Ladytron Albums (4)
What The Critics Say
With each album, Ladytron take their sound in distinctly different directions, but the aloof, glamorous, slightly sinister and more than a little bittersweet heart of their music remains the same. The changes from 604's sweet synth pop to Light & Magic's dark electro-pop to Witching Hour's epic shoegaze didn't sound like dabbling, precisely because the band has such a strong grip on exactly what they want to express with their music. Ladytron haven't lost that grip on Velocifero; in fact, they may be holding on to it a little too strongly here. Massive and sparkling, as dark and glossy as black patent leather, the album is so sleek, so quintessentially Ladytron, that it almost feels like the band has their sound literally down to a science, fusing Light & Magic's hard-edged dance and Witching Hour's Wall of Sound into songs like "The Lovers," "Deep Blue," and "They Gave You a Name." Velocifero does have some inspired moments, particularly at the beginning. "Ghosts" is sweetly ominous, riding a stomping shuffle beat and a careening guitar solo as Helena Marnie puts a fine point on her regrets ("There's a ghost in me/who wants to say I'm sorry/Doesn't mean I'm sorry"). "Runaway"'s punchy, cavernous sound recalls the heyday of industrial dance, which may not be such a surprise, considering that former Nine Inch Nails contributor Alessandro Cortini (also of Modwheelmood) worked on Velocifero, along with Ed Banger's Vicarious Bliss. As always, Mira Aroya acts as the acerbic yang to Marnie's ethereal yin, and she's in fine form here, particularly on "Black Cat," which opens Velocifero with a darkly hypnotic groove and a canyon-deep bassline, and on the quirky "Kletva," a cover of a song from a Bulgarian children's movie that brings back some of the playfulness Ladytron largely abandoned after 604. However, as Velocifero unfolds, the songs aren't quite as memorable as they've been on previous albums, and a few ("Burning Up," "Tomorrow") are downright dull and repetitive. The taut, tribal "Predict the Day" and "Versus," a symphonic synth pop duet, close the album on a strong note, and there are more than enough bright spots for fans to enjoy, Overall, though, Velocifero isn't as dramatic a step forward as Ladytron's other albums. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Despite a three-year wait, Ladytron sounds fresher and more vital than ever on their triumphant third album, Witching Hour. While the label problems that sidelined the album's release must have been frustrating, in some ways the delay works in the band's favor: though they were momentarily (and somewhat opportunistically) lumped in with the electroclash movement, Ladytron always had a stronger sense of melody and pop songcraft than most of the other artists associated with that style, and with electroclash all but dead, the band's identity comes through even more clearly. Much darker and less overtly synth pop than any of their earlier work, Witching Hour is almost unrelentingly gloomy, covering topics like the fleeting nature of relationships, destruction, and war. However, the album wears it well, conjuring a glamorous dystopia with songs like "High Rise" and "Soft Power" -- it's not often that bleakness sounds this pretty. It also helps that Witching Hour boasts some of Ladytron's finest songwriting to date, including the brilliantly melodramatic, ever-so-slightly gothy "Destroy Everything You Touch" and "International Dateline," which shows the band hasn't lost its touch when it comes to writing affecting breakup songs. By stripping away some of the synth pop veneer of 604 and Light & Magic, the shoegaze/dream pop influences that bubbled underneath the surface of Ladytron's music come to the fore on this album. My Bloody Valentine's brilliant "Soon" was the first track of the band's Softcore Jukebox mix album, and that song's fusion of guitar haze and dance beats forms a large part of this album's musical DNA. "Sugar"'s trippy blur of buzzsaw guitars and mechanical rhythms take this sound in a noisy, poppy direction, while "WhiteLightGenerator" and the wintry "All the Way" end Witching Hour with a trancelike serenity. While the album loses some of the impressive focus of its first half as it unfurls, the layered, intricate production on tracks like "Beauty*2" and "CMYK" -- one of Ladytron's best instrumental interludes -- remains interesting. While Helena Marnie's ghostly vocals are as lovely and effective as ever, Mira Aroyo's small presence on Witching Hour is one of the album's few disappointments, although she shines on "Fighting in Built Up Areas." Nitpicking aside, Witching Hour is the album that Ladytron always seemed capable of, and its dark, dreamy-yet-catchy spell makes it the band's most sophisticated, and best, work to date. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
'Light & Magic'
Release Date 9/17/2002
Tracks 15
Label Emperor Norton
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
On Light & Magic, the follow-up to the critically acclaimed 604, Ladytron do indeed bring on the special effects, adding denser arrangements, more complex melodies, and processed vocals to their brand of spooky, stylish synth pop. Like Chicks on Speed and Adult., Ladytron helped shape the sound of electroclash before the style even had a name, and, in turn, this album feels influenced by the music that followed once the style formalized. Tracks such as "Turn It On," "Fire," and "Evil" are colder, more detached and dance-oriented than the rather naïve, bittersweet sound of 604, and feature digital-sounding synths instead of the analog warmth of Ladytron's previous work. While much of 604's charm came from the way it sounded like Ladytron just unearthed their gear from attics, dumpsters, and flea markets, most of Light & Magic -- from the "Warm Leatherette"-esque "True Mathematics" to the icy, vaguely dissonant "Cracked LCD" -- borrows from the early-'80s' sharp-edged sounds. Though this approach takes some getting used to, after awhile the album reveals itself as an accomplished and worthy set of songs. Even more so than on 604, Light & Magic makes the most of Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo's contrasting vocal styles; spare, Aroyo-sung numbers such as "Nuhorizons" are pitted against lush, poppy songs like Marnie's "Blue Jeans," which, with its warm, buzzing synths and '60s-inspired melody, is the album's most quintessentially Ladytron moment. Though Light & Magic's intricate, often fascinating sound takes center stage, the album does offer more than a few memorable songs, most notably the creepy-sexy "Seventeen"; the paranoia-by-the-numbers of "Flicking Your Switch"; "Re:Agents," a hypnotic mix of Eastern melodies and Joe Meek-like sci-fi sounds; and "Cease2xist," which features the line "Do you cease to exist when you stop being missed?" While the processed vocals used on most of the songs add another interesting textural element, they do tend to obscure the group's clever and usually worth-hearing lyrics. Like 604, Light & Magic might be slightly too long for its own good at just under an hour long, though there aren't any obvious moments that should be removed. On the whole, Light & Magic is a logical, elegant progression for Ladytron, balancing their pop and experimental instincts even more ably than their debut. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
On their debut full-length 604, Ladytron prove how apt their name is: their sound mixes evocative vintage synths and plaintive female vocals as it references over two decades' worth of electronica, new wave, and rock (including Roxy Music, whose "Ladytron" is the group's namesake). Like the Commodore Rock EP, 604 balances Ladytron's experimental and pop sides. "Mu-Tron" and "Zmekya" reinterpret Add N to (X)'s noisy, dystopian soundscapes, and the shimmering "CSKA Sofia" sounds like Kraftwerk filtered through Broadcast. However, it's the tightly structured pop songs that set Ladytron apart. Helena Marnie is Ladytron's lovelorn heart and soul, a heartbroken disco diva singing through her tears on "Another Breakfast With You" and "Discotraxx" and a sadder but wiser confidante on "Playgirl." Meanwhile, Mira Aroya's deadpan singing and Bulgarian accent add a touch of Ninotchka-style wit and irony to "Paco!" which parodies a department store's fake cheeriness, and "I'm With the Pilots," a piece of Weimar Republic-era cabaret brought into the 21st century. Marnie and Aroya's vocals blend perfectly on songs like the brooding, witty single "He Took Her to a Movie." But Ladytron's mix of retro songwriting and modern themes is their most interesting, and distinctive, aspect. Set at the airport and the disco, "Jet Age" blends jealousy and sexual ambiguity, asking "Do you want to be her or don't you / Of course you do / But would she be you?" This subversive streak makes the album's synth-pop more progressive -- and more satisfying -- than its blatantly experimental moments, but either way, 604 is an exciting debut from a group capable of making overused influences sound fresh again. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
