The Presets, Cut Copy, Ladyhawke, Bag Raiders, et FUKHED

Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes met whilst studying classical music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 1995. With a shared interest in 1980’s pop, the pair became members of the electronic group Prop through which they released the albums “Small Craft, Rough Sea” (2001) and “Cook Cut Damage Destroy” (2003). Shortly afterwards Hamilton and Moyes remixed the track “Magnetic Highway” and found a proclivity for remixes and sounds with edgier and more district electronic influences.

The result was The Presets, which the pair formed in 2003, upon leaving Prop, with Hamilton providing vocals, keyboard and production, whilst Moyes focused on drums, keyboard, production and programming. It wasn’t long before The Presets became known and signed with Modular Recordings, who released their debut EP “Blow Up” in November 2003. The band subsequently released the EP “Girl And The Sea” ahead of their debut album “Beams” in 2005. The release earned the duo both a commercial and critical response and led to supporting Daft Punk on their Australian tour.

The Presets’ sophomore album “Apocalypso” arrived in 2008 and debuted at No. 1 on the Australian Album Chart, and spawned the single “My People”, which became the longest charting single in Australian chart history. The album also featured the popular singles “This Boy’s in love”, “If I Know You” and “Talk Like That” and earned the band six awards at the ARIA Awards in 2008, including Best Dance Release, Best Group, and Album of the Year.

In September 2012, The Presets released their third full-length album “Pacifica” another extension of their thorn-edged disco ’80’s sound, and earned much the same critical acclaim as “Apocalypso” however managed only to reached No. 3 on the Australian Albums Chart. The album's 10 songs were narrowed down from over 30, including the singles “Fall”, “Youth in Trouble” and “Promises” and saw The Presets make an impressive return to the singles chart.

The group was formed in 2001 by Melbourne based DJ & Graphic Designer Dan Whitford who developed a love of dance music during his time at university. After purchasing a keyboard and sampler, Dan began experimenting with music, combining his love of more lo-fi sounds with dance influence creating something highly unique in the process. A home recorded demo tape landed him a deal with Australian label powerhouse ‘Modular Recordings’ setting on the name ‘Cut/Copy’ after a flash of computer based inspiration.

The band began to form as Dan added members and released a number of singles and the EP ‘I Thought of Numbers’ which was heavily remixed, further building the bands profile. The band’s first gig was in 2003 to the unusually large crowd of 5000 at livid festival which was unsurprisingly terrifying for the band.

The band’s first album ‘Bright Like Neon Love’ came in 2004 and spurred the band on as they began to tour internationally supporting acts like Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand. The freshly toured unit hit the studio with Tim Goldsworthy to record album number two, ‘In Ghost Colours’ which went straight in at number one in the charts when it was released in 2008.

The band released two more albums in the following years, ‘Zonoscope’ and ‘Free Your Mind’ and continued to play increasingly large shows and reach new crowds worldwide with their music being featured on TV and in Video games.

The pair met at school in the mid nineties, in decidedly different musical settings to the ones that they’d go on to become part of as Bag Raiders. It was during an orchestra practice, with Stracey playing violin and clarinet and Glass on piano and cello. They struck up a friendship that would rekindle in the mid-noughties, when they reunited and began to create unusual mixes of hip hop and seventies rock. They quickly moved on to making their own music, issuing a couple of EPs in 2007. By 2009, they were placing at number eleven on a poll of Australia’s top DJs, and seeing their track ‘Shooting Stars’ listed at number eighteen on the best tracks of 2009 rundown by respected Australian radio station Triple J.

They went on to enjoy further success, in 2010, with the release of their self-titled debut album; the lead single, ‘Sunlight’, featured Dan Black. To date, ‘Shooting Stars’ remains their best-loved track, re-entering the charts in 2013. Its popularity endures partly thanks to its adoption as an unofficial anthem by A-League team Adelaide United, and partly because of its use in McDonald’s adverts in 2009 and 2010. Its 2013 resurgence was perhaps attributable to an appearance on an episode of Australian Idol.