It's my guess that attention for the Presets, the Sydney duo of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes, will rocket from nil to near overkill in the next month, at least in New York. Modular Records, the Presets' label, along with the addVice team are promoting the band with NYC events planned in early March. These dates are just part of a national sweep, including two SXSW stops and appearances in L.A. and Miami. All of this leads up to the April U.S. release of Beams, the Presets first album.

Is Beams worth the forthcoming hype? The albums skips with such frenzy across genres, from thumping house to gloomy electroclash, that it's hard to formulate an overall opinion. Either the style jumping is a sign of impressive versatility or the lack of an identity. I suppose it depends on how well you think they pull off each style.

The album's first two singles, "Are You The One?" and "Down Down Down", showcase the Presets' metallic electro edge. Julian Hamilton's voice snarls like a possessed Tom Vek, drawing out syllables with dramatic flair. These tracks are enjoyable enough, but the album becomes truly compelling for me as it nears its end, beginning with the electrifying "I Go Hard, I Go Home".

Says Kim about the track, "We wrote this one the day after Bang Gang's first birthday party. When we weren't dancing like demons we were talking on the dancefloor about how simple club music has to be to be really pounding."

As soon as the pounding stops, the Presets head for LCD Soundsystem territory with the funky, yet forlorn "Bad Up Your Betterness" and then just because they can, end the album with the looping, easy-listening instrumental title track.

"Beams of light are very sexy - they're bright and strong," Julian Hamilton says. "Yet so fragile you can cut them with your hand. Spotlight beams always catch the bad guy, laser beams from aliens eyes burn through human flesh, beams from an archaeologist's torch light up cave paintings that haven't been viewed for five thousand years, an infra-red beam from your remote control means you don't have to get up to change the channel."

- Read the Presets' track-by-track review of Beams here.

- Download ""Are You the One?" (MP3)

- The Presets hit New York for three appearances: March 10, at the Annex (presented by Fixed), March 11 at the Bowery Ballroom with Hot Chip and Grand National, and March 13 at a Modular Records party, location TBD.