Titus writes:
I don’t quite know why it is, but Ladytron seem to be one of the least known electronic rock bands. I say this because apart from making excellent records, their members have also been involved in providing music for various media activities, such as video games, TV series, film scores and commercial advertising. They have also produced remixes for various artists such as Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode, Erasure, Goldfrapp, Blondie, Christina Aguilera and Nine Inch Nails. They formed as long ago as 1999, in Liverpool and currently consist of Helen Marnie (lead vocals and synthesizers), Mira Aroyo, who is Bulgarian-Israeli (vocals and synthesizers), and Daniel Hunt (synthesizers, guitar, vocals). Reuben Wu (synthesizers) helped form the group in 1999, but left in 2023. They have released seven studio albums, from their first one in 2001 called simply ‘604’, – which I’m sure you all know, is the Area Code for British Columbia - to their latest, in 2023, ‘Time’s Arrow’. Like many others, they have also made a live album ‘Live at London Astoria 16.07.08’ and also the compilation LP ‘Best of 00-10’.
Ladytron took their band name from a track on Roxy Music’s debut album of 1972. Ex Roxy member Brian Eno, said in 2009 “Ladytron are, for me, the best of English pop music. They’re the kind of band that really only appears in England, with this funny mixture of art-school dicking around and dressing up, with a full awareness of what’s happening everywhere musically - which is kind of knitted together and woven into something quite new”. I said earlier that Ladytron are labelled as an electronic rock band, but they are also known as synth-pop, electronic pop, post-punk, and new wave. Just to add a bit of further mystery to the band’s work, some songs contain lyrics written by Mira Aroyo in her native Bulgarian.
Daniel Hunt founded the record label Invicta Hi-Fi, and in addition, a Night Club. Wu, Marnie & Aroyo all had academic backgrounds. Wu trained in Industrial Design at Sheffield Hallam University, and graduated in 1997. Marnie studied music at Liverpool University where she attained a B.A., and Aroyo became a postgraduate research geneticist in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford. Apart from recording two Peel Sessions, Ladytron have appeared at many festivals , such as Festival Internacional de Benicassim in Spain, La Route du Rock in France, and the Reading Festival in the U.K. The band have toured North & South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. “We know that” I hear you say, BUT....not a lot of people know that Franz Ferdinand once opened for Ladytron. I lie not. However, on the flip side of that, Ladytron have opened for Bjork, Goldfrapp and Nine Inch Nails. Another amazing fact is that during the tour to promote their third LP ‘Witching Hour’ in 2005, the group used to name their four synthesizers so that they could easily differentiate them : CLEOPATRA (Marnie), BABYLON (Aroyo), ULYSSES (Hunt) and GLORIA (Wu).
Well, that’s a whistle-stop tour of Ladytron, and in my opinion they remain one of the most under-rated bands this Country has produced. Sad that founder member Reuben Wu announced, just after the release of Ladytron’s 2023 album, that he was to leave the band due to the ongoing commitments of his Art & photography career in the U.S. Whilst on the subject of the ‘Time’s Arrow’ LP, the track that I have requested Lex to play is ‘Faces’ which can be found here.