08 January 2013
06 January 2013
Rare FM interview (2005)
Ladytron's Daniel Hunt talks to Robert Dunn and Pavel Oulik about why the new album has taken so long, losing the uniforms, Liverpool and why Pete Burns is probably better than him.
First thing, there's been a delay in releasing this album. It was meant to come out last year. What happened there?
We changed labels, that's all. When we started working on it, we were on Emperor Norton in the US and Telstar/Warner UK and rest of the world. Both those labels imploded while we were making the album. It was a ridiculous helpless situation to be in. We were in the process of demoing it two years ago. We went into to record it April 2004 so it could've been released by that autumn. It was very quick to write and record. It was really quite an easy smooth creative process. Just logistics held it up really, nothing that exciting.
The new album seems to continue in the vein of Light & Magic in that it was a departure from 604 for a darker, less poppy sound.
Maybe, in part of it but I think arguably it is the same as Light & Magic. Parts of that were darker but parts of it were more poppy in a way, like "Evil" or "Seventeen", or "Blue Jeans". This one, and I know everyone says that about their latest album, but this is by far our favourite and a lot closer to what we intended to do and the sound in our heads than previous two albums. It's a lot closer to what we originally had in mind and it's just a lot better articulated. The production's better; the songs are better; arrangement's better. It's also because we finished it a year ago but we still listened to it ourselves, which is probably slightly narcissistic, but if we're not bored of it yet; hopefully other people won't be.
Is it true that when you were touching it up in LA, the production guy thought there were guitars on there?
Well yeah, this story actually came when we recorded a cover version of Tweet's "Oops, Oh My" which musically was totally different to the original. It was just an idea we had on Monday, rehearsed on Tuesday and recorded on Wednesday and it was on the NME Turn On Chart the week after. It's just a little anecdotal thing, but it was all overdriven monosynth on our sound. When we were mastering it, the master engineer said 'I'm gonna tweak that frequency to bring out the guitars a bit more' and we were like 'Well, there no guitars on it'. It's the same thing with this record, like when people heard "Sugar" they went 'they've gone guitary'. The only guitar on that album is that high pitched wailing sound, the rest of is synths and the drums are drum machine. I think people hear a dynamic like that and assume that it's rock and also everybody is waiting for every synth band to commit the ultimate act of betrayal, Depeche Mode style. Like, y'know 'They've gone rock on us! They've gone rock on us! I knew it was gonna happen!' and that's not what we did. This record, in terms of our original root, probably the most influential band on me of the nineties is Stereolab and that's where we come from. Stereolab and My Bloody Valentine. We always got compared to The Human League and Kraftwerk but we were constantly trying to say that that was not what we wanted to do.
This is your first proper tour since Light & Magic in 2003. How does it feel to be back on the road?
It's good because there's only so much you can think about music, especially after such a long time working on this record and waiting for it to be released. Playing live is like the closest you get to manual labour, like working in a factory - it's instantly gratifying. So when you're on tour for a long time you're desperate to get creative again. I think it's very difficult to work on music when you're playing music every night. Thinking about those old songs, you need a break from that. But once you've been thinking about phased high-hat sounds for eighteen months you definitely want to get back on the pirate ship again. Go out there and hammer away.
So how's the tour been so far?
It's been good. It's got progressively better night by night. We remember the Oxford one being particularly good. Aberdeen as well. Glasgow was last night and that's always good. Played in Liverpool... our tour was strangely routed. We made a set of Mickey Mouse ears. We were just backwards and forwards on the M62 for like four days.
How was the Liverpool one?
It was good. Mine and Reuben's families were all out. It was good actually, because normally, loath to admit it but, the Manchester ones tend to be better than the ones in Liverpool.
I remember being at the last Liverpool gig in 2003 and there was a moshpit.
Were you at that one?
Yeah, and Franz Ferdinand supported.
Oh yeah, that little band. It was funny that because we supported them this September. A strange symmetry two years later. We thought they were really good and thought they were gonna do well but we had no idea that was gonna happen.
And Reuben's dad was next to me.
Oh yeah, Reuben's dad was moshing. He was at it again this week.
You played a cover of Cabaret Voltaire's "Nag Nag Nag" on your last tour. Are you gonna do that again this tour?
I dunno, why did we do that? It was just something we wanted to do at that point. It was funny because when we were working it out, we worked out the music easily - it's just two chords, Mira actually phoned up and got Richard H. Kirk's number off a mutual friend to get the lyrics and he was like 'I'm not sure if I remember them' so she was sitting in the rehearsal room on the phone transcribing the lyrics direct from source. We then invited them to Leeds Festival because we were going to play it live but our set was too short so we couldn't even play it and they were standing there at the side. So I dunno, we might play it again or we might just do another cover probably.
You've ditched the uniform outfits. Was this because it was limiting since people generally and the press especially were concentrating on the image of the band?
A little bit, but it's also because they were made for the last record. They weren't the same as the ones we had for the first record. On the first record we were wearing a few different things, but yeah it did get focused on a lot. It was just something that had run its course. And the girls wanted to wear dresses. I suppose it goes with the record as well, creatively the record's free-er. If things get difficult we can always sell them on ebay. Actually there were three sets. There was a green one, a black one and a white one. The white one only got worn once because it looked too much like catering had arrived.
Light & Magic was well received in the US and you played to much bigger crowds. Are you going back there to tour this album?
Yeah, definitely going back in Spring around March-April. This album's gone down even better than the last one. Getting better reviews and a lot more radio play even.
What do you think the difference is? Here you're relatively famous but what's it like in the States?
Well it's the same there. We're famous on a cult level. We sell out a venue like this [Koko] but it's not like cab drivers know who we are so I think it's probably a good level to be at. Over there it's basically the same but the venues are bigger, obviously the country's bigger. Like we've played somewhere bigger than this in New York and Chicago but then they're bigger cities.
Between touring, being in the studio and DJing which do you enjoy most?
It's different because there's so many different ways you can think in terms of music. In the studio, the album is the main thing but once you've thought about a record for so long you wanna get to work in the factory. DJing is just a bit of fun and also an easy way to get to places where the band hasn't been yet. We did Brazil, Argentina three or four times. We haven't played live there yet but we will next year. And we always go to America before we go on tour and do a DJ tour first so it's just an extra element. I think it works for us in terms of getting our name around as well.
Your DJ sets all differ. You're all very eclectic but your styles differ within the band.
Yeah, exactly. You get more Fleetwood Mac with Helen; you get more Os Mutantes with me; you get more Johnny Cash with Mira. Reuben just plays Gabba nowadays.
The British Council set a few gigs in China for you. How was that different to what you're used to?
It was an emotionally pretty draining experience for me even though I really enjoyed it. It was just like so much experience packed into two weeks. We only played four shows and saw so much. I mean if we'd just played Shanghai it wouldn't have been anyway near as weird. It would have been very impressive. But we saw Chungking as well which was completely different, it could have been a completely different country. It was good that they picked us to do it because they could've picked any band out there. But someone, somewhere decided we were taken out there.
You're the representatives of the British music industry.
Well, exactly. They could've taken any four-piece y'know four boys guitar band out there but they probably thought 'What good is that gonna do?' Without wanting to sound too big-headed but maybe they saw in us someone doing something a bit different rather than the regular thing people expect from Britain.
Do you have a favourite moment from a gig and/or DJing?
A lot of gigs on the American tour were really special. The gig in Sofia was very special. Exit Festival in Serbia this year was especially good. And the Champions League final, DJing that and playing Ring of Fire 40 times in succession.
How many fans were you DJing to?
Well a lot of them were still arriving so it was like this river of red coming down the hillside and I was trying to play a John Peel tribute set. So I played The Modern Lovers, "Kicker Conspiracy" by The Fall but I just kept having these guys coming up asking for "Ring of Fire" so I ended up kept putting it on. I knew Pete Wylie was gonna play a cover version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" later on so I asked his permission like 'd'ya mind if I played it now?' and he let me so I put it on and there was probably 25,000. Instantly, all these scarves in the air and everyone singing, I was literally in tears. It was the most insane thing, I'm sure there's footage of me and Gary from The Bandits who was there with us, people were passing us flags. After Wylie's version I had to DJ again so I stuck "Ring of Fire" on again and there was a stage invasion. The stage was just suddenly full of fans and I just looked at the people around me looking on in horror and I was like 'You best just pack these CD players away. I shouldn't play anymore. You should just take it all away now otherwise someone else will take it away for you!'. So I just gave up and then got pissed. And then went into the stadium and took 15 years off my life.
So that was before the match?
Yeah, before the match. I couldn't have done anything after the match.
Yeah, I was watching in my local and I couldn't bear to watch the penalty shoot-out so I had to stand outside.
The only question for me was what was gonna take me first? Heart failure or brain haemorrhage? Or a combination of the two.
It was quite an experience when you're in a pub in North London full of Arsenal fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone".
Aw, that must have been mad, yeah. Seriously, I've heard that tragically some people did have heart attacks. Like some 22 year old kid from Ireland died in the pub during the game and I'm like fucking hell. And he didn't even know we'd won y'know. What a fucking way to go. I kind of lived in Milan for half of last year because my girlfriend lived there and made loads of Milan fan friends - lost them all. Made a lot of Inter friends now.
What are you listening to on your iPod at the moment?
I suppose just a case of what I've put on it. I put a load of Eno on it recently, and the Clor album. And I uploaded a load of Os Mutantes onto it. But it's quite an old one so the battery life in is like half an hour or something.
Who's the best band to come out of Liverpool? You or Dead Or Alive?
Ah, definitely Dead Or Alive! They were actually a credible band at one point. No one remembers this but what DOA were doing before they got involved with Stock, Aitkin and Waterman, they sounded like The Doors. They were more like The Cult or something like what The Cult were like in the mid-eighties. But then something happened, I dunno what. But I think Pete Burns is laughing all the way to the bank anyway.
What are your plans for the future?
More records. Well tour, this record, then the next record will come out a lot quicker.
So you enjoying it?
Yeah, yeah, more than ever to be honest. The more we do it the closer we get to a definitive thing. There won't be the gap, because we've had so much time off we've already written the next one. It would be good if we could have another record out this time next year. It depends on how much touring we do in the interim. I'm trying to press that we can take a month off and get the new record done.
So you've already got material for the next one?
Oh yeah, there's loads of stuff already there. We just need time to actually record it. So maybe if we can get a month off somewhere between now and next summer we might be able to go in and record it.
Do you think you'll ever get bored of this lifestyle?
I dunno, it's all I've done; I've never actually had a job in my life. Not because I come from any position of privilege, y'know, very normal family. I've just been very very lucky. All I've ever done is DJ and bands so I can't see myself getting bored of it. It's just a case of where you live. If I wasn't travelling so much I probably wouldn't live in Liverpool.
So are you still living in Liverpool?
Yeah, Reuben and I both bought places in Liverpool. It's a good base but if I weren't travelling all the time I wouldn't stay there. I mean I really love Liverpool and it's obviously home but I wanna live other places.
Where in Liverpool did you grow up?
I was born in Crosby but I grew up in the Wirral...
Really? I grew up in Toxteth and Aigburth, but then moved to Crosby where I lost me accent. [For readers ignorant of Liverpudlian geography, Crosby's a bit posh]
Oh, Reuben's flat is in Toxteth. Mine's in right in town, Duke Street. But we both grew up on the Wirral. We just opened a bar in Liverpool actually which makes things a bit more interesting.
I was back home in the summer and I tried to go to your club [Club Evol] but it wasn't on.
Yeah, because we were opening our own place we stopped the night where it was and we opened this new place, it's like a café-bar during the day and a club at night. It's called Korova on Fleet Street and Wood Street, near Probe Records. That's been open two weeks and going really well. It's a lot more satisfying than doing a club night because other people can do stuff in there and it's about making somewhere where it's good all the time and other people can use it. Like on Wednesday night Dave McCabe and The Zutons just turned up and did acoustic. We programme the music in there pretty carefully, the décor's nice and get all our favourite Latin American beers on the bar.
Do you mind if I take some pictures?
Could you take it later? You gonna be around for the gig? Could you take it later because I've basically just got out of bed and look like shit. It's what I've been dreading because all the interviews have been scheduled during loading time so a bit too early for me.
27 October 2005
Source
We changed labels, that's all. When we started working on it, we were on Emperor Norton in the US and Telstar/Warner UK and rest of the world. Both those labels imploded while we were making the album. It was a ridiculous helpless situation to be in. We were in the process of demoing it two years ago. We went into to record it April 2004 so it could've been released by that autumn. It was very quick to write and record. It was really quite an easy smooth creative process. Just logistics held it up really, nothing that exciting.
The new album seems to continue in the vein of Light & Magic in that it was a departure from 604 for a darker, less poppy sound.
Maybe, in part of it but I think arguably it is the same as Light & Magic. Parts of that were darker but parts of it were more poppy in a way, like "Evil" or "Seventeen", or "Blue Jeans". This one, and I know everyone says that about their latest album, but this is by far our favourite and a lot closer to what we intended to do and the sound in our heads than previous two albums. It's a lot closer to what we originally had in mind and it's just a lot better articulated. The production's better; the songs are better; arrangement's better. It's also because we finished it a year ago but we still listened to it ourselves, which is probably slightly narcissistic, but if we're not bored of it yet; hopefully other people won't be.
Is it true that when you were touching it up in LA, the production guy thought there were guitars on there?
Well yeah, this story actually came when we recorded a cover version of Tweet's "Oops, Oh My" which musically was totally different to the original. It was just an idea we had on Monday, rehearsed on Tuesday and recorded on Wednesday and it was on the NME Turn On Chart the week after. It's just a little anecdotal thing, but it was all overdriven monosynth on our sound. When we were mastering it, the master engineer said 'I'm gonna tweak that frequency to bring out the guitars a bit more' and we were like 'Well, there no guitars on it'. It's the same thing with this record, like when people heard "Sugar" they went 'they've gone guitary'. The only guitar on that album is that high pitched wailing sound, the rest of is synths and the drums are drum machine. I think people hear a dynamic like that and assume that it's rock and also everybody is waiting for every synth band to commit the ultimate act of betrayal, Depeche Mode style. Like, y'know 'They've gone rock on us! They've gone rock on us! I knew it was gonna happen!' and that's not what we did. This record, in terms of our original root, probably the most influential band on me of the nineties is Stereolab and that's where we come from. Stereolab and My Bloody Valentine. We always got compared to The Human League and Kraftwerk but we were constantly trying to say that that was not what we wanted to do.
It's good because there's only so much you can think about music, especially after such a long time working on this record and waiting for it to be released. Playing live is like the closest you get to manual labour, like working in a factory - it's instantly gratifying. So when you're on tour for a long time you're desperate to get creative again. I think it's very difficult to work on music when you're playing music every night. Thinking about those old songs, you need a break from that. But once you've been thinking about phased high-hat sounds for eighteen months you definitely want to get back on the pirate ship again. Go out there and hammer away.
So how's the tour been so far?
It's been good. It's got progressively better night by night. We remember the Oxford one being particularly good. Aberdeen as well. Glasgow was last night and that's always good. Played in Liverpool... our tour was strangely routed. We made a set of Mickey Mouse ears. We were just backwards and forwards on the M62 for like four days.
How was the Liverpool one?
It was good. Mine and Reuben's families were all out. It was good actually, because normally, loath to admit it but, the Manchester ones tend to be better than the ones in Liverpool.
I remember being at the last Liverpool gig in 2003 and there was a moshpit.
Were you at that one?
Yeah, and Franz Ferdinand supported.
Oh yeah, that little band. It was funny that because we supported them this September. A strange symmetry two years later. We thought they were really good and thought they were gonna do well but we had no idea that was gonna happen.
And Reuben's dad was next to me.
Oh yeah, Reuben's dad was moshing. He was at it again this week.
You played a cover of Cabaret Voltaire's "Nag Nag Nag" on your last tour. Are you gonna do that again this tour?
I dunno, why did we do that? It was just something we wanted to do at that point. It was funny because when we were working it out, we worked out the music easily - it's just two chords, Mira actually phoned up and got Richard H. Kirk's number off a mutual friend to get the lyrics and he was like 'I'm not sure if I remember them' so she was sitting in the rehearsal room on the phone transcribing the lyrics direct from source. We then invited them to Leeds Festival because we were going to play it live but our set was too short so we couldn't even play it and they were standing there at the side. So I dunno, we might play it again or we might just do another cover probably.
A little bit, but it's also because they were made for the last record. They weren't the same as the ones we had for the first record. On the first record we were wearing a few different things, but yeah it did get focused on a lot. It was just something that had run its course. And the girls wanted to wear dresses. I suppose it goes with the record as well, creatively the record's free-er. If things get difficult we can always sell them on ebay. Actually there were three sets. There was a green one, a black one and a white one. The white one only got worn once because it looked too much like catering had arrived.
Light & Magic was well received in the US and you played to much bigger crowds. Are you going back there to tour this album?
Yeah, definitely going back in Spring around March-April. This album's gone down even better than the last one. Getting better reviews and a lot more radio play even.
What do you think the difference is? Here you're relatively famous but what's it like in the States?
Well it's the same there. We're famous on a cult level. We sell out a venue like this [Koko] but it's not like cab drivers know who we are so I think it's probably a good level to be at. Over there it's basically the same but the venues are bigger, obviously the country's bigger. Like we've played somewhere bigger than this in New York and Chicago but then they're bigger cities.
Between touring, being in the studio and DJing which do you enjoy most?
It's different because there's so many different ways you can think in terms of music. In the studio, the album is the main thing but once you've thought about a record for so long you wanna get to work in the factory. DJing is just a bit of fun and also an easy way to get to places where the band hasn't been yet. We did Brazil, Argentina three or four times. We haven't played live there yet but we will next year. And we always go to America before we go on tour and do a DJ tour first so it's just an extra element. I think it works for us in terms of getting our name around as well.
Your DJ sets all differ. You're all very eclectic but your styles differ within the band.
Yeah, exactly. You get more Fleetwood Mac with Helen; you get more Os Mutantes with me; you get more Johnny Cash with Mira. Reuben just plays Gabba nowadays.
The British Council set a few gigs in China for you. How was that different to what you're used to?
It was an emotionally pretty draining experience for me even though I really enjoyed it. It was just like so much experience packed into two weeks. We only played four shows and saw so much. I mean if we'd just played Shanghai it wouldn't have been anyway near as weird. It would have been very impressive. But we saw Chungking as well which was completely different, it could have been a completely different country. It was good that they picked us to do it because they could've picked any band out there. But someone, somewhere decided we were taken out there.
You're the representatives of the British music industry.
Well, exactly. They could've taken any four-piece y'know four boys guitar band out there but they probably thought 'What good is that gonna do?' Without wanting to sound too big-headed but maybe they saw in us someone doing something a bit different rather than the regular thing people expect from Britain.
Do you have a favourite moment from a gig and/or DJing?
A lot of gigs on the American tour were really special. The gig in Sofia was very special. Exit Festival in Serbia this year was especially good. And the Champions League final, DJing that and playing Ring of Fire 40 times in succession.
How many fans were you DJing to?
So that was before the match?
Yeah, before the match. I couldn't have done anything after the match.
Yeah, I was watching in my local and I couldn't bear to watch the penalty shoot-out so I had to stand outside.
The only question for me was what was gonna take me first? Heart failure or brain haemorrhage? Or a combination of the two.
It was quite an experience when you're in a pub in North London full of Arsenal fans singing "You'll Never Walk Alone".
Aw, that must have been mad, yeah. Seriously, I've heard that tragically some people did have heart attacks. Like some 22 year old kid from Ireland died in the pub during the game and I'm like fucking hell. And he didn't even know we'd won y'know. What a fucking way to go. I kind of lived in Milan for half of last year because my girlfriend lived there and made loads of Milan fan friends - lost them all. Made a lot of Inter friends now.
What are you listening to on your iPod at the moment?
I suppose just a case of what I've put on it. I put a load of Eno on it recently, and the Clor album. And I uploaded a load of Os Mutantes onto it. But it's quite an old one so the battery life in is like half an hour or something.
Who's the best band to come out of Liverpool? You or Dead Or Alive?
Ah, definitely Dead Or Alive! They were actually a credible band at one point. No one remembers this but what DOA were doing before they got involved with Stock, Aitkin and Waterman, they sounded like The Doors. They were more like The Cult or something like what The Cult were like in the mid-eighties. But then something happened, I dunno what. But I think Pete Burns is laughing all the way to the bank anyway.
More records. Well tour, this record, then the next record will come out a lot quicker.
So you enjoying it?
Yeah, yeah, more than ever to be honest. The more we do it the closer we get to a definitive thing. There won't be the gap, because we've had so much time off we've already written the next one. It would be good if we could have another record out this time next year. It depends on how much touring we do in the interim. I'm trying to press that we can take a month off and get the new record done.
So you've already got material for the next one?
Oh yeah, there's loads of stuff already there. We just need time to actually record it. So maybe if we can get a month off somewhere between now and next summer we might be able to go in and record it.
Do you think you'll ever get bored of this lifestyle?
I dunno, it's all I've done; I've never actually had a job in my life. Not because I come from any position of privilege, y'know, very normal family. I've just been very very lucky. All I've ever done is DJ and bands so I can't see myself getting bored of it. It's just a case of where you live. If I wasn't travelling so much I probably wouldn't live in Liverpool.
So are you still living in Liverpool?
Yeah, Reuben and I both bought places in Liverpool. It's a good base but if I weren't travelling all the time I wouldn't stay there. I mean I really love Liverpool and it's obviously home but I wanna live other places.
Where in Liverpool did you grow up?
I was born in Crosby but I grew up in the Wirral...
Really? I grew up in Toxteth and Aigburth, but then moved to Crosby where I lost me accent. [For readers ignorant of Liverpudlian geography, Crosby's a bit posh]
Oh, Reuben's flat is in Toxteth. Mine's in right in town, Duke Street. But we both grew up on the Wirral. We just opened a bar in Liverpool actually which makes things a bit more interesting.
I was back home in the summer and I tried to go to your club [Club Evol] but it wasn't on.
Do you mind if I take some pictures?
Could you take it later? You gonna be around for the gig? Could you take it later because I've basically just got out of bed and look like shit. It's what I've been dreading because all the interviews have been scheduled during loading time so a bit too early for me.
27 October 2005
Source
03 January 2013
30 December 2012
Under the Radar interview (2012)
Top 10 Albums of 2012
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
28 December 2012
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
23 December 2012
Chicago Sun-Times interview (2003)
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.
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.
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.
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
22 December 2012
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)
12 December 2012
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.
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.
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