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Ladytron

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15:01 / 04.12.02

i quite like that song they have on rotation at mtv2. Are they worth shelling out christmas cash for?

ONLY NICE THINGS

15:06 / 04.12.02

The new album, if it is the same as the Emperor Norton import, is pretty good, but much more repetitive and disco than their first album, 604, on Invicta Hi-Fi, which for my money is better. Try getting the "Mu-Tron" or "The Way That I found You" singles for examples of the earlier stuff.

So, I'd recommend "604" personally, but your Ladytron may vary.

15:14 / 04.12.02

I was thinking about Ladytron the other week with regard to how thoroughly fashion/media attension can change your reaction to music..

Usually I tend to assume good music's good music, and I 'll use my own judgement to determine what it is and not particularly care about it's place within the current order of coolness..

But then I was listening to the new Ladytron single on the radio and thinking, back a few years ago, when I first heard their early singles, I thought they were brilliant, sounded completely fresh and unlike anything else I was hearing at the time, and had great songs to boot, so I bought all their records and raved about them..

But now, in a quite extraordinary way, it's like fashion's not only caught up with them, but COMPLETELY KILLED THEM.. even listening to the same songs I used to really like, the whole 'Kraftwerk-esque pop with icy Germanic ladies talking over it' thing has become so omnipresent, and become boring so quickly what with all the almost-hit records that were playing off it last year, that (I hate to say this and hope it doesn't make me sound like some terrible cooler than thou urban hipster), due to their failure to move on from that style and do something new, Ladytron now sound completely passe..

15:43 / 04.12.02

That post could go equally well in the "music after 30" thread. It's the problem with being the first to make a certain sound, isn't it.

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:55 / 04.12.02

Riz, you only want them when you're seventeen...

Funnily enough I was intending to start a thread this very day asking which was the better Ladytron album to buy, as I have been hopelessly bewitched by their glacial sexpixieness. Is the smart money on 604 then? I suppose I will have to keep my inner neophile in check.

They *are* very easy on the eye, aren't they, as My Misheard Lada noted in another thread. Shallow of me, perhaps, but it's true. Bagsie the one with the 'fin' hair - never thought I'd say that...

15:58 / 04.12.02

Another vote for 604. But I'm still going to get the new one, when I have a functioning CD player again (hello, Father Christmas). The guitarry version of 'Seventeen' that's all over the radio is a remix, isn't it?

Our Lady of The Two Towers

16:21 / 04.12.02

If you've got a half-decent web connection you can get the video from their website, which is good as I dragged Plums into Virgin looking for the single only to find out it was limited edition and sold out. Arse.

16:36 / 04.12.02

It's a Soulwax remix. I think.

18:17 / 04.12.02

Agree that 604 is (slightly) better. Those of you who want more Ladytron should try to get hold of French electroinica gal Anne Laplantine.

Matthew Fluxington

18:58 / 04.12.02

I don't think either Ladytron record is good as an album, but each of them have some excellent songs on them - 604 has "He Took Her To A Movie", "Commodore Rock", "Playgirl", and "Discotraxx", Light & Magic has "Seventeen", "True Mathematics", and "Cease2Exist". The rest of the albums are pretty forgettable, but if you can get those songs, you'll be fine.

19:33 / 04.12.02

I think we should pray that more bands like Ladytron come our way, if only to kill the virulent 'guitar band' meme that has plagued us for the past 10 years. Thank God for Radiohead

Ladytron have produced 2 albums and 604 is definitely the more user-friendly album, but Light & Magic has some fine moments - I loved Blue Jeans as an example. Playgirl is probably one of the best songs I've heard in years.

They're also the coolest looking band on the planet at the moment. Anyone who attended their ICA performance (where they were playing along to the film Tron) or who popped down to their live performance at Heaven could testify to that.

I was initially put off by reports that they were too heavily influenced by 80's synthpop acts such as The Human League, but they have a sound that is definitely 21st Century. It's future pop sound for a future pop generation

03:19 / 07.12.02

Unfortunately, they haven't yet made plans to tour the US. A friend of mine arranged to see them, but when we got there we discovered it was a promo tour that Reuben Wu from the group was doing. Interesting evening, but not exactly what we wanted.

Matthew Fluxington

12:01 / 07.12.02

if only to kill the virulent 'guitar band' meme that has plagued us for the past 10 years. Thank God for Radiohead

That doesn't make any sense - the overwhelming majority of Radiohead's songs, including those post-Kid A, and especially those post-Amnesiac, all include guitar in their arrangements, usually up to three guitars in any given song. Radiohead is a guitar band, man. Don't fool yourself.

17:10 / 07.12.02

Perhaps you missed the winking smiley that accompanied that comment, Flux...

22:31 / 07.12.02

I need to know more Ladytron, because for two weeks running, the uni Radio station gave me first the original single of "Seventeen" and then the Soulwax remix to review.

The original single was entirely dreadful; a song that for two seconds made me go "ooh, New Order", for ten seconds made me go "ooh, Girls and Boys by Blur", and then it repeated itself for four minutes, and was entirely dreadful. The remixes made it sound like a variety of popular eighties songs, each covering a different track.

The Soulwax mix was very good, in that it stripped away all the bollocks bits and put the vocal sample into the context of "Soulwax-playing-guitars", and made quite a good song.

But please tell me they get better than this? Please?

14:10 / 08.12.02

Flux: Yes, Radiohead use guitars, but you could hardly cite Kid A and Amnesiac as guitar-dominated albums. Those albums were more attempts to examine modern ways of making music through the use of samplers and sound modules. As Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood remarked; "I've been telling people, glibly, that there's so little guitar on the new stuff because there are only five Pixies albums, and there are other sounds out there."

Or there's this from Q: "Morning Bell highlights how, where last time they overcame the guitars' limitations by treating them beyond recognition, this time they've overcome the guitars' limitations by, well, not playing them. .... "I remember coming into the studio one day," says (Phil) Selway later, "seeing Ed actually holding a guitar and thinking, Ooh, that's strange. They're on there, but not that much."

OK Computer is a brilliant album but it demonstrated that Radiohead were moving in a new direction. As Jonny also says (regarding The Pixies again): "They hit at their instruments in striving to not be boring - whilst avoiding muso drudgery". This is not your father's guitar band. Kid A and Amnesiac were fresh and challenging albums. It must have been a real shame for diehard Radiohead fans who were expecting The Bends Pt II!

Which is also why Ladytron sound fresh and exciting IMHO.

I have to be honest and say that I've not heard too many of the Ladytron remixes so I can't comment on those as yet. I would definitely recommend getting hold of 604 as an introduction though.

Also, did any 'lithers make Ladytron's Manchester performance this week? I heard it was a good one and, strangely enough, taking place at the same time as a Hawkwind concert!

A

01:25 / 09.12.02

I haven't heard the new record yet, but i've been listening to 604 a hell of a lot recently, and i'd certainly say it's worth shelling out for.

Regrettable Juvenilia

16:00 / 11.12.02

Bought 604 today, in honour of signing new job contract. It's great - I'm surprised by how block-rockin' and hip-hoppin' the beats on it are... 'Disco Traxx' is my favourite at this early stage, but I will have more to say about it later, hopefully. Lazer-guided!

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

20:44 / 11.12.02

I bought the other one today. Dissapointingly could not find 604, which was my choice by way of this thread and the cute illustration on the cover.

Like it though.

14:50 / 12.12.02

Fucking hell. I must be an old lady. I don't have cable television, and I don't listen to the radio, and I saw that Ladytron was in town recently and I was all, like, "Oh, that's interesting."

Now I realise that I could have been having a good time. Potentially seeing someone good.

Should I feel as bad as the time I gave away the Nirvana tickets because I had to work, saying I'd catch them when they were next in town?

::a::

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

12:34 / 16.12.02

mmm.

I went out in Camden the other night, and I saw this girl at the bar, and thought "well, she looks like that girl from ladytron" and thought nothing of it.

Later on, we were leaving, and we couldn't find one of my friends, only to finally track him down and for him to be all "but I was talking to that girl from ladytron!" (and trying his utmost to get in her pants I must add).

Which is funny really, seeing as I only heard them about a week ago, bought their album in said week, and now they seem to be inescapable everywhere I go...

12:40 / 16.12.02

'Ladytron Bird' - it's the meme of the moment! Go to any club and you'll see at least half a dozen 'Ladytron Birds'. Go to a Ladytron gig and you'll see a hundred! Short sultry miserable looking cool girls with short dark hair - I love you all

16:24 / 07.01.03

Got 'Light and Magic' the other day and am listening to it now - it sounds just like very early Depeche Mode (around the time of 'Speak and Spell' - thinking specifically of 'Photographic' here, and that's a top tune), except without Dave Gahan's astonishingly flat vocals. It's not as good as 604, I think, but I reckon that's because the tunes aren't as much cop.

16:38 / 07.01.03

Don't let the members of Ladytron hear you comparing their music to the likes of Depeche Mode! In fact, they apparently nailed the cover of GARY NUMAN's Pleasure Principle album to the studio wall as a reminder of the direction they didn't want to go in!

I'd agree that Light And Magic isn't as accessible as 604 though. It'll be interesting to see what they come up with for the 3rd album.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

18:19 / 19.02.03

Bringing it back from the dead in true Zombie stylee just to say the copy of '604' I ordered finally turned up at the library today and i got it and think it sounds great. Which surprised me as I heard a half-hour set broadcast from somewhere like the Camden Monarch on x-fm last friday and was appalled by how crap they sounded. But then, someone did seem to be loading a game on a ZX Spectrum between songs, so maybe that put me off.

Regrettable Juvenilia

09:33 / 21.02.03

Thanks to the It Came From The Sea boys, I'm now feeling as if I might have to get Light & Magic - 'Startup Chime' just floors me with its incredibly heavy, evil bass. Plus there's a song called 'True Mathematics', which I choose to believe is some kind of Wu-Tang shout out...

Our Lady of The Two Towers

14:21 / 22.02.03

So presumerably you don't object to that as much as 'Boards of Canada's Music is Maths then?

Regrettable Juvenilia

19:18 / 13.09.05

Ha.

So, the new album Witching Hour is out very soon. I wasn't too crazy on 'Sugar' - shades of 'Seventeen' all over again - but oh my word, if 'Destroy Everything You Touch isn't EXACTLY what I want from Ladytron. Just when I thought nobody could wring anything else out of that particular sound...

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

20:08 / 13.09.05

I wish they'd do a live album - shit sounds way too clean on CD what with all the space age computers they use.

The Korgs they use in the flesh sound much better. More intent and shit.

21:05 / 15.09.05

I dunno 'Destroy Everything You Touch" sounded so... overproduced to me. Perhaps I only liked them when they were 17...

21:42 / 20.09.05

Are Ladytron still going?

Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!

09:04 / 21.09.05

Destroy Everything You Touch is awesome. I have to disagree with it sounding too overproduced, or too clean, purely because I think that's exactly what makes this song work.

I read a great review it somewhere, the exact words and where they were escape me now... but I'm sure it made mention of the massive - and indeed, hugeness - of the song. Big drama. I wish I could find that review, really. They put it nicely.

Regrettable Juvenilia

09:41 / 21.09.05

I have to disagree with it sounding too overproduced, or too clean, purely because I think that's exactly what makes this song work.

I agree. Ladytron aren't exactly lo-fi and never really have been, have they?

And Ron, yes, they are still going!

21:51 / 21.09.05

Petey
Really? Cheers! Is their new stuff any good? (ignore this post).....

ONLY NICE THINGS

16:20 / 28.09.05

Have downloaded and like it - I see what is meant about the production, in particular compared to the comparatively basic synths of 604, but I think the overlaid sound works well. The B-side reminded me that the exemplary Ladytron effect - having one female voice singing the lyrics in a flat, emotionless tone while another female voice speaks the same lyrics at the same time, in a flat emotionless fishcakes, has surprising longevity. The chords start beautifully, then do become a little flat and repetitive - I was hoping more would be done with the repeating bar lower in the mix but higher in the tonal register, but yoou can't have everything.

Is it me, or do they oddly recall the Pet Shop Boys?

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