This Sydney, Australia-based electronica duo comprises Kimberley Moyes (b. 1976, Australia; drums, synthesizers, programming) and Julian Hamilton (b. 1976, Australia; vocals, synthesizers, programming). Moyes and Hamilton both studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, but became bored by the narrow-minded attitudes of their fellow students, and started playing in bands and going clubbing. They bonded over a love of electronic music, including Daft Punk, the Chemical Brothers, and Trans Am; the problem was they did not have any equipment to make that style of music. They both got jobs at an Italian restaurant, and started saving for their first Moog synthesizer, dreaming of developing electronic future pop for disenchanted people the world over. The purchase of the Moog spurred the duo onto experimentation, which resulted in the snarling debut EP Blow Up, released in 2003 on the Modular Records label. Sounding like a new millennium version of Suicide put into a mixer with cutting edge electro from the future, the Presets had made their mark.
Anarchic live appearances at clubs and festivals around the world followed, along with positive plaudits from music magazines such as the UK's Jockey Slut, which helped create a buzz around the band. Over the next two years more releases followed, along with remix work for Southern Fried Records and the Ministry Of Sound, further widening the Presets' exposure. Many of the duo's tracks featured on compilation albums from the London club Fabric, to music magazine NME, and electroclash pioneer International Deejay Gigolo. Labelling themselves "spazz dance fag rock", as a backlash to the electroclash label they were given, the duo immersed themselves into a makeshift studio to produce their debut album. Beams showed the band to have a wider range, including electro pop ballads, sleazy electro and mutated house tracks.
