Currently Listening

Velocifero
by Ladytron

Ladytron for those of you who have never heard of them is a four women band (Helen Marnie, Daniel Hunt, Mira Aroyo, and Reuben Wu) from Liverpool. This is their fourth studio album and I would argue the worse, but that actually doesn’t mean it isn’t still pretty darn good.

From their earliest moments, Ladytron was always a band that was so far left of the normal bands that get radio play that any mainstream success seemed like a far-fetched fantasy. However, Ladytron is known for having won legions of fans through far-reaching touring and gobs of remixes of tracks by Nine Inch Nails and Soft Cell to just name a few.

If I had to force fit them into a genre it would be electro-pop, but I don’t really like that genre cause I am not a fan of much else that would also be included in it. If I had to describe their sound it is of a band that does play a full range of instruments, with the electronic/dance beat added in, but with a garage quality. It isn’t clean it is a little rough, and I mean that in a good way.

And that would be why I wasn’t as much of a fan of Velocifero compared to Light & Magic (2004) and Witching Hour (2005), which are CDs that are almost in one player someplace in my house or car. But in light of the fact it was recorded and mixed at Studio de la Grande Armée in Paris, where Duran Duran and INXS did some of their best work I guess it makes sense.

release is more accessible and less experimental

But with that all said Velocifero is more accessible and less experimental. It still plays with the harder edges of electro-pop in some moments, but overall this release, as another reviewer said “is soft candy.” A little too much for my tastes but a good introduction to this type of music if you want one.

Previous Albums

From Here We Go Sublime
by The Field

There Will Be Blood
by Jonny Greenwood