The Presets - Are You the One？

MAY 20 2005 · 12:00

The Presets - Are You the One？ (2005) Director: Kris Moyes Era: Australian Indie-Electronic Emergence (2005) - Peak era of Modular Records-signed acts breaking through on digital platforms; mid-2000s electro-indie crossover moment preceding the global blog-house explosion High curatorial value as the directorial debut of Kris Moyes, one of the most significant Australian music video directors of his generation, and as the breakthrough release of The Presets, whose subsequent influence on global electro-dance music is well documented. The video's DivX-glitch technique is a historically specific and unrepeatable production artifact of early-2000s digital file-sharing culture, making it a primary source document for both aesthetic and technological history. ARIA-nominated in 2006, it stands as a canonical example of the Australian Modular Records creative moment. Context: Released in 2005 as the lead single from The Presets' debut album Beams on Modular Records, 'Are You the One?' arrived at the precise moment Australian indie-electronic music was beginning to penetrate global club and internet culture. The track became emblematic of the Myspace-era music discovery ecosystem, with the glitch-heavy video circulating virally online before YouTube dominance. The Presets, an Australian electronic duo formed in 2003, would go on to achieve mainstream breakthrough with their 2008 album Apocalypso, making this video a key early document of that trajectory. The video's DivX-corruption technique also functions as an artifact of early-2000s digital piracy and file-sharing culture, embedding the material conditions of internet distribution directly into the aesthetic of the work itself. Director notes: Directed in 2005 as Kris Moyes' debut music video. The video's signature visual device, a digital glitch artifact motif, was developed by interrupting the DivX file transfer of original footage between a PC and a Mac computer, producing the pixel-disintegration and regeneration effect. The video is described by Shots Magazine as 'an avalanche of visual experimentation, like channel surfing between CCTV footage, night-vision footage, lip-synching pre-natal babies and robots, and a band performance that continuously deconstructs into pixels, then regenerates.' Upon release in late 2005 the video spread virally online, reportedly generating UK representation offers within four hours of posting. The video was nominated for Best Music Video at the 2006 ARIA Awards and won at the Australian Dance Music Awards 2006. It also received an Antville MV Awards 2006 nomination for Best Unknown/Unsigned Director. The video directly launched Moyes' international career and established his relationship with Modular Records as an ongoing house director.