The Presets x 2

I would give so much to relive Wednesday night. The Presets are mouth-watering, teeth-gnashing, back-twisting, toe-curling, fist-clenching, mind-bending sonic goodness. Well, for me anyway. This music does it all to me. It shoots right through me, rips me apart and then puts me back together into a very messy, very sweaty non-stop-dancing-Ariadna disaster.

I could maybe do the show justice if this were a podcast because I cannot describe the show in words. Noises, lots of facial expressions and much flailing of the arms are needed. But I'm going to try.

The music is electrifying. It's explosive. And that's when I'm listening to it at low volume on crappy computer speakers at work. Songs like Girl (You Chew my Mind Up) and Are You the One? get me so revved up I can't sit still and I Go Hard, I Go Home just makes me weak. Honestly, it's agonizing.

And live, o my god, that track is lethal. Kim just banged those drums for ages and Julian wailed and wailed and wailed, it seemed to go on forever and when it finally came to an end I couldn't stand upright.

They played a few tracks with some banter in between. I can't remember what track (maybe Steamworks - one of my favourites because it's just so sexy and raw) but close to the end of it a new beat was introduced, Daft Punk-style and then a few bars more I knew I was listening to that track. You know, the one with the dog in the video (sorry, I can't be bothered to check out Discogs or download some tracks to figure out the title because I'm listening to The Presets right now and it feels too good). That's where the show took right off. One of the reasons why I hated the Juan Maclena/James Murphy show so much is because I felt like I was in limbo - neither here nor there - waiting for a kick in the ass to not just take me somewhere but make me feel complete. This is exactly what I got from The Presets and when that Daft Punk sample finished there was no ending to the awesomeness

Everything from there on up was one continuous monster of a soundscape. Julian's voice is the equivalent of a female opera singer's voice except instead of bursting glasses it was on the verge of exploding me. When I looked around I could see other people infected with his potency.

There wasn't as much movement this time 'round - no detached dancing by Kim or strutting by Julian - but every gesture that either of them made was captivating. When Kim bent down while playing freakin' cowbell or the way he shook the maracas was jaw-dropping. How something like that can be jaw-dropping is beside me but that's exactly what it was.

Then it ended. Too soon. But there was an afterparty at Library Square where supposedly Kim and Julian were going to be spinning. There was no way I was going to be fashionably late.

Two local DJs opened up and they were better than good and then Kim came on. Holy fucking shit that guy is so dialed in. His mixing wasn't perfect but there were some moments that were so brilliant that they have burnt a hole in my brain and it will never regenerate. The five minute mix in of Italian Fireflies was too much.

He kept the beat consistent and high as fuck and go go go, dropping it for a moment and then swooping it back up with such majesty that I'd have to walk away and regroup. One of his last tracks was his own, Party Machini (how awesome is that title? The only thing that trumps it is Fistogram). And then, again, it was over. This could have easily been the best Wednesday night of my life.

They'll be back on November 14 as the opening band for The Rapture. I cannot wait.

Photo courtesy of Modular