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THE PRESENT MOMENT

Progressive Electronic • United States


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The Present Moment picture
The Present Moment biography
The Present Moment means a real sense of adventure towards music and a fair degree of passion for singular, creative and fugitive shared moments, against any procrastination. Based in Los Angeles Scott Milton who already making use of original and advanced musical ideas in the two bands Catalog and Moodorgan is now expressing his very own stylistic-musical universe under the name of The Present Moment. The Present Moment achieves a stunning hybridation and an infectious blend of dense cold-wave's electro grooves, cyclical droning interferences, vigorous epic industrialism, dolorous nocturne-goth weirdness superbly sustained by a seductive eighties flavor. Ritualistic in nature, the whole musical trip offers a dark, delightful and rather unique breathtaking atmosphere, sometimes revealing enthralling lysergic electro-ambiences. The Present Moment is situated in an in-between and non stabilized musical region which authorizes astonishing connections.

A full length studio album debut has been signed on US label Disaro in a very limited pressing. It contains 10 tracks of hauntingly catchy synthesized electro pop epics, incorporating hypnotic like melodies, ghostly rumbling drones, propulsive industrial soundtracky ambiences and a nice psychedelic retro-ish flavor. The album has recently been reissued by Desire on vinyl picture disc, cd, and cassette. In this musical adventure, Scott Milton embarked on tour with a handful of friends and musicians such as Isul Kim, Gspider . This year, Scott Milton's live band played with a handful of notorious figures of the synth-minimal cold wave circle such as Light Asylum, Salem, Gatekeeper, Iron Curtain, Legendary Pink Dots, Soft Metals just to name a few?

A new effort entitled Loyal to A Fault will soon see the light on Mannequin. This new record is a collaborative effort between Scott Milton and Philipp Munch of The Rorschach Garden. It explores a relatively similar dynamic pop territory, still opened to new musical tendencies and new sonorities without loosing cohesion. Consequently this last effort promises a completely mesmeric musical odyssey made of eerie drones, addictive electro moves, propulsive batcave bass lines and captivating plaintive-melodic sections which culminate into a sort of ecstatic consuming reverie. Scott Milton's rich sense of composition gives to the arrangements a radical and unique feel, somewhere between the narcoleptic twist of The Sisters of Mercy, The Merry Thoughts, ...
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THE PRESENT MOMENT discography


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THE PRESENT MOMENT top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.86 | 3 ratings
The High Road
2010
2.00 | 2 ratings
Loyal To A Fault
2011

THE PRESENT MOMENT Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

THE PRESENT MOMENT Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

THE PRESENT MOMENT Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

0.00 | 0 ratings
The Complete High Road Sessions
2012

THE PRESENT MOMENT Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

THE PRESENT MOMENT Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 The High Road by PRESENT MOMENT, THE album cover Studio Album, 2010
3.86 | 3 ratings

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The High Road
The Present Moment Progressive Electronic

Review by colorofmoney91
Prog Reviewer

4 stars After being mostly disappointed with The Present Moment's most recent album, which was a modern clone of Depeche Mode's popular and gloomy magnum opus Violator, I decided to listen to their debut album, The High Road, which I am very happy to say is not more of the same. Though this is still mostly coldwave electro-pop, the songs are much stronger and include the progressiveness that I was initially looking forward to when I learned of this group.

There are some subtle differences between The High Road and The Present Moment's most recent outing, however. First of all, the music has quite a bit more of an industrial flavor, which is refreshing compared to the tame coldwave of Loyal to a Fault. This become obvious as soon as the album starts, "Arrival" being an entirely industrial intro to the album and songs like "Baby Doll", "Emily", "Low Dead", and "Candy-O" which are have a strong industrial churning and demanding beats that are really uneasy and extreme compared to The Present Moment's other songs. The most industrial song here is definitely "The Damage is Loved" and is super-harsh and almost Nine Inch Nail's type of industrial noise rock complete with muffled and disturbed vocals - this song is definitely a standout and one of the best on the album.

Something else different about this album is the production, which is noticeably murky and dirty, in almost the same way that some sludge metal or doom metal albums might sound, even though this is definitely not metal. This murkiness really enhances the cold, industrial nature of this album and makes the listener concentrate and dig deeper to truly enjoy the songs.

One of my biggest gripes with Loyal to a Fault was the lack of progressive music (this is a progressive rock site, after all), but on The High Road the progressiveness is apparent even if a bit sparse. These tracks have a lot more going on and really benefits from some dedicated attention. The most progressive track here is the instrumental "A Certain Breathing" which consists of ambient droning constantly flowing over forceful industrial grinding that gets progressively stronger as the song steadily stomps along it's 8-minute runtime before climaxing and finally fading out into a dying drone over a simple robotic beat that truly does sound like a certain breathing of a despondent AI robot: definitely another standout track.

Also included with this album are two remixes. Whatever, they're remixes that don't really sound any more interesting than the other tracks. Don't expect any dubstep or glitch remixes. No Skrillex appearances here.

All in all, I have to say that The High Road is definitely more enjoyable than The Present Moment's most recent offering, and is made even better by the fact that this album is free. For fans of thick industrial coldwave with light progressive touches, I recommend this album strongly.

 Loyal To A Fault  by PRESENT MOMENT, THE album cover Studio Album, 2011
2.00 | 2 ratings

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Loyal To A Fault
The Present Moment Progressive Electronic

Review by colorofmoney91
Prog Reviewer

2 stars Loyal to a Fault: For fans of Depeche Mode who want to listen to something other than Depeche Mode.

The Present Moment is a modern day coldwave group that is very reminiscent of similar groups that were popular in the '80s. The songs on Loyal to a Fault are very pop- oriented, short length, simple synth-pop/rock songs. While the songs on this album are catchy and well done, I've been having a hard time finding much here in the way of "progressive" music. Some of these tracks have mild progressive tendencies but only in the way that the synths get progressively harsher or more powerful; this doesn't really seem like enough to call them progressive though, considering that the 3-5 minute long songs never progress beyond a 4/4 time signature and there are no apparent sonic explorations of any kind.

I've recently, finally, become a fan of Depeche Mode after trying to enjoy their music for the past decade. Only last week has their music finally clicked with me, and I'm glad to be a part of their fandom which has always inspired me with their die-hard dedication to what I've always considered to be simply depressing synth-pop with a vocalist who is tougher than nails. Depeche Mode have a certain type of integrity to their style that most music lovers wouldn't argue against. The Present Moment, however, don't have much integrity for playing in their very own style, and Loyal to a Fault is simply the electronic equivalent to a modern rock band deciding to play songs that sound only like The Rolling Stones; it's been done before, and it's been done better.

The best that I can describe Loyal to a Fault would be a darker and slightly more industrial version of Violator-era Depeche Mode pop music with slightly more modern production value. I will not say that this is bad music because, while I do think it is unoriginal and only very, very loosely progressive (I guess), it is still enjoyable for simply electronic pop tunes for the more mature pop fans among us. Just don't download this album expecting something mindblowing.

Thanks to philippe for the artist addition.

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