws to drop and delighting the drowsy. Meet Khan of Finland: ‘I tell stories about my everyday life; they are songs about love, pain, party and spirituality. I would call it bionic blues’.
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Check out Mike Stimpson’s Lego reinterpretations of classic photographs. Stimpson’s version of Malcolm Browne’s iconic 1963 photograph of the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc is particularly twisted. Read more
Yu Xiao was born in Zi Bo, Shandong, China. She received her M.A. in Photography from China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2009. In this work, Never Grow Up, Yu Xiao digitally created child versions of herself as a commentary on China’s one child rule and the intense focus on childhood that results. Read more
Greek/Italian artist Angelo Plassas creates flash- based websites that are each interactive pieces of art unto themselves. Read more
Creative advertising packaging
Despite the intentions of many, it’s not so often that advertising — as an industry — truly thinks outside the box. Yet, when executed well, clever eye-catching advertising actually works. It does. As these examples will attest to. Read more
Forget battery powered vehicles. Cars made from ice are the future of transportation: no pollution, no honking horns, no painful rap music blasting out of souped up stereos. And if they melt, they melt. You just swim the rest of the way down the slipstream.
It’s spring cleaning time and we have a massive pile of assorted new release CDs to give away to a randomly selected LAEM subscriber. To enter, just be a subscriber and leave a note under this message telling us the city you live in.
Australian fashion label Das Monk is my new favourite t-shirt label and this shirt is more comfortable to wear that a thousand pairs of Ozone socks. Super soft 100% cotton. Grab one now from the Lost At E Minor store for $35. Read more
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it’s not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
Huna said | 1 April, 2008
Oh I’m so so so jealous you’ve heard this album.
I was ranting today about how excited I am to hear it.