Archive for the ‘Ladytron’ Category
Ladytron/The Faint live!
I had been waiting to see Ladytron live for a long, long time so even though I wasn’t particularly impressed by Velocifero, I was pretty willing to skip an excellent lecture on the roots of patriarchy to see them.
The venue was filled with every imaginable stereotype you can think of. Teenyboppers (it was an all-ages show), jocks, people who looked like they were here with their kids, scenesters, hipsters, industrial goths proclaiming their individuality by all wearing KMFDM tshirts, etc. It was an interesting mix that I suppose the combination of Ladytron and The Faint made inevitable. I actually thought it was a little weird that Ladytron and The Faint were touring together. True, they’re both loosely of the electronic genre but I find Ladytron so much more mature and serious compared to the Faint.
The Faint lived up to their reputation of putting on a good show. Jacob Thiele chugged more beers than the front row combined and made love to the keyboard all night. Petersen is a good bassist and a hilariously bad dancer. Baechle did a fantastic job on drums. Todd Fink … needs a new stylist. That shirt/robe/dress is waaaay too long.
The crowd loved The Faint and I could feel the vibrations on the intelligently-designed shock-absorbing floor beneath me. Unfortunately, despite the many requests, there was no encore.
The enthusiasm for Ladytron wasn’t quite so high. I guess Ladytron is a lot harder to dance to. This was evident through Marnie’s weirdly seductive jerky shoulder dance. Also, since when are there six members in the band? I only had two beers so don’t question my counting skills.
In fact, here’s another photo. You can only see five of them but that’s still one too many.
They played a lot of songs from the new album which was to be expected. Aroyo’s vocals were spot on. I love her voice, it’s so haunting. Marnie, on the other hand, sounded like she was doing an exaggerated impression of herself. I couldn’t figure out why she sounded so weird until I listened to the album at home again and realized that her voice is kind of raspy/distorted recorded but perfectly clear live. It sounds a lot better with some distortion. This is more obvious with their older albums. Like with “Seventeen”, she sounds soooo different because on the album, she’s almost whispering the lyrics.
Ladytron’s set was too short, in my opinion. There were a lot of songs I wanted to hear that weren’t performed. Even “Destroy Everything You Touch” was saved for the encore. I have to say that The Faint outshined Ladytron but it’s probably because Ladytron’s music is more suited to a mellow evening at home rather than a rambunctious night at the Phoenix.
Ladytron – Ghosts
Ladytron – Deep Blue
The Faint – The Geeks Were Right
The Faint – Forever Growing Centipedes
AWmusic’s Top Songs of 2008 pt 1: #76-100
Rest of the series:
Part 2: #51-75
Part 3: #26-50
Part 4: #1-25
I’m really late with my top songs list. There are far too many and it’s likely I missed a whole bit. In order not to just give a list of 100 songs, I’ll split it into four-parts with a 10-word limit describing each track.
#76 (Why Don’t You Go) Take A Hike by Thunder Power (myspace/video)
Even if she tells me, I’m not leaving.
#77 Wishing Well by Love Is All(myspace/video)
Josephine Olausson is a goddess. I’ll make her feel better
.#78 Take Me Home by Team Genius(myspace/video)
Most optimistic attempt to be Michael Jackson vocally?
#79 Clouds by The Rumble Strips (myspace)
“I’m lying on my back, looking at the clouds”
#80 Singer-Songwriter Anthem by Silver Speakers (myspace)
I think of this whenever I hear a singer-song writer.
#81 The Hollows by Why? (myspace)
10 words doesn’t do it here.
#82 Cherry Tulips by Headlights (myspace/video)
Pop at its finest.
#83 The Nun’s Litany by Magnetic Fields (myspace)
Fuel to the “dirty nun” fantasy.
#84 Black Satin by The Raveonettes(myspace)
Another simple yet effective Raveonettes song.
#85 California Girls by Magnetic Fields
Someone actually hates California Girls?
#86 Where Do You Run To by Vivian Girls (myspace)
A simple yet catchy song.
#87 You, Me and the Burgeoise by The Submarines (myspace/video)
I-phone commercial for the win?
#88 Bye Bye Bye by Plants and Animals (myspace/video)
Good song….album? ehhh
#89 Stormy High by Black Mountain (myspace)
A great start to a great album.
#90 Nothing Ever Happened by Deerhunter (myspace)
“Best song to play on a road trip”
#91 Constructive Summer by Hold Steady (myspace)
Me and my friends are like “constructive summer”?
#92 Ghosts by Ladytron (myspace/video)
Schizophrenia?
#93 House Music by Cadence Weapon (myspace)
Best song on Afterparty Babies.
#94 Creeper by Islands (myspace/video)
Video is odd.
#95 The Old Days by Dr. Dog (myspace)
“Let go of the old ones, we’ve got new ones.”
#96 Jodi by The Dodos (myspace)
Jodi my dear, this is a song you must hear.
#97 Battle Royale by Does It Offend You Yeah? (myspace/video)
A catchy instrumental for one of my favorite movies.
#98 I Wasn’t Made For Fighting by Woodhands (myspace/video)
They were actually made for dancing.
#99 Heaven (Narctrax Remix) by Health (myspace)
Health’s Disco has amazing remixes.
#100 Dawn Of The Dead by Does It Offend You Yeah? (video)
Critics hated on the wrong album.
Ladytron – Velocifero Review
In light of the Ladytron giveaway on our blog and the fact that I hate posting on Sundays but the search continues for writers to contribute, I decided that it couldn’t hurt delaying my post for a day.
The only tracks I’ve heard were their songs on their myspace, Black Cat, Ghosts, Deep Blue and Versus but otherwise my knowledge is limited from this electroband from England. I’m admitting here that I don’t have any album as a basis for comparison and thus a sort of lackluster/incomplete review. I should probably check out Witching Hour though.
I wasn’t sure what to expect but with their fanbase and the ever popular electro genre. I was thinking more of the lines of something more dance-able and poppy so I was a bit surprised. Not that it’s a bad thing to not have electronic music totally danceable.
There’s a sense of quality to their music without a sense of urgency for you to like their music. I found this album very mellow feeling and was able to enjoy while multi-tasking quite easily. I thought the dream pop label was somewhat funny at first…but I guess understand that now.
Ladytron also features two tracks, Black Cat and Kletva entirely in Bulgarian. I actually thought it was French because of how beautifully it’s sung. Musically there are a ton of elements that you expect of an electro-band but the way they put everything together is special.
I’m admittedly having trouble coming up with much to say, other then it’s a pretty good album. I don’t love it that much but it’s worth noting that there is a lot to like about it and unlike a lot of electro, I don’t see this album becoming annoying in the future and I feel like I can be in any mood to listen to this album.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Buy the album at: Insound/ CD Universe / Crapazon
P.S. The Nettwerk label rocks for their stand against the gay-RIAA.
Ladytron Contest: 3 Prizes with CD and Tote Bag!
Ladytron is a very popular English electro band that received pretty solid if not good reviews for their recently released album Velocifero. I will be reviewing their album later this month or by next month but it was definitely recommended to me for some time. There are a ton of Ladytron fans and Ladytron themselves are nice enough to play four Canadian dates before kicking off their European part of their tour. The fact that they are playing in Quebec City and Ottawa is awesome because those cities need loving too. As Torontonians we’re grossly spoiled with getting bands to come here (even if the Sens suck, Ottawa could use more bands coming there).
The Canadian dates are:
July 2 – Metropolis Jazz Fest – Montreal
July 3 – Theatre Imperial Summer Festival – Quebec City
July 4 – Harbourfront Centre – Toronto
July 5 – Blues Fest – Ottawa
To celebrate these Canadian tours, Nettwerk wanted to celebrate by dishing out some free stuff and free stuff is the shit. Nettwerk is giving away 3 packages that includes a CD of Velocifero and a Ladytron tote bag.
Here are the rules:
1. To Enter all you have to do is leave a comment to this post while filling out the e-mail in the accompanied form. No e-mail no entry. You can also leave your e-mail in your comment but I wouldn’t do that unless you love spam.
2. One entry per person, it’s not a big giveaway.
3. Contest is open to anyone, anywhere. Unlike the Ting Tings contest which was just for Canadians.
4. Winners will be selected randomly and will then be contacted by e-mail in which I will ask for your mailing address.
5. Contest ends July 2nd, Ladytron’s first Canadian date.
Here are Ladytron’s other tour dates:
25 Jun Terminal 5 (All Ages) New York, New York
26 Jun Fillmore at the Theater of Living Arts (All Ages) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
27 Jun Sonar (All Ages) Baltimore, Maryland
28 Jun Merriweather Post Pavillion (with Thievery Corporation & TV on the radio) Washington DC
30 Jun Paradise (18+) Boston, Massachusetts
8 Jul Apollo (with Interpol) Manchester
9 Jul Academy (with Interpol) Sheffield
12 JulCreamfields Central Europe Breclav
16 Jul 2008 London Astoria (Rescheduled show) London, London and South East
17 Jul (DJ) Lido Berlin
31 Jul Emmaboda Festival Emmaboda
1 Aug Venice Airport Festival Venice
8 Aug Pantiero Festival Cannes
14 Freequency Festival Salzburg
29 Aug Hydro Connect Festival Invenray (Scotland)
30 Aug The Magic Loungeabout North Yorkshire
6 Sep Beat it Festival Porto
9 Sep (DJ) Monkey Cafè Swansea (Wales)
29 SepMetro Sydney
1 Oct Tivoli Brisbane
2 Oct Corner Hotel Melbourne
4 Oct The Great Escape Festival Sydney
5 Oct Bakery Artrage Complex Perth
Here are some hot mp3s by Ladytron:
Black Cat by Ladytron
Versus by Ladytron
