02 February 2014
27 January 2014
The Scotsman interview (2005)
Back with the future
The last time I saw Ladytron was the last time I was in Edinburgh's Gilded Balloon. Twenty-four hours after a set of robotically performed electropop, the Old Town venue went up in smoke. The futuristic music jarred - Jean Michel Jarred - with the setting of a world-class medieval heritage site and, while it definitely had an austere beauty, I wasn't convinced that the 21st century was ready for the band.
Flash-forward two and a half years to another ancient hall, the converted church that is Glasgow's Oran Mor, and suddenly Ladytron make perfect sense. The space-age costumes have gone.
"The uniforms got in the way and we got fed up being asked questions about them", explains Danny Hunt, the Liverpudlian band-member who does most of the talking in the bar after the gig. Helen Marnie, of the Scots-Bulgarian dual-singing axis, puts it more bluntly: "I got fed up looking like a boy".
So now Aberfoyle-born Marnie and Mira Aroyo wear slinky dresses and stand back-to-back centre stage, and during their best song - the great lost hit single "Seventeen" - they pose and pout and do a little Human League waitresses-in-cocktail-bar routine. "They only want you when you're 17..." they sing, "when you're 21 you're no fun". This isn't Ladytron selling out; they're simply making the most of what they've very obviously got.
The band took their name from the second track on the first Roxy Music album. While it may be tempting to think that, in the spirit of the first track, they've remade and re-modelled themselves for their upcoming third album, and what's more at record-company insistence, the young four-piece insist the changes are normal, part of natural development and a sign of their growing maturity.
"When we look back at our old videos we're like children", says Marnie, who in common with the others used to stand glumly behind a synthesizer". For the first couple of years I was quite nervous about being on stage. But we've just done our first American tour. That was a real head-stretcher and helped us grow up a bit".
Ladytron are a great-looking, great-sounding band who have yet to achieve great sales. With a new label - Island - behind them, they now find themselves in that strange holding-bay for cult groups: the one between those who make a couple of albums then split, possibly to be acclaimed as massively important only after they've become binmen; and those who go mainstream, with all that implies.
Interesting times for the band, as Hunt acknowledges. "I know every group will say this, but we've always tried to avoid commercial pressures", he says. "Take 'Seventeen'. It was a hit in Australia, Sweden and Spain and people in those countries assume it was a hit here too. Sometimes I think I'm glad it wasn't. It was small and interesting, like the band. I would have hated if it had become an albatross".
"But then I remember that it was released at Christmas, that it suffered from distribution problems, that the Tuesday of the week of release you couldn't buy it in the shops, and none of that can be termed useful for Ladytron".
The group are hoping for a better deal in every sense from Island, who were Roxy Music's old label. This most style-conscious of bands love the old palm-tree logo. But Aroyo, their most style-conscious member - she used to have an amazing, rocket-shaped haircut - is keen to play down the aesthetics this time.
For instance, when we're talking about their common interests, and I ask if it's true they have a shared appreciation of architecture, Aroyo says: "Kittens".
Sorry? "We like other things as well. In fact, we probably like kittens more than architecture". She thinks for a moment. "Kittens In Architecture - should that have been the title of the new album?".
The group are an intriguing cultural mix. Hunt's roots are "black Irish" but he's 100% Scouse. He reckons he's still on a high after DJing for 30,000 Liverpool football fans in Istanbul before the European Cup triumph ("You'll Never Walk Alone", obviously, "Teenage Kicks" and The Fall's "Mr Pharmacist" in tribute to John Peel, and a new team anthem, Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire").
The other bloke in the band is Reuben Wu, who confused the locals during Ladytron's recent British Council-sponsored tour of China. "They thought I was in the group to provide 'Asian effects'. They wouldn't believe I was Chinese because I don't speak Mandarin. I told them I spoke Cantonese and they were like: 'Why?'".
A number of things were lost in translation during this visit to a land where the band had previously sold just 250 records. "I was complimented on my 'Roman' voice", says Marnie. "I suppose the world looks different to China, so I politely suggested to them that I thought it had a Scottish lilt".
During the official welcome, Ladytron's Liverpool base was utilised by their hosts to bizarre effect, through a pub-singer rendition of "Yesterday" and a film depicting run-down streets in the city. Hunt, though, takes positives from the trip. "We were there as an apology for Wham!, the first Western pop combo to play China", he jokes.
The four met on Merseyside, where Marnie did a music degree. She was a "typical pop kid" in her youth. "I was in a group before, but the boys made me sing indie covers", she says. The rest of Ladytron were DJing in clubs when she met them. "I wasn't, I was dancing in clubs, but I guess all of us were looking for something that wasn't happening at that time".
Completing the line-up is Aroyo, the joker in the pack, who talks about their shared sense of humour as being like a "donkey-powered comedy train". The much-travelled Ladytron recently played her homeland, and Hunt admits his expectations of Bulgaria were of a "big grey cloud". "Instead", says Wu, "there were red Ferraris everywhere".
Nothing is what it seems these days, not even Ladytron. The new album is called Witching Hour, and while synthesizers are still very much to the fore, it has got more of a proper band sound, with real bass and actual drums. Aroyo suspects they're turning into "rock pigs".
They might wonder what life will be like in the 23rd century, but no more than anyone else does. "We don't want to be defined by it", says Hunt, who is probably only half-joking when he reveals that a new band rule forbids them to be photographed in front of buildings such as power stations chosen to illustrate future foreboding.
In the early days, according to Aroyo, people meeting Ladytron for the first time were disappointed to discover they weren't humanoids. Now - before our food is consumed in pill form, and music through a chip storing our record collections inserted in the brain - they would love a hit.
Source
The last time I saw Ladytron was the last time I was in Edinburgh's Gilded Balloon. Twenty-four hours after a set of robotically performed electropop, the Old Town venue went up in smoke. The futuristic music jarred - Jean Michel Jarred - with the setting of a world-class medieval heritage site and, while it definitely had an austere beauty, I wasn't convinced that the 21st century was ready for the band.
"The uniforms got in the way and we got fed up being asked questions about them", explains Danny Hunt, the Liverpudlian band-member who does most of the talking in the bar after the gig. Helen Marnie, of the Scots-Bulgarian dual-singing axis, puts it more bluntly: "I got fed up looking like a boy".
So now Aberfoyle-born Marnie and Mira Aroyo wear slinky dresses and stand back-to-back centre stage, and during their best song - the great lost hit single "Seventeen" - they pose and pout and do a little Human League waitresses-in-cocktail-bar routine. "They only want you when you're 17..." they sing, "when you're 21 you're no fun". This isn't Ladytron selling out; they're simply making the most of what they've very obviously got.
The band took their name from the second track on the first Roxy Music album. While it may be tempting to think that, in the spirit of the first track, they've remade and re-modelled themselves for their upcoming third album, and what's more at record-company insistence, the young four-piece insist the changes are normal, part of natural development and a sign of their growing maturity.
"When we look back at our old videos we're like children", says Marnie, who in common with the others used to stand glumly behind a synthesizer". For the first couple of years I was quite nervous about being on stage. But we've just done our first American tour. That was a real head-stretcher and helped us grow up a bit".
Ladytron are a great-looking, great-sounding band who have yet to achieve great sales. With a new label - Island - behind them, they now find themselves in that strange holding-bay for cult groups: the one between those who make a couple of albums then split, possibly to be acclaimed as massively important only after they've become binmen; and those who go mainstream, with all that implies.
Interesting times for the band, as Hunt acknowledges. "I know every group will say this, but we've always tried to avoid commercial pressures", he says. "Take 'Seventeen'. It was a hit in Australia, Sweden and Spain and people in those countries assume it was a hit here too. Sometimes I think I'm glad it wasn't. It was small and interesting, like the band. I would have hated if it had become an albatross".
"But then I remember that it was released at Christmas, that it suffered from distribution problems, that the Tuesday of the week of release you couldn't buy it in the shops, and none of that can be termed useful for Ladytron".
The group are hoping for a better deal in every sense from Island, who were Roxy Music's old label. This most style-conscious of bands love the old palm-tree logo. But Aroyo, their most style-conscious member - she used to have an amazing, rocket-shaped haircut - is keen to play down the aesthetics this time.
Sorry? "We like other things as well. In fact, we probably like kittens more than architecture". She thinks for a moment. "Kittens In Architecture - should that have been the title of the new album?".
The group are an intriguing cultural mix. Hunt's roots are "black Irish" but he's 100% Scouse. He reckons he's still on a high after DJing for 30,000 Liverpool football fans in Istanbul before the European Cup triumph ("You'll Never Walk Alone", obviously, "Teenage Kicks" and The Fall's "Mr Pharmacist" in tribute to John Peel, and a new team anthem, Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire").
The other bloke in the band is Reuben Wu, who confused the locals during Ladytron's recent British Council-sponsored tour of China. "They thought I was in the group to provide 'Asian effects'. They wouldn't believe I was Chinese because I don't speak Mandarin. I told them I spoke Cantonese and they were like: 'Why?'".
A number of things were lost in translation during this visit to a land where the band had previously sold just 250 records. "I was complimented on my 'Roman' voice", says Marnie. "I suppose the world looks different to China, so I politely suggested to them that I thought it had a Scottish lilt".
During the official welcome, Ladytron's Liverpool base was utilised by their hosts to bizarre effect, through a pub-singer rendition of "Yesterday" and a film depicting run-down streets in the city. Hunt, though, takes positives from the trip. "We were there as an apology for Wham!, the first Western pop combo to play China", he jokes.
The four met on Merseyside, where Marnie did a music degree. She was a "typical pop kid" in her youth. "I was in a group before, but the boys made me sing indie covers", she says. The rest of Ladytron were DJing in clubs when she met them. "I wasn't, I was dancing in clubs, but I guess all of us were looking for something that wasn't happening at that time".
Completing the line-up is Aroyo, the joker in the pack, who talks about their shared sense of humour as being like a "donkey-powered comedy train". The much-travelled Ladytron recently played her homeland, and Hunt admits his expectations of Bulgaria were of a "big grey cloud". "Instead", says Wu, "there were red Ferraris everywhere".
Nothing is what it seems these days, not even Ladytron. The new album is called Witching Hour, and while synthesizers are still very much to the fore, it has got more of a proper band sound, with real bass and actual drums. Aroyo suspects they're turning into "rock pigs".
They might wonder what life will be like in the 23rd century, but no more than anyone else does. "We don't want to be defined by it", says Hunt, who is probably only half-joking when he reveals that a new band rule forbids them to be photographed in front of buildings such as power stations chosen to illustrate future foreboding.
In the early days, according to Aroyo, people meeting Ladytron for the first time were disappointed to discover they weren't humanoids. Now - before our food is consumed in pill form, and music through a chip storing our record collections inserted in the brain - they would love a hit.
Source
26 January 2014
Marnie - "Hearts of Fire" stems
Here are the stems (components) of the song "Hearts on Fire" by Marnie. She made these stems available for a remix competition. They were originally in WAV format but I converted them to FLAC, to save space (FLAC is lossless anyway).
Download
Download
25 January 2014
Transparent Days (SONOIO Remix)
A track from Gravity the Seducer Remixed. Mindblowing!
SONOIO is Alessandro Cortini, the keyboardist of Nine Inch Nails and also co-producer of two Ladytron albums (Velocifero & Gravity the Seducer). He also co-produced the song "We Are the Sea" from Marnie's album Crystal World.
SONOIO is Alessandro Cortini, the keyboardist of Nine Inch Nails and also co-producer of two Ladytron albums (Velocifero & Gravity the Seducer). He also co-produced the song "We Are the Sea" from Marnie's album Crystal World.
24 January 2014
21 January 2014
Reuben Wu - "Mechanoids" free download
Reuben Wu made the experimental song "Mechanoids" available as free download (WAV format) on Soundcloud:
I converted this WAV file to MP3 320 kbps CBR and FLAC.
Download MP3 | Download FLAC
I converted this WAV file to MP3 320 kbps CBR and FLAC.
Download MP3 | Download FLAC
12 January 2014
Scotcampus interview (2011)
It has been a while since your last studio album. Why the long wait?
Well, we released Velocifero in 2008 but we've done quite a lot since then. We toured that album for about a year and a half then took some well earned time off before going into the studio again to make Gravity the Seducer. We released our Best Of earlier this year so there needed to be some time between that and our new studio album, hence the perceived delay.
I couldn't believe it when you released your Best of earlier this year; it doesn't seem to me like that long ago since your first album. Does it feel strange to you guys to think you've been on the go for over a decade?
Time flies when you're having fun. 1999 does seem like a long time ago now though. I was still at uni when I met Danny. It feels weird when I think of it in those terms. However, I'm proud that we've managed to stay together this long and make music we're really happy with.
Not many acts make it this long. Has it been easy to keep Ladytron going?
Oooh, you're making me feel old now. Like any relationship if you want it to continue and flourish you need to be dedicated and put a lot of graft in to make it work. We've all done that. Its never easy, but it's worth it in the end. There have been highs and lows. Thankfully, the highs outweigh the lows.
What have been the best things about being involved in the band?
You get backstage passes at festivals and no longer have to trail through mud to get to a bar! Seriously, we get to visit some amazing countries and cities and get paid for it. That's pretty nice.
And the worst?
I always wanted to be in one of those really mysterious bands that doesn't do interviews. That would be delightful. I am an interview-phobe. They scare me.
Tell us about Gravity the Seducer, how similar or different, does it sound compared to your previous albums?
I'd say its very different to our previous efforts. It still has the Ladytron-esque instrumentation - synths galore with added Harpsichord, bells, and floaty vocals - but is more ethereal and lush. The tracks seem to flow into each other and fit together like glue. Its a softer record. The softer side of Ladytron.
What are your personal highlights from the album?
I love the emotion of "Ambulances". It often makes me cry when I listen to it. "White Elephant" is just a slice of dreaminess heaven.
Has the way you make music changed much since your first release?
Not much really. We write at home, sometimes pass around for additional ideas, vocals or lyrics, then take the songs into the studio for development and see where they go from there.
What next for Ladytron? Will fans have to wait long to hear new material from you?
Gravity the Seducer will be on sale in September, so not too long to wait now. Next up for us is a tour of North America starting mid September. Looking forward to it.
Source
11 January 2014
Marnie will release a special single, "The Hunter Remixed"
Helen Marnie will release a special Record Store Day single titled The Hunter Remixed through Les Disques du Crépuscule. It will be issued in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies on clear 12" vinyl to celebrate Record Store Day on 19 April 2014.
The Hunter Remixed features four tracks: the original version of "The Hunter", two "The Hunter" remixes (one by Stephen Morris of Joy Division/New Order, and another one by the Scottish electronic band Roman Nose), and a "Sugarland" remix by Berlin-based Mark Reeder.
Track listing:
1. The Hunter (album version)
2. The Hunter (Roman Nose remix)
3. The Hunter (Stephen Morris remix)
4. Sugarland (Mark Reeder remix)
Photography by Lisa Devine. Artwork by Martin Lewsley and Laura Hussey.
Source
Track listing:
1. The Hunter (album version)
2. The Hunter (Roman Nose remix)
3. The Hunter (Stephen Morris remix)
4. Sugarland (Mark Reeder remix)
Photography by Lisa Devine. Artwork by Martin Lewsley and Laura Hussey.
Source
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