STACK #164 June 2018

MUSIC NEWS

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Kim Moyes, Julian Hamilton

Hopefully. Every time I see a VB ad I always think, ‘This would sound so good with Tools Down playing instead.’ There are some fantastic group chorus vocals on Downtown Shutdown . How did you record them? Originally that was me: same old thing, multi-tracking my own voice. Then Kim [Moyes, bandmate] had the idea of, “Well, how about this time around we get some actual other voices for the song, [not] just choirs of Julian?” So, that’s what we did. We were listening to a lot of African music, and early '80s hip hop and block party, break dancing music, and we really liked the sound of a lot of the vocals, so we had the idea to try and get some African voices on there. We found this choir of Sudanese refugees in country Victoria [Shepparton], and they sounded amazing. It was really fun working with those guys.

Every time I see a VB ad I always think, ‘This would sound so good with Tools Down playing instead'

INTERVIEW

THE PRESETS Having turned to producing other artists in the wake of the ARIA Gold- certified Pacifica (2012), it now seems that lull inThe Presets' output was just the storm's eye.We spoke to Julian Hamilton about the unrelenting energy of the electronica duo's fourth album, HI VIZ . Words Zoë Radas

The cover art is a very chaotic – Kim’s described it like a burst piñata from a kid’s party. But I noticed something not very PG: I think Kim’s holding a lighter which has a nude lady on it? You’re a super sleuth. There is. There’s frontal nudity on our record cover. You can put that in a tweet. And you are holding a dream catcher, a poker chip, and there’s maybe a pink condom on your finger. Is there some significance to these items? You have to stay safe. Your fingers need to stay safe.

Apparently at one point you had 50 contenders for songs to be included on HI VIZ . How did you decide which ones stayed? On any given day we’ll go to the studio and we’ll start writing and come up with ideas. And we’ll just chase the ideas as they come, no matter what sort of style or what sort of vibe it is. In the past, I guess, our albums have gone up and down and all manner of sideways in terms of different styles. This time around we wanted to be a bit more conscious of trying to make an album that felt the same the whole way through. With songs like Martini , which have many effects, do you have a huge soundbank you just dive into like Scrooge McDuck in his pool of cash and see what sticks? Or do

you decide you need a very specific “hey” or synthetic wiggle, and you'll create that sound that’s in your head? That’s a good question. Sometimes I will sit there at the computer and spend an hour finding

the perfect ‘hey’, but usually I’ll put something in record mode and then just blast out millions of sounds… playing little noodles and blocks of bleeps. Then it’s a very painstaking process of going back and listening to a 15-minute take and finding all the little bits that are the best. And then hopefully it sounds effortless and easy, but usually it’s quite sort of painstaking.

TOURING 13/06 - 30/06

Then does the poker chip mean the opposite – that you need to gamble or take risks? Maybe it does. Wow. I feel like it’s a Sergeant Pepper’s album cover – unlocking it all. You should see some of the press shots that we didn’t use – truly horrendous-looking. God, there’s some awful ones. And no one will ever ever see them. The one that made the cover definitely looks not super sh-t.

HI VIZ by The Presets is out June 1 via EMI.

Tools Down is hilarious. Are you going to create a clip for it?

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JUNE 2018

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