grand sounds in the nooka studio

i must say, i have a great knack for predicting music success. i predicted that tainted love by softcell would be an unprecedented hit in 1981 when it was still an indie release as well as predicting scissor sister's fame after seeing them play in a dive bar on pearl street a year before their first single in the uk – and i'm happy to see the musings in my past music reviews for the presets coming to form.

and the theme is "grand vision". there are bands that just have fun and find fame in the process, and others who have a grand vision of their sound. i heard that in scissor sister on a crappy sound system in a dive bar and i hear it in these two bands below.

the presets when i first heard beams by the presets i felt that they were another band like cut copy that produced great sounds, especially as remixers for other people, but had little to say on their own. after listening to it more and more, the girl and the sea became my favorite song of that year and i had a feeling that there was a lot more to them than what was heard on beams IF they got into more songwriting. well...apolcalypso is exactly what i expected in that direction. this album has everything, dance beats, atmospheric sounds, actual songs, and great production without sacrificing that indie feeling modular records is so good at! it's like speak and spell by depeche mode had a baby with duran duran, and the baby's nanny was Fischerspooner.

midnight juggernauts here is another australian act that sounds like they're from williamsburg brooklyn. dystopia is a grand endeavor – though the sound is electro, it's more like the gothic/scifi local synthpop of the early 80s in NYC that never really caught on anywhere with a real 2008 production budget. there is something reminiscent of sparks but somehow less contrived and more future-forward. they actually sound a bit like visage. i actually imagine this band eventually morphing into an arena rock band producing scifi inspired heavy metal...but that may be 5 years off for them. i can see them doing fun covers of the sweet or even queen. all-in-all, a very fun album.