Under the Radar interview (2012)

Top 10 Albums of 2012

1. Lana Del Rey: Born to Die — I don't care where she's come from, if it's for real, it's a game, or all for show. This girl is super talented and has created an album of huge hits. No easy feat.
2. Bat For Lashes: The Haunted Man — I've loved Bat For Lashes from day one. She is consistently good. Her dulcet tones helped lull me to sleep in my bunk on the tour bus over a two-month period.
3. Grimes: Visions — Her videos are cool. It's obvious she does what she wants. Her songs are serene electronica. Soothing, yet they make me want to dance at the same time.
4. Friends: Manifest! — "I'm His Girl" is one of those tracks that is just an instant classic. I was lucky enough to see these guys play in London in February.
5. Emeli Sande: Our Version of Events — She hails from Scotland, so one bonus point there. She also has one of the best voices I have ever heard. The kind of voice that makes you cry because you will never be able to emulate such great heights. "Heaven" is a great, great track.
6. Beach House: Bloom — I'd never listened to Beach House before this alburn. It feels good.
7. Miaoux Miaoux: Light of the North — I've recently moved back to Glasgow from London so wanted to immerse myself in the music scene up here. I'm all about flying the flag. 8. The M Machine: Metropolis Pt. 1 - I discovered this album when I was looking for tunes to spin for a DJ gig in Poland this sumrner. It's not what I would usually listen to, but everything has a place. Love the dirtiness of "Immigrants." Love, love, love it.
9. Tame Impala: Lonerism
10. Churches — OK, so they haven't officially got an album out yet, but perhaps they will have by the time this is print. I've loved their songs "Lies" and "Mother." Again, hailing frorn Glasgow. I think these two guys and a girl are going to go far. They're so fresh.

What was the highlight of 2012 for either you personally or for the band?

I think I will remember 2012 as the year I wrote and recorded my debut solo album, launched a Pledge campaign to support it, and fulfilled the target within about two days. It's amazing what people power can do.

What was the low point of 2012 for you?

The low point of 2012 for me was losing my granddad. He was so cool. I miss him.

Tell us about your first kiss.

I had my first kiss when I was about 12. I wore a brace. Not cool.

Did you watch this year's Olympics? What was your favorite event and which event would you be best at?

I lived in Hackney until a couple of months ago so was lucky to have the Olympics right on my doorstep. It was such a great time. Everyone was on a high. London had never been such a happy, friendly place! One of my favorite events is the swimming and I actually went to some of the heats. Being a bit of a water baby, I like to think I'd be good at the freestyle.

What is your least favorite sound? What is your favorite?

I hate the sound of a knife on a plate. It makes me angry when someone eats too hard! I was walking my dog the other week in the Glasgow sunshine, kicking through the autumn leaves. It made me smile.

What do you think about the use of drone attacks in the war on terror?

Drone attacks are this generally unreported elephant in the room. I'm sure if more people were aware they were happening and knew the destruction they created then there would be outrage. It's like blanket killing. Maybe a target will be hit, maybe not, maybe just innocent civilians. Imagine if this was happening in The West. World War III would break out. People are people—it doesn't matter where they come from.

In 2012, what was the best movie you saw, book you read, comic book you read, video game you play and/or TV show you watched?

I've been really hooked on Homeland over the last year. It keeps me gripped. I haven't liked Claire Danes this much since My So Called Life.



Source

Ladytron - KCRW, 2009

Format: FLV, 480x360
Size: 156 MB
Source: internet stream

Content:
1. Tomorrow
2. Destroy Everything You Touch
3. Soft Power
4. Interview
5. Black Cat
6. Discotraxx
7. Versus
8. Runaway
9. Credits

Download

Chicago Sun-Times interview (2003)

Plenty of hip indie rockers pay homage to the groundbreaking synthpop band Kraftwerk, but few come as close as the Liverpool quartet Ladytron to matching the pioneering Germans' mix of innovative electronic soundscapes, ultra-danceable beats and unforgettable pop melodies.

The group recently followed its promising 2001 album 604 with an even stronger disc, Light & Magic. Now it's touring the States for the first time, with the core members of keyboardists, vocalists and DJs Daniel Hunt, Reuben Wu, Mira Aroyo and Helen Marnie augmented by a bassist and a drummer. I spoke with Marnie by phone from the United Kingdom before the start of the tour, which brings them to Metro tonight.

There hasn't been a whole lot written about Ladytron in the States. Take me through how you came together.

Daniel and Reuben kind of knew each other from Liverpool from DJ-ing around, and they had gone to university there. They wanted to do something together and have a band, but they didn't really know what it was going to be like or what shape it would take. Danny met Mira at a club they were DJ-ing at, and they met me very shortly thereafter through mutual friends. I was kind of into the same sort of music, and I was DJ-ing, but I used to live in Oxford. We met up and got along straight away, and I think that was the main thing. We enjoyed what we were doing and we very much took it one step at a time. We'd do a song and try and release it. This was about four years ago, and the first album came out two years ago. We'd been releasing singles for a long time before that.

As strong as 604 was, it seems as if the group took a quantum leap with Light & Magic.

The first one was more of a collection of songs, and some of them had existed for a long time. This one sounds like more of a record because it was done in a much shorter time and it was done to be a record, whereas the first one we were just doing song by song. With this one, we had more of an idea of what we wanted to do, and also, because we got to know each other better over time, all of our personalities come through more. It just seems to work better.

There seems to be a fascination for all of you with the New Wave era and elements of the sound of acts like the Human League and Gary Numan.

To be quite honest with you, we're not fascinated by that era very much. We're fascinated by the '60s much more than we are by that era. The whole aesthetic thing is more like late '60s/early '70s, a lot more so than '80s. I think people identify with the '80s because of the synths. They came out in the late '70s or early '80s, and out of those came the New Wave things you're talking about. I love Cabaret Voltaire and stuff like that, but I'm not actually in love with Gary Numan. I like Kraftwerk, but they were a really weird band that was making really, really good pop tunes. Basically, we use old synths because we like the sounds that they make.

The sound is marked by your use of vintage analog synthesizers. Is it difficult traveling with those instruments and converting the currency?

It's really difficult traveling, because the synths tend to break down quite a lot. We did a two-week tour of England at the end of last year, and I think we had about three of them dying in the space of two days. They can be fixed, but it's just a bit worrying when you know you're relying on something that's 30 years old and you haven't got another and it's really difficult to find another one of that type. But it's also really difficult when you play because we're not relying on amplifiers, so everything is DI-ed [direct-injected into the sound system], and it's a really complex thing to get it like the records sound live because everything goes through the P.A. There's a lot of technical [crap] like that.

You could use modern samplers to replicate those sounds.

Of course we can sample them, but it just doesn't really feel proper. And also when you sample sounds, you're relying on what you've sampled, but when we do stuff live, we're playing around with filters and stuff like that, and you can't do that when you're using samples. It's more organic our way. We bought this mini-Korg thing, which looks like an old vintage instrument and we thought, "OK, we're gonna sample all this stuff down on to it so in case something happens we have it", but it's just not the same thing. If you have a late-'60s Les Paul, you wouldn't be happy with like a [cheap] Encore [guitar], you know what I mean?

Synth pioneer Brian Eno always talked about the beauty of the early analog machines and their ability to surprise you with the turn of every knob.

Yeah! They change as well. There's no way that you can get the same sound twice. Sometimes it's irritating, and sometimes you get these really great sounds. You can be really frustrated because you haven't got the time to spend 10 minutes before a song trying to get exactly the right sound, but sometimes it cuts through. Like if there's bit where I want it to sound like a really nasty sort of electric guitar, sometimes it really cuts through and fits really good, but other times you press the key and it's this weird noise that's really irritating. Plus they tend to go out of tune.

So there are some headaches.

Yeah, there are a lot of headaches! After the show, we're always going over what went wrong, but hopefully we can cure the headaches.

I remember having a similar discussion with Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab a decade ago. Do you feel kindred spirit with that band?

We've got the same [roadies], the backline people. [Laughs] But yeah, definitely. They kind of approached pop songs in a way we liked. But otherwise, beyond that, they use quite a different format. I think we're maybe a bit simpler in our approach to electronics than they are. I think they're more avant-garde and we're more common and not as clever.

For Ladytron, it seems to be about the song rather than the sound in the end.

Yeah, for us it's all about the song. I really liked Stereolab when they were all about the song and not trying to be so clever. And we're all about rocking a bit more as well. I think that kind of comes across more live when we're thrashing about.

You've recorded some amazingly effective tunes--singles such as "Seventeen", "Blue Jeans" and "Playgirl". When do you know you've written a song that works?

When you live with the melody in your head before you've actually written it or gotten to record it. And other times, I used to get this when I used to smoke--if I needed a cigarette after a song, I knew I liked it.

Like after sex!

[Laughs] Yeah. But now that I'm not smoking, it's kind of really frustrating. But you just know it, I guess. I like all the songs that we've done, but obviously some of them work more as pop hits than others. But you don't think of whether it's going to work or not; you get an idea and you put it down, and if you like it, then you go with it and hopefully it works for other people as well.

Source

New Ladytron album in 2013!

Amazing news! Ladytron announced on their Facebook page that they will release a new album in 2013! (17 January 2015 edit: still not released)

Helen Marnie' solo album (7)

Marnie returned in Iceland to finish her solo album. Hopefully we'll hear a preview or a single at the beginning of the new year.

For those that now hear for the first time about Helen Marnie's debut album, here are some details:
- the album is produced by Daniel Hunt;
- Helen described it as "an electronic album with more of a pop element and pristine vocals. Lyrically, the album is expansive, but the Elements do play a part in much of the record, with the sea being particularly dominant and reoccurring";
- she already recorded most part of her album;
- Marnie run a PledgeMusic campaign to help funding the album. She already reached the target but you can still pledge here;
- the album is due early next year.

Oops Oh My

Cover of Tweet's "Oops Oh My". Available on Ladytron's Softcore Jukebox mix compilation.

Lyrics updated

Todor Terziev (a Bulgarian friend of mine), translated and corrected the existing translations of all Ladytron songs that contain Bulgarian lyrics.

Read the lyrics here.

Under the Radar interview (2008)

Mythical Beasts and Masterful Beats

"We're just going to go out and get drunk now", says Ladytron's Daniel Hunt, having recently approved the final master of the band's fourth record. "We've been organizing these album-wrap drinking sessions for about two weeks, and even though we hadn't finished the record, we just kept having them anyway. But this one's going to be definitive".

Ladytron have good reason to celebrate. When the Liverpool quartet emerged in 1999, their suits, synths, melodies, and Teutonic trappings clearly evoked techno pioneers Kraftwerk, leading many critics to deem them a nostalgic novelty act. Then came electroclash, a short-lived, New York-based fad that produced a flurry of like-minded bands, many of questionable quality. Ladytron and other such European acts were reluctantly lumped into this category, but Hunt and his bandmates Mira Aroyo, Helen Marnie, and Reuben Wu were able to weather the subsequent electroclash backlash by disproving their detractors; the band has consistently perfected their live shows and their studio productions.

The latest proof of their superior sonic prowess is Velocifero. The album shares its name with an obscure 19th century opera as well as an Italian scooter hyped for its flair, style, and simultaneously futuristic and classic qualities—all apt descriptors for any Ladytron endeavor. But regardless of its history, the name emerged from somewhere deep within the band's subconscious, initially as the title of a song that was cut from the record.

"The biggest shame about dropping that track was the name", says Aroyo. "It seemed to have a kind of urgency that we thought was relevant to the record. One of the guys who did our album cover thought that it sounded like a dinosaur. Or maybe some mythical beast".

Whatever its totem animal may be, Velocifero certainly has sharp teeth and a vicelike grip. With its assertive synths and rhythmic punch, Ladytron have moved away from the shoegazer echoes that resonated across their 2005 album, Witching Hour, producing a cleaner sound. While Hunt and Wu concentrate solely on their array of keyboards and consoles (save for a little gong action, courtesy of Wu), the ladies in the band continue to do double duty, playing synths and dividing vocal duties. Aroyo delivers her trademark bilingual deadpan (in English and Bulgarian), and Marnie provides her equally powerful yet relatively girlish counterpoint. But while the vocals and melodies have held steady, the rest of the album's sonic atmosphere appears to be in flux.

"It might be more of a departure than we actually realize at the moment", says Hunt. "It feels like a combination of the lessons we learned on the last two albums".

"On Witching Hour, we found a sound that we were happy with for the first time, but as a whole, it wasn't very diverse", adds Aroyo. "We hit on a formula of how to incorporate live drums and bass and guitars, and that's definitely still there—it gave us a lot of confidence and made us push ourselves a bit further. But with this one, we've tightened up some of the rhythmic elements and played with a wider variety of synth sounds, rather than relying on effects, reverb, and lots of washed-out guitars".

Recorded at the Studio de la Grande Armée in Paris, Velocifero was largely self-produced, with assistance from Andy Gardiner (aka Vicarious Bliss) of France's influential Ed Banger label, who had already remixed Ladytron's "Soft Power", from Witching Hour. Though Ladytron give their seal of approval to Ed Banger and the recent wave of hot French electro and hip-hop (Justice, Medhi, TTC, etc.), they're careful not to affiliate themselves with that scene, memories of electroclash still in the backs of their minds.

"We've never really cared about or been part of any trendy movements or felt competitive with other bands", says Aroyo. "We've got our way of working and we push ourselves within that space".

Hunt feels that the most significant outside contribution to the record came in the mix, by Los Angeles engineer Michael Patterson, whose credits include Beck's Midnite Vultures and several P. Diddy discs. But what really steered the band in a different direction was their own creative drive, not only to explore new sonic terrain, but to sidestep repetition.

"The worst situation to be in, if you're in a band, is to feel like you have to make the same record again and again", says Hunt. "That's gotta be soul-destroying".

"We have to amuse ourselves and reinvent ourselves, otherwise it's hard to keep this up over eight years", adds Aroyo. "But when you've been around for four albums, you also have the confidence and the freedom to change, so it becomes easier".

Ladytron's business matters have never failed to keep the band on their toes, with the constant folding of labels and forging of new deals on both sides of the Atlantic. In North America, Witching Hour was released by Ryko, which had bought out their previous label, Emperor Norton, but Velocifero has been picked up by the eager team at Nettwerk.

Having solid support in North America is of particular importance to Ladytron, because despite their distinctly European sound, they're one in a long line of bands whose fanbase is larger and more loyal here than on their home turf.

"The thing that really helps weirder bands like us is college radio", says Aroyo. "That's something that doesn't exist [in the U.K.]. Playlists on national radio are incredibly rigid, and very much orientated towards guitar rock bands with an NME story and lots of gossip behind them, or pre-fab pop, or hip-hop and R&B. [American] college radio is a lot more open-minded".

It also helps that Ladytron tend to tour the U.S. to death, filling up their aftershow time and days off with DJ gigs that allow them to meet even more fans than they would otherwise. With 31 dates set for North America alone to promote the June release of Velocifero, Ladytron have a lot on their plate this year. Clearly, the appeal of playing live hasn't worn off.

"I've enjoyed the last couple of tours a lot more", says Aroyo. "When we started, we thought we'd just make records. We had jobs, we had other things to do, so touring was really far down on our priorities list. Little by little, we realized that we needed to get good live. When we got good live, it really helped us to develop sonically, and touring became a lot more fun. A lot of people who come to shows don't really understand the kind of band we are until they see us live, and then things kind of click into place".

Source

Helen Marnie' solo album (6)

Helen Marnie will release a limited edition 7" vinyl courtesy of Soft Power Records in Scotland. It's limited to 200, signed, with music from the new album. Go here.

Ladytron - KCRW, 2006

Format: FLV, 480x360
Size: 134 MB
Source: internet stream

Content:
1. Destroy Everything You Touch
2. International Dateline
3. Soft Power
4. Sugar
5. Interview
6. High Rise
7. Fighting in Built Up Areas
8. The Last One Standing

Download

Rejected artwork for Ladytron's "Best of 00-10" compilation

I found here a rejected project for Ladytron's Best of 00-10 compilation.

New video for "International Dateline" soon

Great news! Daniel Hunt twitted on 19 October:

"I found a six year old unfinished Ladytron video down the back of the sofa, so I finished it. Will post when I get around to it".

I asked if it's the video for "International Dateline" and he confirmed. He also replied to me that they've got too busy with touring to finish it. Also it was originally envisaged to make a video for "Soft Power" too.

Later, Hunt twitted: "The end result I rather like, helped in no small part by the telegenicity of @marnieofficial".

Ladytron - The HiFi Bar, Melbourne, 2009

Format: DVD NTSC, 720x480
Size: 3.1 GB
Source: audience recording

Content:
01. Black Cat
02. Runaway
03. Ghosts
04. High Rise
05. I'm Not Scared
06. True Mathematics
07. Season of Illusions
08. Soft Power
09. Discotraxx
10. International Dateline
11. Fighting in Built Up Areas
12. Tomorrow
13. Seventeen
14. Versus
15. Destroy Everything You Touch

Ladytron - ULU, London, 2007

Format: MP3, 320 kbps CBR
Note: I converted to mp3 320 kbps CBR from a FLAC file (found on Tarquin Live). I cut the long audio file to songs with MP3DirectCut, I added tags with MP3Tag and I made the cover.

Track listing:
01. Intro
02. High Rise
03. True Mathematics
04. Evil
05. Weekend
06. Soft Power
07. Seventeen
08. Sugar
09. Cracked LCD
10. Beauty*2
11. Blue Jeans
12. International Dateline
13. Fighting in Built Up Areas
14. Playgirl
15. Discotraxx
16. Movie
17. The Last One Standing
18. Destroy Everything You Touch

Download

Muzik interview (2002)

A grimy cafe in the worn-out Ancoats area of Manchester is not typical Ladytron territory. Not if you believe that they are the synth-pop saviours of the universe, all Prada-Meinhof chic and arch pop tunes beamed down from the coolest planet in the galaxy.

"Only the best for Ladytron!" chirrups petite, Scottish vocalist Helen Marnie, who is pushing soggy batter around her plate. Her fellow band members, Scouser Reuben Wu, Danny Hunt, who moved to Manchester 18 months ago because he "felt like part of the furniture in Liverpool", and Bulgarian former genetics PhD student Mira Aroyo, sip tea and eat crisps. The setting may be mundane, but Ladytron are anything but. Poised in the space between fashionably famous and properly, TOTP famous, they're out to prove that everything you know is wrong.

"Everything we've ever done has been to be different", says Wu. "We always had the desire not to repeat ourselves".

Since launching the acclaimed 604 on Liverpool indie label Invicta Hi-Fi two years ago, Ladytron have inspired Felix Da Housecat's Kittens and Thee Glitz, caught the fashion world's attention (for the requisite 10 seconds) with their modish uniforms and Eighties-leaning synth-pop tunes and anticipated the entire electroclash blip. Oh, and they're all stupidly attractive, in an elfin, paramilitary way.

"I was in LA throughout the summer", grins pop-obsessed, 26 year-old founding member Danny, "and I kept getting phone calls telling me this electro thing was going on in England. I came back at the tail-end of it all and thought, 'We've missed it, whatever it was'".

Reuben, 26, serene and serious in an art-swirl jumper, nods. "It's a good time for us to put out (new single) "Seventeen". The whole thing has died down and we want to book-end it".

"The fashion people latched onto us, but that's not what we are", says Helen, Mira adds: "I appreciate it, but I don't like it, They want to try and shape the music and that's a problem".

Throughout summer, when a square mile of London believed electroclash would take over the world, Ladytron, named after a Roxy Music track and Britain's leading exponents of updated synth-pop sounds, were silent. Apart from the profile-busting Reading and Leeds gigs, DJ gigs including, oh dear, New York Fashion Week and a suitably intellectual gig at London's ICA, where they provided a live soundtrack to Disney's Tron — a film whose visuals are as stunning as the plot is stupid — they've kept to the background, working on what comes next.

"People say we came round too early for all the electroclash stuff, so while we liked it, we decided to maintain a dignified silence", says Danny.

"We got a lot of press without actually doing anything", agrees Reuben. They look at each other and smile, in an inscrutable, Ladytron kind of way.

They've every reason to smile enigmatically too. Their new album, Light & Magic, leaves behind the monochrome, totalitarian sonics of 604, sounding as if the robots have been taken out of a studio and into late-afternoon sunlight. "Seventeen" may echo the first album's poisoned-candy pop with lyrics like "They only want you when you're 17 / When you're 21 you're no fun", but "Turn It On" sounds like it fell off Daft Punk's Discovery in a far brighter parallel universe".

"It was meant to sound like Salt-N-Pepa", says Reuben, "but ended up more like a booty bass tune". "The top layer sounds like Genesis", deadpans Danny.

"Black Plastic" suggests The Cure taken to Chicago circa 1986 and "Evil" sounds like Saint Etienne crossed with The Human League. It's still autobahn pop, but there's more bass. The speaker-busting album opener "True Mathematics" started as a techno tune ("Techno people like us!" declares Reuben), but will now soundtrack Friday nights at the coolest clubs, especially when the hotly-anticipated Soulwax remixes are released.

In March this year, the band were given a choice: record their album in icy Berlin with remixer Tobi Neumann or in sunny LA with Beck producer Mickey Petralia. "It didn't take us long to decide", says Danny — LA it was. "Not to slag the place off because people there have been making this music forever, but everyone is doing Berlin. Its nice to go against the flow", says Reuben. And to enjoy the sunshine. "The music changed a lot, things just grew", says Helen. Mira agrees: "We wrote most of the songs in Manchester but found that dark music sounds even better in the sun. Joy Division sounds great in an open-top car". Ladytron have successfully coupled this with the very English transformation of sex and enjoyment into a dark, guilty pleasure.

"Everyone said there was loads of bad sex on the last album", says Danny. "There was supposed to be better sex on this one but I think it's probably worse".

Recording in LA is a far cry from their beginnings. In Liverpool in 1998, Ladytron were just an idea in Danny's head. "I told people I was in this band for two years before it existed", he admits. The boys had known each other for years, a friendship cemented in Liverpool's record shops and clubs. Danny ran club night Liquidation at Le Bateau, where Reuben played. The band originally claimed Mira and Helen met on a train in Bulgaria, but, in truth, it was through mutual friends. Now complete, Ladytron speed-recorded the 15 tracks that became 604. The record came out, Britain swooned. Muzik made it our Album of the Month.

The effect was even more marked in America. "We only had about £500 to promote the album there", says Danny. "But it got good reviews and we sold quite a lot without playing live". Things are now set to get even bigger for the 'Tron. "Seventeen" was released in America on tastemaker indie label Emperor Norton (whose current roster includes Felix Da Housecat) and outsold 604 in three weeks.

If Ladytron are studiously mute about their lyrics — "even though they're about real things that happened, we'll destroy the magic if we explain them", says Helen — they're positively secretive about their live show. "We'll have sword swallowers", deadpans Mira. "Fire eaters. Go-go dancers — Helen and I will have perfected our backflips and cartwheels". Yeah, right.

They are more forthcoming about their ever-expanding DJ sideline. Reuben and Mira have just returned from a US DJing tour and Helen is about to join the DJ ranks, too. But if you go to see Danny DJ, beware: "I've got kamikaze instincts after the frustrations of doing a weekly night. Now, if you're not dancing, fuck you! I can go off at a tangent and want to (Master of the Universe voice) destroy all!". Watch out, world...

Source (pages 56, 57, 58, 59) | Scans

Ladytron on Muzik magazine (December 2002)

I found also a cool interview with Ladytron on Muzik magazine (December 2002 issue). Muzik also reviewed Light & Magic (they gave it a 4/5 rating). If you're interested you can find the issue here.

Who said that Ladytron are robots? Just look how much fun they have! Click on pictures for higher resolution.

Ladytron on Muzik magazine (March 2001)

I found an article and a review about Ladytron on Muzik magazine (March 2001 issue). They featured the band on Up To Speed section (and marked as Raw Talent) and dedicated a whole page for the review of 604 and made it Album of the Month. It's interesting to see how the reviewer predicted the future of the band totally wrong.

If you're interested, here's a direct link to that issue (they're available for free on their official site).

Helen Marnie' solo album (5)

Helen returned to Scotland. She also wrote a message on her PledgeMusic page:

"First part of recording is in the bag. Thanks to you all I'll be returning to Iceland in December to complete it. Mixing will also take place then. Much love, Marnie xx".

Deep Blue (slideshow)

I made a slideshow with some of the best Ladytron pictures for their song "Deep Blue". Enjoy!

Helen Marnie' solo album (4)

Helen's PledgeMusic project already surpassed 100% (116% so far). She posted a short message:

"Thank you for your support!
21:35 25 September, 2012

I'd just like to say a huge, huge, thank you to everyone that has pledged for my new album. I appreciate the support so much and hope you will love the songs like I do. The target initially set has been reached but if anyone still feels like pledging then they can do so for another 53 days. Every single penny pledged will be put into making this album the best it can be, and promoting it to do it justice. Let's do this!! Marnie xxxx".

She also posted a super-cute video with her saying thanks:

3 rare Ladytron songs

Nag Nag Nag - live cover of a Cabaret Voltaire song
Send Me a Postcard - live cover of a Shocking Blue song
Use Your Mind - the song was performed at Yo Gabba Gabba show in 2009 and it wasn't officially released

Download

Ladytron - Barfly, London (2003)

Format: MP3, 320 kbps CBR
Note: I converted to MP3 from a WMV stream by XFM. I cut the file with MP3DirectCut, I added tags with MP3Tag and I made the cover.

Track listing:
01. True Mathematics
02. Playgirl
03. Another Breakfast With You
04. Cracked LCD
05. Blue Jeans
06. He Took Her to a Movie
07. Evil
08. USA vs. White Noise
09. Seventeen
10. The Way That I Found You
11. Turn It On
12. Discotraxx

Download

Helen Marnie' solo album (3)

Helen opened a PledgeMusic account to fund the making of a new album. The album will be "an electronic album with more of a pop element and pristine vocals". Here's the message she posted:

"Whilst Ladytron have a brief hiatus I decided to make a solo album in Reykjavik, Iceland. Beyond excited!

Dear Friends,

After 5 studio albums with Ladytron and some time on my hands between work with them, I finally decided now was the time to make an album I've always wanted to make. A solo album. I am scared, I'm nervous, but ultimately I am excited and hope you will be able to help me fulfill this dream.

For the past year I've been writing more than ever, and i'm so pleased with the results thus far. The album, as yet untitled, is straight from the heart. I can't put it any other way. It means a lot. It is me, noone else. It is everything around me, my loves, my life, hopes and loss. I wanted to create an electronic album with more of a pop element and pristine vocals. Lyrically, the album is expansive, but the Elements do play a part in much of the record, with the sea being particularly dominant and reoccurring. So, with the sea in mind and beautiful landscapes, I decided to fly to Iceland to record in a studio there. The light is so pretty, the air fresh, the sea vast, that I thought it would be the perfect setting to record.

Whatever you order, the new album will be delivered to you at the end of the campaign as a download for your mp3 players and if you have ordered anything else with it like a CD or photos then these will be sent out then too. Your cards won't be charged until the bar above hits 100%.

I will also be doing regular Updates to all pledgers with extra content and information through the course of the campaign.

I really hope you will be happy with the results. I can't wait for you all to hear. Love Marnie x".


She also posted a short video:

Chaos Control interview (2002)

Influences of early synth pop and electro are highly apparent in the music of Ladytron, but they are far from being a retro band. On their debut full length CD, 604, they successfully drew from the past to create a highly unique, futuristic sound. Their sonic palette often sounds like it could have been used to create an early '80s synth pop hit, but things would probably be much different today if bands from that era were able to create such infectious, sophisticated pop music as Ladytron.

Ladytron is comprised of Mira Aroyo (vocals/keyboards), Helen Marnie (vocals/keyboards), Daniel Hunt (keyboards/rhythm box) and Reuben Wu (keyboards/rhythm box). They recently released a new CD, Light & Magic.

The following is an email interview with Hunt.

How has Ladytron evolved from the initial formation to what we hear on 604?

We're more of a band, back then we hardly knew each other, it was all an experiment, we didn't know how things would progress. Now we have our setup better organized, our studio better equipped, for example we part-recorded "Movie" in a cheap studio in the same building as our label Invicta Hi-Fi. We wouldn't have to do that now, it's really liberating, to remove the time constraints of a studio and the opinions of the engineer from the process, to have indefinite time and space to record.

Where does the title 604 come from?

It's the area code for British Columbia... we're glad we've attached this strange importance to that number, it crops up everywhere now. We noticed when we stayed in Hamburg in Germany (in a hotel called "Commodore" - pure coincidence), that the number to phone reception from your room was '604'. Moments afterwards the building had caught fire and we were lucky to escape with our lives. I'm not joking.

What bands would you say most inspired you to make music, and who do you think had the biggest influence on Ladytron's sound?

Personally I can't remember, I suppose when I was a kid I was into Duran Duran and stuff like that, I got introduced to American electro like Mantronix, Newcleus, and Jonzun Crew through my older brother when I was about 10 years old. That was a massive influence, and I still listen to that stuff today, it has far greater mystique for me than English groups from that period.

Liverpool groups had some influence, Teardrop Explodes, Frankie Goes to Hollywood... later on in school I was into Jean Michel Jarre when the other kids were in their soft-metal phases... but I don't think any of these things made me WANT to make music, I think I just did anyway. I can't speak for the others obviously.

What are your favorite pieces of electronic musical equipment, and which do you think has the greatest effect on your sound and/or approach to composing music?

I love my Roland SH-09, it's all over the record. Mira loves her Korg MS-20, Reuben loves his Korg MS-10, But we record on a PowerMac, which has to be the most important item of kit actually. Steve Jobs gets a thank you on our album.

How would you compare the reaction you get from audiences in the various countries you've performed?

National stereotypes sometimes come out. I'd say Sweden was the most insane response so far, followed by Germany, the French are either ecstatic or very quiet, and the Spanish are narcofiends. We have enjoyed everywhere we've played so far, maybe because we never bother playing in England very much.

Do any members of the band have formal musical training?

Reuben and Helen have some classical training which has been completely disregarded in relation to this group. Their parents should be very proud after all that expensive tuition they paid for.

What's you approach to live performance? Do you have some backing sequences fixed, or are you able to play (or at least manipulate) everything live?

We play everything live but obviously we use drum machines and some bass sequences occasionally, things that are physically impossible to play, it would be pointless us trying to use a drummer and a bassplayer live just to fit into peoples preconceptions of what a band should be. We like the fact that our live setup is so different.

Do you think at all about live performance when you are writing/recording songs?

Not at all. I sometimes think "this would be good to play live" maybe, but I wouldn't want to limit our recordings by worrying about how to perform a song, live shows are momentary, records last forever.

How quickly do you tend to write/record? What does the ratio tend to be in terms of time spent composing, crafting sounds, and doing vocals?

Writing/recording/rehearsing is a single process for us, but personally, my songs knock about in my head for as long as possible before they're committed to tape in any way, as soon as you play a keyboard line, I feel like it has been defined, so I try and let the whole song develop in my head over weeks or months before I start building it up. It can happen very quickly, "The Way That I Found You" - Helen had sung that song once, before we got the take that's on the record, the song itself only emerged a week before we mixed the album.

Do you ever find that the electronic musical equipment gives you TOO MUCH control over things, to the point that you're not sure if a song is done?

You just need to keep stepping back and listening, I rarely tinker with something needlessly, I like our directness, I don't want to lose that simplicity on a track just because it's lived with us in our studio for a few months. It can ruin great tunes, you need to discipline yourself, it's the flipside of what I said earlier, sometimes you need to just turn off and go home.

You seem to be in a unique position because there's a heavy early '80s synth pop influence, yet at the same time you have a sound very much your own. What do you think the pros and cons are of people making the association?

Pros: a reference point. Cons: having to justify your existence every step of the way, I think it will not be an issue by the time we release our next album. We also get associated with groups we don't really feel any affinity with.

Our final word is always that we have some influences and instruments from that period, which we use to generate our version of right now.

How do you feel about the recent returns of such early '80s electronic pop bands as Soft Cell and Book of Love?

I suppose it's a little elevated over the cabaret circuit, I'd love to see Soft Cell live, but it's just the past, I hate seeing my idols looking torn down, onstage, caked in foundation...

What's in the immediate future for Ladytron?

European festivals, US Tour, "Playgirl" single, recording next album, laptops on the beach.

Source

Helen Marnie' solo album (2)

The current status of Helen' solo album according to Daniel:

"After resting my ears for a while have been listening back to the work in progress on Helen's record. Still a lot to do but sounding great".

Someone asked about the style of the new record. Danny replied:

"I guess it's her and I so there will be a familiarity, but it's a different kind of record to Gravity".

Almost two weeks ago, he also posted: "Helen's record sounding mint!"

Source

Ladytron's The Sims 3 tracks

Format: MP3, 320 kbps CBR
Note: These songs are ripped from the game and they're not available for sale. I didn't include "Tesla" because it's available to buy on iTunes.

Content:
Rockfalls & Estuaries
She Stepped Out of the Car
Young Etruscians

Download

Ladytron - Fine Line, Minneapolis, MN, 2011

Content: Ghosts / White Gold / Ace of Hz / White Elephant / Destroy Everything You Touch

Polls about Ladytron

Except their best known song, "Destroy Everything You Touch".

PS: I voted for Witching Hour as my favorite album and Ghosts as my favorite single.

Helen in Under the Radar magazine (August-September 2012 issue)

Helen Marnie appeared in the latest Under the Radar magazine (August-September 2012) titled The Protest Issue. There are two pictures with the wonderful Helen in this issue. For those who don't know, NHS is National Health Service. Click on pictures for bigger versions:

The Game Reviews interview (2009)

We recently had the chance to speak with Reuben from Ladytron.

I've been a fan of your music for a while now. Are any of your older songs going to appear on future games?

Hello, nothing planned as yet – but we'd rather our newer songs to be used actually, because that's where we are right now, musically.

Are there any artists that you absolutely idolize and look up to? Did they inspire you to create music yourself?

There are loads – too many to name all – getting asked to support Nine Inch Nails on a European tour was pretty impressive and we've just been asked to play at the Sydney Opera House at a festival curated by Brian Eno this summer. Apparently his daughter got him into us.

Are you excited to be featured on video game soundtracks?

Yes – because it's such a massive opportunity for our music to get to new fans. When you play a game – the music hardwires itself into your head – think Super Mario Bros and all the classic Nintendo soundtracks – then you have all the nostalgia for 8-bit Atari sounds...

Do any of you guys enjoy playing video games? If so, what kinds are you into?

Yeah Danny and I play games – Danny's into the role-play stuff mainly to stop being bored when there's no internet. I tend to play low-commitment games like Need for Speed Carbon and Wipeout. Mira played Second Life once and got accidentally shagged on the beach at a nudist colony.

What kind of music do you enjoy? Any recommendations? Are you perhaps friends with the other bands signed onto Artwerk?

Yeah we are mates with Datarock, who played with us on our North American tour – they are a lot of fun. I'm listening to some old stuff I enjoyed in the 90s right now – an electronic act called Future Sound of London. And a new band from Australia called HTRK.

If you could be featured on the soundtrack of any game coming out in the future, what would it be?

Always loved Grand Theft Auto! Maybe the next one...

Are you going to be writing any new specific songs for games, or do you submit songs you've previously recorded?

Both. We did 3 exclusive tracks for the Sims mid 2008. They were all written especially for the game and we even recorded the vocals in Simlish.

It seems to me that "Destroy Everything You Touch" would work great in an RPG-styled game. Are there any songs in your catalogue that you associate to any video games or films, or events in your life that are special to you?

I suppose they all do. "Fighting in Built Up Areas" always had a gaming vibe to it. We are all big film fans so visual elements are all big influences in the way we put our records together.

What sorts of subjects inspire you to write music?

Life in general.

I know We just got Velocifero not too long ago, but when can we expect another studio album?

Hopefully soon – We have an album in basic form already – we just need to spend some time working on it. Give us a few months.

Thanks for the interview! Is there anything extra you'd like to say to our readers?

Eat your greens.

Source

Ladytron - Sugar (Mexico, 2006)

Ladytron - Fighting in Built Up Areas (Coachella Festival, 2006)

Helen Marnie's official Facebook page

Helen Marnie opened her official Facebook page at facebook.com/helen.marnie.official

On her page Helen will post news about her forthcoming solo album that it's produced by Daniel Hunt. Helen also posted a hot picture from 2009 with her wearing blue bikini in a pool.

Ladytron - MTV Iggy, 2011

Format: MP4, 1280x720
Size: 296 MB
Source: HQ internet stream

Content:
1. Interview
2. White Gold
3. Destroy Everything You Touch

Download

"Tesla", a new Ladytron song from The Sims 3: Supernatural soundtrack

The soundtrack of the video game The Sims 3: Supernatural will also include a new Ladytron song, "Tesla". This expansion pack will be released on 4 September 2012.

The songs from The Sims 3: Supernatural soundtrack:
Austra - Spellwork
Bastille - Laura Palmer
Garbage - Not Your Kind of People
Khursor feat. Sarai Givaty - Can You Hear Me
Lacuna Coil - Kill the Light
Ladytron - Tesla
MS MR - Hurricane
Oberhofer - Yr Face
Sabi - Wild Heart
Vampire Twins - Lamia

Beatportal interview (2011)

Taste Test: Ladytron's Mira Aroyo

What was the first record you remember having as a child?
My parents had Beatles, Dylan, Bowie record, stuff like that. I used to have all these children's story records that had music on them too. Some songs and some quite trippy soundscape stuff.

What was the first record you bought with your own money?
Technotronic's "Pump up the Jam" on tape.

Which style or genre of music was your first great love?
My parents' music. The stuff I mentioned before. Then stuff like The Birthday Party, Suicide and krautrock bands.

What was the first concert that you ever attended?
Guns N' Roses, supported by Billy Idol.

What was the first musical instrument that you ever played?
Guitar.

How did you come to start DJing, and what were your first attempts like?
I was a student in Oxford and started a night with some friends playing quite eclectic material. It was a real mix of old '60s music to newer, electronic kind of stuff.

What was the last record (or MP3) you bought? How many tracks/records do you typically acquire every week?
I have more of a monthly shop. Around 20.

What format do you DJ with – vinyl, CD, Traktor/Serato, Ableton, etc...?
CD.

What's the last gig/party you attended where you weren't also performing?
The last gig was by my friend Vice Cooler.

Which track (by another musician) do you wish that you had made?
Most stuff by Vitalic, Brian Wilson or Leonard Cohen.

What's your favorite record from this year that isn't electronic dance music?
Bill Callahan: Apocalypse.

Current reading or last good book read?
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss.

Favorite piece of gear?
My Ricoh GR1v camera.

Favorite city/country/club to perform in?
North and South America.

Which actress would you want to play you in the biopic of your life?
Shelley Duvall in the '70s.

And if you were an actress, which musician would you want to play?
Sun Ra.

One misperception about Ladytron that you'd like to correct.
That we are cold and distant. There is a lot of emotion in our music.

Source

Ladytron live DVD soon

Ladytron announced on their Facebook page that they will release a live DVD soon: "We're editing our live DVD today. Will be available for pre-order exclusively through our site. More news soon. XXXX".

2015 edit: still not released.

Helen Marnie' solo album (1)

On 28 June 2012, Daniel Hunt twitted about the current status of Helen Marnie' solo album: "Making steady progress on Helen's album. In six weeks we relocate to Reykjavik for the final phase of recording".

Source

Runaway (8-bit cover)

The Stool Pigeon interview (2008)

Helen may still digging her heels in the sand, but the rest of Ladytron are now available in shades other than black.

"We should get our bikes out!" declares Reuben Wu, Ladytron's energetic keyboardist. Mere moments later, he and Bulgarian born singer Mira Aroyo are riding around the East Berlin music venue that will tonight host the latest show in their stamina-defying tour. Zooming frantically and pointlessly in circles, they charmingly resemble over energetic ET cast extras. They appear a fraction of their ages, reeking of nothing more rock'n'roll than good old fashioned healthy living. If they are on something, it's surely berocca.

Ladytron are in the German capital to promote their latest long player, Velocifero, and judging by the look of their swanky jumbo-sized tour bus, they are reaping the rewards of surviving nine years in music. Let us not forget, when Ladytron burst onto the scene via John Peel with their alluring lo-fi art house electro in 1999, they never seemed like a true mainstream concern. Rather, they politely offered the world carefully sculptured hair, jet black uniforms, pale faces and icy demeanours. In the world of pop, that's a foolproof way to project a sense of cool mystery to gullible people. Or get you confused with Suede.

"When we started, we just did it for fun", explains Mira, now perched on a backstage leather couch. "We all had day jobs and no grand plan. We weren't expecting to make a living from the band".

Ladytron's new record smoothly continues their unique portfolio of synth pop with tracks such as 'They Gave You a Heart, They Gave You a Name' and latest single 'Ghosts'. It also encompasses a number of eye opening interludes, such as when Mira begins to vocalise in her native Bulgarian tongue on the opening number 'Black Cat' and the intriguing 'Kletva'.

"We spent about two months in Paris recording and mixing", says Reuben. "We then went to LA to finish it with producer Michael Patterson, who has worked with Beck and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I think our last record, Witching Hour, was a milestone in terms of us finding a sound that we're happy with. Through a lot of touring, our live sound became very powerful – it had so much energy – and we wanted to translate that into our records, though we're still using the same instrumentation we've always used. We're never going into rock'n'roll or anything like that".

Ladytron have undoubtedly found their niche and are clearly ecstatic about their achievements on Velocifero. "I'd give it four billion trillion billion and 42 out of 10", Mira claims. "It's a harder and louder album than Witching Hour and it's also more diverse and experimental in terms of rhythms. People have in their heads what a typical Ladytron song sounds like, so we just pushed things a bit more. I think we've become more psychedelic in every way".

With Mira's severe crop now replaced with feminine curls, it would seem that Ladytron's once regimented vampiric look has loosened up as well. "Our hair is quite low maintenance", she adamantly insists.

"I think everyone likes to look nice", believes Reuben. "We've always tried to approach how we appear in a different way to normal bands. At the start we all wore black matching uniforms, so we didn't need to worry about what to wear onstage. At the time it really fitted. Now we're more individual".

Ladytron's strong interest in the visual side of things extends beyond the realms of sartorial elegance.

"We like to have control over our artwork, video and record sleeves", continues Reuben. "From the very beginning we used to do our own sleeves and album covers. These days we get other people to do it, but we're still very involved in the process".

"Lyrically, I think we also write in terms of images rather than themes", adds Mira.

Scottish-born Ladytron vocalist Helen Marnie isn't smiling today. Or speaking. She utters not one word until the moment we see a fox galloping past in a nearby field and the boisterous Reuben bizarrely begins to chase after it like it's stolen his Lucozade. Then Helen sharply drops a bombshell on her band mates: "I'm not getting my bike out".

Helen knows I'm miserable now indeed and, thankfully, she's only one forth of Ladytron. It's hard to work out whether she's ill, as her band members apologetically tell us, or just shrewdly carrying on the band's historical unsmiling-we-are-the-robots tradition that the others have abandoned for happiness and colour.

To back up this unexpected development, it is decided that one of Berlin's highly authentic-looking LA style 'beach bars' is the perfect place to photograph them for today's shoot. The band's latest video, directed by Joseph Khan, who has also shot promos for baldy bores Moby, U2 and Britney Spears, similarly goes against their dark electro stereotype and is set in a soft focus desert. "The same director did 'Thong Song'", explains Reuben enthusiastically. "It is probably the most sexy video we've ever done. It was filmed in the same place as Kill Bill 2".

Let's hope Ladytron didn't pay Mr Khan megabucks in advance, as the finalised version turned out to be more conventional than Delta Goodrem. Any shots of Ladytron writhing around in bikinis have been edited out, and what remains is about as kinky as a Pringles advert. On the upside, it features a really cute rabbit, but you don't have to crawl all the way to the desert to find one of those.

Who then, dead or alive would the band handpick to direct the full-length movie of Ladytron's life? "Werner Herzog or John Walters would be pretty good", says Mira, smiling.

And how and when will the Ladytron chronicles end? "I think we've outlasted most bands nowadays", she says defiantly. "We just take one day at a time".

"I try to be nice everyday", concludes Reuben sombrely. "I don't want to get reincarnated as a cockroach".

Ladytron - amTV (Mezzanine, SF, 2006)

Ladytron - Exit Festival, 2005

Format: MKV - DVD PAL
Size: 1.3 GB
Length: 23m 38s (incomplete concert)
Source: TV broadcast
Notes: Good audio and video quality (except few glitches). Despite the "dead" audience, it's an enjoyable concert.

Content:
1. Evil (excerpt)
2. Blue Jeans
3. Sugar
4. He Took Her to a Movie
5. Playgirl
6. International Dateline
7. Fighting in Built Up Areas (excerpt)

Download: part 1 | part 2 | part 3