It was a night of confirmations and discoveries for me at the Bowery Ballroom on Saturday. The Presets assuaged my doubts and confirmed their legitimacy with a killer performance and I discovered the live excellence of Hot Chip. Grand National? The odd-band-out. It was not the right occasion for Police covers (an acoustic take on "Walking on the Moon") and guitar-heavy Euro rock. Some other time, some other place.

Who are the Presets? Even after a dozen plays of their debut LP Beams I'm still not sure. Are they the metallic electro funk band found on "Are You The One" and "Down Down Down"? Or the dance floor fillers of "I Go Hard, I Go Hard" or "Girl and the Sea"? Want more confusion? Speculate as to the direction this band might go if they write more songs like the bouncy, easy listening title track, which ends the album. Which band would show up live?

All of them, it turned out and it turned out brilliant. The many sides of the Presets coalesced into a mighty wallop on stage at the Bowery. Beams' edges were sharper and its beats harder. The album's aforementioned highlights were delivered with easy-going enthusiasm and confidence by the Sydney duo of do-everything singer Julian Hamilton and drummer Kimberley Moyes. The Presets play one more show in New York, Monday at Fontana, before heading south by southwest. I highly recommend seeing them here or there.

Because iTunes tracks everything, including my unfortunate disregard for some albums, I learned this morning I added Hot Chip's Coming on Strong album on August 2, 2004 and last played it two days later for the first and only time. I'd actually considered leaving after the Presets wrapped up their short set, but was convinced by a much-wiser friend to stick it out. I'm glad I did.

Despite microphone problems that plagued the set (LCD Soundsystem/DFA honcho James Murphy was on hand to provide roadie services), Hot Chip more than satisfied with a set of melodic electronic weirdness. The only disappointment was the lack of an encore, which was apparently cancelled due to on-going glitches and the sickness of drummer Felix Martin.

- Hot Chip play Great Scott in Boston tonight, followed by two dates in Canada. Yes, they'll be at SXSW on Saturday, March 18 for the DFA/Astralwerks at The Parish.

- Stereogum's Amrit was on hand at the Bowery and filed this report, including set lists from Hot Chip and Grand National.