Mira & Helen salute the Selector Festival attendants (2011)

Wah2 interview (with Daniel & Mira)

An old interview from Ladytron's early years.

inthemix interview (2009)

So imagine this: You're in a band, one of the UK's most critically acclaimed and infallibly hip electronica bands to be fair. You're just going about your business, touring your latest record, when, out of the blue, you get a phone call from your agent telling you your all-time musical hero has hand-picked you to appear in a musical festival he's curating. On top of this, said appearance is to take place in one of the world's iconic buildings, the Sydney Opera House.

That was the situation facing Ladytron, who took their name from a Roxy Music song which appeared during Eno's brief tenure in that group. The group's keyboard player Daniel Hunt was understandably thrilled by the news, which means they are part of the inaugural Luminous festival which takes place in Sydney this May and June. "A couple of [Eno's] solo albums are probably in most of our top fives. From my point of view Another Green World is one of my favourite albums of all time, so it means a lot to us on a lot of levels".

Currently on tour with dance punks The Faint, Hunt is calling from Asheville, North Carolina – which, he notes with enthusiasm, is the location of the original factory that produces the famous Moog synthesisers. You'd imagine this is something that would appeal more to Ladytron, with their sleek, icy electronic aesthetic, more than their more rock-inclined tour-mates. Still, it's been a successful pairing. Hunt says The Faint is actually the most similar band they've been on the road with. The group has generally made left-field choices for their touring partners, such as CSS, who, Hunt explains were a revelation to audiences unfamiliar with their then-unreleased breakthrough album.

An even more unlikely Ladytron associate is Christina Aguilera, who the band have been collaborating with on her upcoming album. While the initial approach from Aguilera's people came as "a shock", it soon became clear the hugely successful pop star was not merely trying to cash in on Ladytron's indie cool, but was genuinely interested in their back catalogue.

"She was really specific about what elements of our work she wanted to try and harness", Hunt says. "It wasn't just the singles or anything. It was specific album tracks and specific sonic layers and things like that". Four or five songs have already been completed. Hunt describes them as a hybrid between her previous work and Ladytron's, and the latter have enjoyed the process so much that further such collaborations may well be on the cards.

In addition to these new ventures, the four members of Ladytron regularly return to their roots by playing DJ sets. It's something they all did before forming the group and, incidentally, how Hunt met bandmate Rueben Wu. While the former prefers playing "dive-y little parties where you can play whatever you want", Wu and co-vocalist Mira Aroyo are more often found at major dance parties.

Either way, it's a good diversion for the group when they're on tour. They are keen to avoid what they see as the pitfalls of writing while on the move, preferring to regroup after they return home with something apart from life on the road to write about.

Getting the four members together may seem harder now that Hunt has moved to Milan, but he says the logistics of the move have yet to be an issue. "I can get to London more cheaply and more quickly by plane from Milan than I can by train from Liverpool, which I used to do before, so it's really not a problem".

It's also been a positive lifestyle change, allowing Hunt to escape what he saw as an increasingly aggressive mentality in England. "It's got a lot of things going for it and a lot of good people, but it wasn't for me", he muses of his homeland. "It's difficult to have a comfortable lifestyle there, in the city, because there's trouble around the corner all the time... Even in places around the world that people live in and consider to be rough, it's just not the same as the absolutely random violence in Britain".

While considered expensive and somewhat unlovable by many Italians, Hunt couldn't happier with his adopted homeland and its more laidback attitude. "When people go out [in Milan] they want to enjoy themselves, rather than requiring some kind of physical interaction… Anyway, that's my rant over [laughs]. I don't think the average Australian needs any encouragement to have a downer on Britain, so I won't encourage it!"

Source

Playgirl (Snap Ant Remix)

I'm not a fan of remixes, but this reworking of Ladytron's classic single "Playgirl" is awesome!

Ladytron - Atlanta, GA, 2007

Content: High Rise / Evil / Soft Power / Sugar / International Dateline / Seventeen

Ladytron trivia

Note: most trivia is based on various interviews with the band members.

They took their name from the song "Ladytron" by Roxy Music.

There are four kind of Ladytron songs: sung by Marnie (sometimes with Aroyo on backing vocals), sung by Aroyo (sometimes with Marnie on backing vocals and sometimes contain lyrics written in her native Bulgarian), duets (usually Marnie and Aroyo, but sometimes Marnie and Hunt) and instrumentals.

During the early years they were mislabeled as electroclash by some lazy journalists. Ladytron rejected the tag everytime they were asked about it. Electroclash was an electronic music subgenre, quite popular in early 2000s. Tags like electronic, electropop, synthpop, new wave, dream pop are more accurate to describe Ladytron' sound.

The legendary musician Brian Eno, once a member of Roxy Music, invited Ladytron in 2009 to perform at Sydney Opera House in Australia. He called Ladytron "the best of English pop music".

They used many synthesizers during the years, but the instrument that appeared on every album and live show is Korg MS-20.

Some similar artists to Ladytron: Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Chvrches, Röyksopp, Client, Metric, The Knife, Fever Ray, Goldfrapp, Grimes, Marsheaux, Soft Metals, Crystal Castles, VNV Nation, Covenant, Assemblage 23, mind.in.a.box, Mesh, Shiny Toy Guns, The Golden Filter, High Places, The Human League, Cut Copy, Miss Kittin, Miss Kittin & The Hacker, La Roux, Emmon, Camouflage, Parralox, OMD, Propaganda, Ashbury Heights, Pet Shop Boys, Wolfsheim, Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Artists that like Ladytron: Brian Eno, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails, SONOIO), Andy McCluskey (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark), Chibi, Falcore and Rainbow (The Birthday Massacre), Victoria Hesketh (Little Boots), Christina Aguilera, Chvrches, Tegan Quin and Sara Quin (Tegan and Sara), Emma Anderson (Lush), Sarah Blackwood (Dubstar, Client), Kate Holmes (Client, Technique), Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou (Marsheaux), Shirley Manson (Garbage), Brian Molko (Placebo), The Veronicas, Andy Bell (Erasure), Scott Hansen (Tycho).

For The Sims 3 game soundtrack, the group composed three exclusive tracks: "Rockfalls & Estuaries", "She Stepped Out of the Car" and "Young Etruscians". For the soundtrack of The Sims 3: Supernatural expansion pack, Ladytron composed another instrumental track, "Tesla".

Ladytron released 14 instrumental songs so far: "Olivetti Jerk", "Mu-Tron", "CSKA Sofia", "Zmeyka", "Laughing Cavailer", "USA vs. White Noise", "Turn It On", "CMYK", "Tender Talons", "Citadel", "Ritual", "Transparent Days", "Aces High", "Tesla".

Reuben Wu said about the process of making a new Ladytron album: "We start writing individually. We've never really lived in the same city before. We've always been geographically apart. [...] It's always been first as individuals, and then reviewing everything together, and then working on each other's songs. That's how we've always worked. And it goes well with how we make music. We do get together down the line and in the studio when we start fleshing out the tracks".



Mira Aroyo married with Harry Hardie in 2010, Helen Marnie married with Nic in 2011 and Daniel Hunt married with Adriana in 2011.

Reuben Wu considers Witching Hour as the definitive Ladytron record. Helen Marnie's favorite Ladytron albums are Witching Hour and Gravity the Seducer.

The band considered the title Fighting in Built Up Areas for the album Witching Hour when they worked on it.

"The Way That I Found You" emerged a week before they mixed 604. When Ladytron recorded that song, Helen sung it once and the band used that first take.

Daniel Hunt is a supporter of Liverpool FC. In 2005, he was a DJ for 30,000 Liverpool football fans in Istanbul before that UEFA Champions League final when Liverpool won.

Reuben Wu drew the original cover of the Ladytron's debut album 604.

Hunt and Wu set up the club night EVOL and have a share in bar/restaurant/music venue Korova, both from Liverpool.

Helen Marnie said in a Rolling Stone interview from 2011 that her height is 168 cm (5'6"). Regarding the supposed model career rumors, Helen said in the same interview: "I've never really done proper catwalk. I only ever did a few bits and pieces along with a couple of graduate shows as a favour to friends".

Helen Marnie has a small Japanese character tattoo on her belly and a red heart tattoo close to the wrist of her left hand.

When Ladytron perform live, Helen usually plays lead synth lines (when it's an instrumental part in the song), Mira plays sound effects and some synth lines (and some basslines), Reuben plays basslines, Daniel plays guitar and pad sounds, their tour drummer and bassist plays of course drums and bass, respectively.

Since the band started touring, they kept the same stage positions: in front-left Mira, in front-right Helen, in back-left Daniel, in back-middle the tour drummer, in back-right Reuben (and their tour bassist when they had one).

Ladytron used to wear uniforms onstage during 604 and Light & Magic tours.



There are two versions of the origin of the title of their debut album 604: first one is the area code for British Columbia and the second one is from the thriller The Andromeda Strain.

Some films that inspired Ladytron: The Andromeda Strain (1971), Watership Down (1978), Suspiria (1977), Phenomena (1985), Noir.

The thriller The Andromeda Strain was an inspiration for the 604 album title (after an error 601 that appears in the film) and their uniforms during 604 and Light & Magic eras. The animation Watership Down was an inspiration for "Ghosts" lyrics ("Prince with a Thousand Enemies") and its music video. Here you can read more about these films.

Ladytron rescored the original Tron movie for a live event in London in 2002.

"Seventeen" was written by Daniel Hunt.

Helen Marnie wrote the lyrics of "Beauty*2".

"Ninety Degrees" has been originally written by Daniel Hunt in Portuguese for his fiancé, and then translated it to English.

Daniel Hunt wrote "Destroy Everything You Touch" in October 2003. The song will be edited many times until it achieved the final version.

"The Beginning of the End" by Nine Inch Nails is a song remixed by Ladytron that featured Helen Marnie's vocals.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is a fan of the band. In early 2007, he invited Ladytron to perform in the opening of the European shows of Nine Inch Nails.

During the early part of Witching Hour tour, the band used to name their four Korg MS-2000B synths to easily differentiate them: Cleopatra (Helen' synth), Babylon (Mira' synth), Ulysses (Daniel' synth) and Gloria (Reuben' synth).

604 was co-produced by Lance Thomas in Liverpool, Light & Magic was co-produced by Mickey Petralia in Liverpool and Los Angeles, Witching Hour was co-produced by Jim Abbiss on Elevator Studios (Liverpool), Velocifero was co-produced by Alessandro Cortini and Vicarious Bliss at Studio de la Grande Armée (Paris, France), Gravity the Seducer was co-produced by Simon "Barny" Barnicott and Alessandro Cortini in Kent, England.

Bands to open for Ladytron on their tours include Simian, The Presets, Client, CSS, Asobi Seksu, Mount Sims, Crocodiles, Franz Ferdinand, SONOIO, VHS or Beta and Geographer.

Ladytron have opened for other artists like Soulwax on their UK tour in 2001, Björk in 2003, Goldfrapp in 2006, Nine Inch Nails in early 2007 for their European tour. In 2009, Ladytron and The Faint co-headlined a North American tour.

Reuben wanted to remix the song "Ladytron" by Roxy Music but he lost the stems.[Source]



The album titles are usually hidden in the lyrics:
604 - "I'm With the Pilots" ("six-oh-four / Belgian teachers and the cosmonauts");
Light & Magic - "Light & Magic" ("Left on the lights, is there somebody home, light and magic");
Witching Hour - "Soft Power" ("Daylight is the enemy / Witching hour, soft power");
Velocifero - the only exception. But Reuben Wu said that they made a song "Velocifero" that was skipped from the album's final version. Probably that song included the word "velocifero" somewhere in the lyrics;
Gravity the Seducer - "Ninety Degrees" ("I don't know where you've been, out on the sand with medusa / and not busy with fighting gravity, the seducer").

The meanings of some song titles:
"Mu-Tron" - the name of Musitronics, often shortened to Mu-tron, that was a manufacturer of electronic musical effects active in the 1970s.
"CSKA Sofia" - a Bulgarian football club.
"Commodore Rock" - a reference to the 80s computer Commodore 64 or Hotel Commodore. However the actual lyrics are a weird mix between the Bulgarian national anthem, a children story and an old revolutionary song.
"Zmeyka" - means "snake" in Bulgarian.
"CMYK" - Cyan Magenta Yellow Black, a subtractive color model used in color printing.
"Soft Power" - a concept developed by Joseph Nye to describe the ability to attract and co-opt rather than coerce and rather than using force or money as a means of persuasion.
"Kletva" - which means "oath" is a cover of a song from a solo album by Kiril Marichkov of Bulgarian rock band Shturtzite.
"Deep Blue" - the supercomputer that beat the chess master Garry Kasparov in 1997.
"Ace of Hz" - it's a play on words between "ace of hearts" and "ace of hertz".
"White Elephant" - an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth. Also it's the nickname of the organ/synth combo Moog CDX-0652. There a picture with Helen playing this Moog.

Baltimore City Paper interview (2003)

Feels good / Looks good / Sounds good / Looks good / Feels good too / Feels good too (Uh-huh that's right)

With those lyrics from its almost 2-year-old but soon-to-be-domestically-released debut, #1, New York's flamboyant performance-art troupe Fischerspooner recorded what has become almost a mantra for electroclash, a movement with roots in New York but whose influence has been felt throughout the States and Europe. New York's most outfitted outfit has become one of the global figureheads in a widely thrown network whose electric catchall has tangled together the genuinely innovative, an orgy of fashionista mannequins, and a handful of acts who wondered if they were just getting fucked. What if being lumped in with a movement--two-thirds of which now makes no pretensions of being anything more than superficial--didn't feel good, too?

From press photos, Ladytron co-founder, songwriter, and keyboardist Reuben Wu appears to be a good-looking guy. Actually, all the members of the Liverpool-based electropop (stress on the "pop") act have a good look going for them. But fashion isn't a primary concern of Ladytron. If anything, Ladytron's members prefer not to be associated with 2002's most fashionable tag, electroclash. With an eye toward the haters that follow the hype, they shy away from a movement torn between establishing character or simply characters. Because if there is one thing Ladytron doesn't want to be, it's last year's model.

"The electroclash Web site often says things under band names like, 'Great music and model looks,'" says Wu by phone from the United Kingdom. "Who cares about being a model? It's about being in a band making music you want to make. That was irritating to us because we were lumped in as the electroclash counterpart in England, as if we'd contributed and were following that movement. Which is the opposite of what happened".

As so often happens, a style quickly began to threaten substance as more musicians clicked into cliques and jumped on bandwagons. Ladytron, in turn, distanced itself. Its members, which founded the group around the University of Liverpool, consider themselves to be following a Liverpudlian tradition of seclusion.

"When we wrote [Ladytron's 2001 debut full-length] 604, it was in relative isolation", Wu says. "I'm not saying no one anywhere was also doing what we were doing--there were a lot of artists producing with attitude, and we identify with Chicks on Speed, Miss Kittin and The Hacker, Tiga--but here there was nothing similar at the time. And we in no way were following, or at the time associated with, things happening in New York. We've always been as much into '60s pop as '80s. We've never been hard into Kraftwerk or Gary Numan or any of that. It really just is the instrumentation that bridges us with that era".

With no plans to jettison its oscillating analog synths, Ladytron used other means to avoid being too closely associated with current trends when recording its sophomore release, 2002's Light & Magic.

"We knew it was going to be quite a critical point in our path to come up with an album after [the rise of] electroclash", Wu says. "So during last spring and summer, when electroclash came up, we were producing in [Los Angeles] completely away from all of it. The songs were pretty much in various states of completion, but recording in the sunny context of L.A. gave us new perspectives [on them]".

"We had a hire car, and at first we'd drive around putting The Beach Boys on the radio", he continues. "But we realized that The Beach Boys weren't working for us, while playing Joy Division was. Which, in a way, was exactly what we were doing with our own music, taking these songs written in the north of England and taking them to where there's no such thing as a gray day, which allowed them to benefit from being put in, appropriately, a different light".

While Light & Magic isn't exactly warm, California glistens through the more densely layered sweeps and swing. Tracks such as "Cracked LCD" and "Turn It On" feel detached, but the songs featuring breathy vocalists Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo are imbued with more gauzy soft focus than frigid friction. The album holds more of the dynamic tension, the futuristic fascination and dread, that marked the cusp of '80s new wave but is now missing from much of what's called electroclash. Tracks thump ("True Mathematics"), bounce ("Seventeen", "Blue Jeans"), and squirm ("NuHorizons", "Cease2xist"). There is rigid motorik plod ("Fire") but also almost-house pulsing ("Flicking Your Switch").

The album is never dirgelike but has a cohesive duskiness. What it lacks are immediately apparent standout singles. "Light & Magic has more of a narrative, something that bridges it together if you listen in one go, even though every song on there is completely different", Wu says. "604 now feels more like a compilation".

With a more focused album under its belt, however, Ladytron is turning to compilations as a means to further flesh out its image. "We're putting out a compilation album on Emperor Norton in spring of records we like and DJ", Wu says. "Sort of a Ladytron Back to Mine, a look at what's on our decks. It's a mix of old and new stuff, like 'Horsepower' by CJ Bolland, 'Temporary Secretary' by Paul McCartney, 'Surrender' by Cheap Trick. When we first came out, people thought we were really into Human League and that was that. They saw the synthesizers and saw we didn't do much onstage but play, and people concluded we were just '80s revivalists. It's only now that people are thinking we're more than that. This compilation should be an important record for us and [should] give people a bit more of an understanding of what we're about".

Ladytron is also trying to augment its image with its live show. Having recently added a bass player and a drummer to achieve a harder-hitting set, the band members took kindly to comments that they sounded more brutal. "Too many bands stand with their laptop and have a vocalist talking into a microphone", Wu says. "Because it's electronic, people don't give a shit if it sounds like the record, but the point I've been trying to make all along is we're not just 'an electronic act.' We're a band".

And that's how Ladytron wants to be seen: as a singular entity, not just a piece of flotsam in the tide. "Acts came along, and people acted as if [they] could all be lumped in one speech bubble", Wu says. "Then people started producing music just for the speech bubble. The fashion got high profile in many magazines, but as the 'movement' received exposure the music got dumbed down to just needing a drum machine, some analog bass lines, and cold female vocals. And if you put some feathers in your hat, you could be electroclash. We'd rather make it fashionable again to concentrate on the music".

Source

Open Your Heart

The Human League cover released on the compilation Reproductions: Songs of The Human League in 2001.