Ladytron are a largely British

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

band formed in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in 1999. The group consists of

Helen Marnie Helen Marnie (born 21 February 1978) is a Scottish musician, known as the lead vocalist and one of the keyboardists and songwriters of the electronic band Ladytron. In 2012, she started a solo career as Marnie and released her debut solo album ' ...

(lead vocals, synthesizers),

Mira Aroyo Mira Aroyo ( bg, Мира Аройо, ; born 11 July 1977) is a Bulgarian singer, musician, songwriter, DJ, and geneticist. She is best known as the keyboardist, co-lead vocalist, and co-songwriter of the electronic band Ladytron, which she co-f ...

(vocals, synthesizers),

Daniel Hunt Daniel Hunt (born 25 July 1974) is an English musician, songwriter and producer. He is a founding member, principal songwriter and producer of the electronic band Ladytron. Biography Hunt met Reuben Wu in Liverpool in 1995 and formed Ladytro ...

(synthesizers, guitar, vocals), and

Reuben Wu Reuben Wu (born 1975) is a British artist, photographer, musician, and industrial designer. He is also known as a keyboardist, songwriter, and producer for the electronic band Ladytron. Biography Reuben Wu was born in Liverpool in 1975, the so ...

(synthesizers). They have released six studio albums: ''

604 __NOTOC__ Year 604 (Roman numerals, DCIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 604 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini ...

'' (2001), ''

Light & Magic ''Light & Magic'' is the second studio album by English electronic music band Ladytron. It was released in the United States on 17 September 2002 by Emperor Norton and in the United Kingdom on 2 December 2002 by Telstar Records. The album has ...

'' (2002), ''

Witching Hour In folklore, the witching hour or devil's hour is a time of night that is associated with supernatural events, whereby witches, demons and ghosts are thought to appear and be at their most powerful. Definitions vary, and include the hour imm ...

'' (2005), ''

Velocifero ''Velocifero'' is the fourth studio album by English electronic music band Ladytron and their first to be released by Nettwerk. The album was first released digitally on 19 May 2008, followed by a physical release on 2 June in the United Kingdo ...

'' (2008), ''

Gravity the Seducer ''Gravity the Seducer'' is the fifth studio album by English electronic music band Ladytron. It was released on 12 September 2011 by Nettwerk. Recorded in Kent, England, the album has been described as "haunted, evocative, romantic", and having ...

'' (2011) and ''

Ladytron Ladytron are a largely British electronic band formed in Liverpool in 1999. The group consists of Helen Marnie (lead vocals, synthesizers), Mira Aroyo (vocals, synthesizers), Daniel Hunt (synthesizers, guitar, vocals), and Reuben Wu (synthesize ...

'' (2019) - the seventh, ''Time's Arrow'' is due in January 2023. They also issued the live album ''

Live at London Astoria 16.07.08 ''Live at London Astoria 16.07.08'' is the first official Ladytron live album recorded during their ''Velocifero'' tour and released in 2009. Ladytron's show at Astoria on 15 May 2008 was cancelled because of a power failure A power outag ...

'' in 2009 and the compilation album ''

Best of 00–10 ''Best of 00–10'' is a greatest hits album by English electronic music band Ladytron. It was released on 28 March 2011 by Nettwerk. The compilation includes remastered material spanning from the band's previous studio albums, as well as two ...

'' in 2011. They have produced remixes for artists such as

David Gahan David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

Erasure Erasure () is an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell with songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, previously known as co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and a membe ...

Goldfrapp Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo from London, formed in 1999. The duo consists of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals, synthesiser) and Will Gregory (synthesiser). Despite favourable reviews and a short-listing for the Mercury Prize, their ...

Apoptygma Berzerk Apoptygma Berzerk (; commonly abbreviated to APB or APOP) is a Norwegian musical group. They have achieved success with a brand of synth-pop, and ballads backed with electronic rhythms, commonly known within the scene and referring to themselve ...

Placebo A placebo ( ) is a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like Saline (medicine), saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. In general ...

, Blondie,

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Loui ...

Kings of Convenience Kings of Convenience is an indie folk-pop duo from Bergen, Norway, consisting of Erlend Øye and Eirik Glambek Bøe. History Øye and Bøe were both born in 1975 (Øye on 21 November and Bøe on 25 October) and have known each other since they ...

Soulwax Soulwax are an electronic band from Ghent, Belgium. Centred around brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, other current members include Igor Cavalera and Stefaan Van Leuven. They were first noticed after the release of their album ''Much Against Eve ...

and

Róisín Murphy Róisín Marie Murphy ( , ; born 5 July 1973) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and record producer. She first became known in the 1990s as one half of the pop duo Moloko alongside English musician Mark Brydon. After the breakup of Moloko, she em ...

. The band's name was taken from the song "

" by

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera ...

. Former Roxy Music member

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

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 eccentric 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." Ladytron described their sound as "

electronic pop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

", while music journalists have also described their sound as

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

electronic rock Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s, when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrume ...

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

, and new wave, among other genres. Some of the group's songs contain lyrics written by Aroyo in her native

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

History

Band formation and their debut single

Liverpudlian Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

producers and DJs

and

met in the 1990s. Hunt was a member of the bands

Venini Venini were a British artrock band, featuring members of Pulp and Ladytron, who were active between the years 1998 and 2001. History Guitarist and violinist Russell Senior left Pulp in 1997 and began writing and demoing songs with vocalist/lyric ...

and Jules Verne and also founded the indie record label Invicta Hi-Fi and a nightclub. Wu trained in Industrial Design at

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Cr ...

and graduated in 1997. He became an

industrial designer Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactur ...

Team Consulting Team Consulting is a medical device design and development consultancy. The company works with pharmaceutical companies and Medtech businesses globally. The company is located on the outskirts of Cambridge, UK, and is part of Silicon Fen, the ...

Limited, until finally going full-time with the band around 2002. Using a moniker inspired by the song "

" by

, Hunt and Wu recorded the debut single " He Took Her to a Movie" for £50 with the guest vocalist Lisa Eriksson (who later formed the band

Techno Squirrels Formed in 2005, Techno Squirrels is a band made up of Ryan Harlin (born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) and Lisa Eriksson (born Lund, Sweden). Both Eriksson and Harlin are sound engineers and producers for Techno Squirrels. Their music has bee ...

) and released it in July 1999. In the summer of 1999, Hunt and Wu met the Scottish student

through various DJ gigs, and the Bulgarian student

through a mutual friend. Marnie and Aroyo joined the band as vocalists and keyboardists.

studied music at the University of Liverpool where she received a Bachelor of Arts in pop music in 1999.

was a postgraduate research geneticist in the Department of Biochemistry,

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

The first EPs and ''604'' (1999–2001)

During 1999 and 2001 Ladytron released the EPs '' Miss Black and Her Friends'' in December 1999 exclusively in Japan, ''

Commodore Rock ''Commodore Rock'' is the second EP by English electronic band Ladytron. It was released in June 2000 by Invicta Hi-Fi Records (UK) and Emperor Norton (US) on CD and 12" formats. A 10" vinyl special edition was released by French label Tricad ...

'' in June 2000, ''

Mu-Tron EP ''Mu-Tron EP'' is the third extended play (EP) by English electronic band Ladytron. It was released in the United Kingdom in October 2000 by Invicta Hi-Fi Records on CD and 12" formats. The title "Mu-Tron" is a reference to the manufacturer of ...

'' in October 2000 and the singles "Play Girl / Commodore Rock" in 2000, "Playgirl" in 2000 and again in 2001, "

The Way That I Found You ''604'' is the debut studio album by English electronic music band Ladytron, released in the United States on 6 February 2001 by Emperor Norton Records and in the United Kingdom on 12 March 2001 by Invicta Hi-Fi. It was co-produced, engineered ...

" in 2001. All the songs (except "Miss Black", "Olivetti Jerk" and the remixes) from these releases were later included on their debut studio album. "He Took Her to a Movie", ''Mu-Tron EP'', "The Way That I Found You", were all selected as

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

"Single of the Week". Ladytron released the debut album ''

'' on 6 February 2001 on

Emperor Norton Joshua Abraham Norton (February 4, 1818January 8, 1880), known as Emperor Norton, was a resident of San Francisco, California who, in 1859, proclaimed himself "Norton I., Emperor of the United States". In 1863, after Napoleon III invaded Mexi ...

(US), on 26 March 2001 on Labels (Germany) and on 2 April 2001 on Invicta Hi-Fi (UK). It was re-released on 20 July 2004 on Emperor Norton (US) and on 14 January 2011 (Germany), 18 January 2011 (US), 24 January 2011 (UK) on

Nettwerk Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk Management, and Nettwerk One Publishing. Established in 1984, the Vancouver-based company was created by Nettwerk principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record ...

. ''604'' has been written mostly by Daniel Hunt and co-produced by him and Lance Thomas (who also engineered and mixed the album). The band wore uniforms inspired by the science fiction movie ''

The Andromeda Strain ''The Andromeda Strain'' is a 1969 techno-thriller novel by Michael Crichton, his first novel under his own name and his sixth novel overall. It is written as a report documenting the efforts of a team of scientists investigating the outbreak of ...

'' until the end of 2003. Daniel Hunt said in an interview for Jound from 2001: "I'm really into ''The Andromeda Strain'', so that's kind of an influence on the title of the album and the uniforms we've got and stuff. But the design – me and Reuben just love that film". Also in an interview for Chaos Control magazine from 2002 Hunt explained the ''

'' album title: "It's the

area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...

for

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

... 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". Ladytron performed on 4 August 2001 at

Festival Internacional de Benicàssim The Festival Internacional de Benicàssim (), commonly abbreviated to simply FIB, is an annual music festival that takes place in the town of Benicàssim, in the Valencian Community, Spain. It focuses mainly on pop, rock and electronica arti ...

in Spain, on 10 August 2001 at

La Route du Rock LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

in France, and on 26 August 2001 at

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

in the UK. On 5 December 2001, they performed four songs for Radio 1's

John Peel Show John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

. On 1 October 2001, the compilation album '' Reproductions: Songs of The Human League'' was released on Carrot Top Records and it included

The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

' song " Open Your Heart" covered by Ladytron.

''Light and Magic'' (2002–2003)

Their second album ''

'' was released on 17 September 2002 at

Emperor Norton Records Emperor Norton Records was a Los Angeles-based electronica, hip-hop, and dance-music record label. Among the artists featured on the label were Ladytron, Arling & Cameron, Money Mark, Ugly Duckling, and Fantastic Plastic Machine. Additional ...

(US) and

Telstar Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the fir ...

(UK). The album was also released on 7 April 2003 at

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

(Germany) and on 21 June 2003 at

Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ent ...

(Japan). It was re-released on 20 July 2004 on Emperor Norton (US) and on 14 January 2011 (Germany)/18 January 2011 (US)/24 January 2011 (UK) on

. ''Light & Magic'' featured a darker sound than their previous album. It was written and produced in Los Angeles by the band and co-produced by Mickey Petralia. The album included the underground hits "

Seventeen Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese m ...

", "

Blue Jeans Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and paten ...

" and "

Evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

". They also issued in 2003 a limited 7" single, "Cracked LCD / USA vs. White Noise". They toured over a year to support the album. On 4 December 2002, Ladytron returned to

and performed live 11 songs from their first 2 albums. In 2002, Ladytron rescored the 1982

Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer a ...

film for a live event in London. On 7 October 2003, they issued the mix compilation ''

Softcore Jukebox ''Softcore Jukebox'' is a compilation album put together by English electronic music band Ladytron. It was released on 7 October 2003 through Emperor Norton Records. It features different styles of music from rock to hip hop. It also includes t ...

'' on Emperor Norton. Besides the songs of other artists, the compilation also includes two of their own songs, the single remix of "

" renamed "Blue Jeans 2.0" and a cover of Tweet's "

Oops (Oh My) "Oops (Oh My)" is a song by American singer Tweet from her debut studio album, ''Southern Hummingbird'' (2002). It features vocals from American rapper Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, who co-wrote the song with Tweet, while production was handled ...

''Witching Hour'' (2004–2007)

Ladytron began working on demos for their next album immediately after concluding Light & Magic tour with a homecoming gig in

in September 2003, where they were supported by

Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. F ...

. Within a few months, they had mapped out the entire record and by the time they were ready to start recording in April 2004, their UK label

Telstar Records Telstar Records was a British record label that operated from 1982 to 2004. Background Telstar was founded in 1982 by Sean O'Brien and Neil Palmer with a government loan of £120,00Telstar RecordsIt was launched as a specialist compilation mar ...

had gone into administration. Their US label,

, also had problems: the company was purchased by

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first Compact Disc, CD-only independ ...

in 2004 and was then shut down later that year, with Rykodisc inheriting its back-catalogue. The band announced on 7 December 2004 that they signed to

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

. In 2004, Ladytron were booked to play a series of shows in China as part of an exhibition tour set up by the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

. They played on 24 and 25 September 2004 in

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

, 28 September 2004 in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

, 6 October 2004 and 7 October 2004 (DJ set) in Shanghai. Ladytron released their critically acclaimed third studio album ''

'' on 3 October 2005 on

Island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

(UK) and later in other territories. Island Records also released a limited edition of this album in the form of a 2 disc set: a CD with the album and a DVD of video from the tour of China ("Once Upon a Time in the East: Ladytron in China") plus 3 music videos ("Destroy Everything You Touch", "Sugar", "Seventeen"). ''Witching Hour'' was re-released on 5 April 2007 on

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

(Germany), on 5 November 2007 on So Sweet (UK), and on 18 January 2011 (US)/24 January 2011 (UK) on

. The album was recorded in 2004 at Elevator Studios in Liverpool and it was produced by Ladytron and

Jim Abbiss Jim Abbiss is a British music producer, best known for his work on records including the debut album of Editors ('' The Back Room''), Arctic Monkeys' Mercury Music Prize winning debut album, ''Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'', Ka ...

. It featured Pop Levi on bass, live drums by

Keith York Keith York is an English session drummer who has toured throughout the world and worked with a range of bands, including The Lightning Seeds, Pitchshifter, bivouac, Ladytron, and Esoteric, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Broadcast and Love Amongst Ruin. He wa ...

and electric guitars mixed with their trademark sound.

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

described it as a "quantum leap record". The songs "

Sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

", "

Destroy Everything You Touch "Destroy Everything You Touch" is a song by British electronic music band Ladytron. It was released on 19 September 2005 as the second single from their third studio album, ''Witching Hour''. It reached a position of number 42 on the UK Singles Ch ...

", "International Dateline", "Weekend", and "Soft Power" were issued as singles. "

" () became the band's best known song. In 2006 saw the light ''

Extended Play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

'', a two-disc EP CD/DVD compilation that featured exclusive unreleased remixes and B-sides, as well as a DVD with the same content as the one from ''Witching Hour'' limited edition. Also in 2006 Ladytron recorded and released the live EP ''

The Harmonium Sessions ''The Harmonium Sessions'' is the fifth extended play (EP) by English electronic music band Ladytron. It contains unplugged versions of four songs from their 2005 studio album, ''Witching Hour''. It was self-released by the band as a limited edi ...

'' with 4 songs from their third album. Without any real label support, Ladytron toured exhaustively over the next two years, on the strength of their cult following. They played in North America, Europe, and South America. In early 2007, they also opened for the European shows of

, at the invitation of

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...

''Velocifero'' (2007–2009)

Ladytron were dropped by Island Records and signed to

in late 2007. Between 2007 and 2008, the band recorded the follow-up to ''Witching Hour'' at Studio de la Grande Armée in Paris with help from

Alessandro Cortini Alessandro Cortini (born 24 May 1976) is an Italian musician best known for being the keyboard, guitar, and bass player in the industrial band Nine Inch Nails. Cortini is also the frontman for the Los Angeles-based electronic-alternative band SO ...

(

Modwheelmood Modwheelmood (also typeset as ModWheelMood or modwheelmood and abbreviated as MWM) is an American Electronic-Alternative band from Los Angeles, California formed by Alessandro Cortini (who is also part of the Nine Inch Nails live lineup from 200 ...

SONOIO SONOIO is a solo project of Italian musician Alessandro Cortini, best known as the keyboardist for Nine Inch Nails' touring lineup and as a member of Modwheelmood. The name of the alternative rock/electronic project comes from the Italian phrase ...

) and Vicarious Bliss (

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

DJ Mehdi Mehdi Favéris-Essadi (20 January 1977 – 13 September 2011), better known by his stage name DJ Mehdi, was a French hip hop and house music producer and DJ. He was signed to the label Ed Banger Records, founded by his friend Pedro Winter, in ...

). On 2 June 2008, Ladytron released their fourth album ''

'' on

. The band stated that "velocifero" literally means "bringer of speed" and is also the name of a classic retro styled scooter. The album spawned three singles: "

Ghosts A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

", " Runaway" and " Tomorrow". In mid 2008, the group composed three exclusive tracks performed in Simlish for The Sims 3 game soundtrack: "Rockfalls & Estuaries", "She Stepped Out of the Car" and "Young Etruscians". Ladytron sang a song titled "Use Your Mind" on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

Yo Gabba Gabba! ''Yo Gabba Gabba!'' is a children's musical television series created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz. The series is about five costumed toys come-to-life and their friend DJ Lance Rock ( Lance Robertson). It is co-produced by Magic Stor ...

. On 6 April 2009,

issued the remix compilation '' Velocifero (Remixed & Rare)''. In 2009, Ladytron toured North America with

The Faint The Faint is an American indie rock band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Graham Ulicny, Dapose and Clark Baechle. The Faint was originally known as Norman Bailer and included Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes, with whom T ...

, and performed two special shows with

at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

. In the same year they announced that they will be the opening act for

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depeche ...

on few concerts in Eastern Europe, but these concerts were cancelled due to

Dave Gahan Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

's illness. Also in 2009 Ladytron self-released their first live album ''

'' and co-wrote and produced a few songs for

. The songs "Bird of Prey" and "Little Dreamer" were released a bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of her 2010 album ''

Bionic Bionics or biologically inspired engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. The word ''bionic'', coined by Jack E. Steele in August 1 ...

''.

''Best of 00–10'' and ''Gravity the Seducer'' (2010–2011)

The soundtrack of the video game '' FIFA 11'' included a new Ladytron song, " Ace of Hz", which was also released as digital single on 30 November 2010. On 11 January 2011, the band issued the

music download A music download (commonly referred to as a digital download) is the digital transfer of music via the Internet into a device capable of decoding and playing it, such as a personal computer, portable media player, MP3 player or smartphone. Thi ...

Ace of Hz EP ''Ace of Hz EP'' is the sixth EP by British electronic music band Ladytron. It was released as music download on 11 January 2011 through Nettwerk. This EP includes the album version of the single "Ace of Hz", plus five remixes of it. Two remi ...

'', which contained the album mix as well as five remixes. On 28 March 2011, it was released the compilation ''

'' featuring 17 tracks on standard edition and 33 tracks on deluxe edition plus an 80-page booklet. Both editions included two extra tracks, " Ace of Hz" and a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Death in June Death in June are a neofolk group led by English musician Douglas P. (Douglas Pearce). The band was originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as a trio, but after the other members left in 1984 and 1985 to work on other projects, the gro ...

's "Little Black Angel". Also in 2011,

reissued all their previous albums, the remix compilation '' Best of Remixes'' and the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

video compilation ''Best of 00–10 Videos'' which included music videos for the singles "

Playgirl ''Playgirl'' was an American magazine that featured general interest articles, lifestyle and celebrity news, in addition to nude or semi-nude men. In the 1970s and 1980s, the magazine printed monthly and was marketed mainly to women, although i ...

", "

", " Runaway", " Tomorrow" and " Ace of Hz". On 20 December 2011,

issued the remix compilations '' 604 (Remixed & Rare)'', '' Light & Magic (Remixed & Rare)'' and '' Witching Hour (Remixed & Rare)''. During April 2011 and July 2011, Ladytron performed live in Austria, China, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Poland, UK, Ireland, Hungary and Spain. Their fifth studio album, ''

'', was released in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2011 and in the United States on 13 September 2011. The album was recorded in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

's countryside and it was produced by Ladytron and Barny Barnicott (

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, back ...

Kasabian Kasabian ( ) are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997 by lead vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and occasional vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff, and bassist Chris Edwards. Drummer Ian Matthews joined in 2004. Karlof ...

Editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

). Daniel Hunt said that "''Gravity the Seducer'' is more of a jump than the last album was, more ethereal and melodic, a touch more abstract in places than we've gone before, baroque 'n' roll". "Ace of Hz", which appears on the album, was previously released as a single from the band's greatest hits compilation ''

''. The first single from ''

'', "

White Elephant A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, construction project, sch ...

", was issued on 17 May 2011 and its accompanying video was posted on YouTube on 26 July 2011. The band released two more singles, "Ambulances" on 16 June 2011 and "

Mirage A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', meanin ...

" on 8 August 2011. The music video for "Mirage" was posted on YouTube on 11 November 2011. During September 2011 and December 2011, the band toured in United States, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore. For the concerts in North America, Ladytron were supported by

, VHS or Beta and

Geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

Hiatus and side projects (2012–2015)

The soundtrack of the video game '' The Sims 3: Supernatural'' included a new Ladytron instrumental track, "Tesla". Using her surname as a stage name,

started in 2012 a solo career. She self-released through

PledgeMusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...

her debut solo album ''

Crystal World ''Crystal World'' is the debut studio album by Scottish musician Marnie, self-released on 11 June 2013 through the site PledgeMusic. The album was produced in 2012 in Reykjavík, Iceland, by her Ladytron band-mate Daniel Hunt in collaboration w ...

'' on 11 June 2013. The album was produced in 2012 in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

by her bandmate

in collaboration with the Icelandic musician

Barði Jóhannsson Barði Jóhannsson (born 10 September 1975) is an Icelandic musician, composer, writer, TV show host (of the surrealist Icelandic TV show ''Konfekt''), clothing designer and film director. He is mostly known for his work with the groups Bang Ga ...

. Marnie released a second solo album titled '' Strange Words and Weird Wars'' on 2 June 2017 on Disco Pinata. This album was recorded at Chem19 Studio, Glasgow and produced by Jonny Scott. On 22 February 2013, Ladytron premiered the "International Dateline" music video. It was shot in 2006 during ''

'' era, left unfinished, rediscovered and finished by Daniel Hunt in 2012. On 29 November 2013, Ladytron released the remix album '' Gravity the Seducer Remixed'', a collection of remixes of ''

'' songs. Ladytron featured shortly on the section "Resurgence" of the 2014 music documentary ''

Beautiful Noise ''Beautiful Noise'' is the tenth album by Neil Diamond and his third with Columbia Records, released in 1976. "Dry Your Eyes" was performed with The Band at their farewell show and is featured in Martin Scorsese's ''The Last Waltz''. Overvi ...

''. This documentary also features several short interviews with Daniel Hunt.

Self-titled album and ''Time's Arrow'' (2016–present)

Ladytron at QMU, Glasgow 2nd November 2018 08

On 18 July 2016, the band posted on their official website: "After a five year hiatus following the release of their fifth album ''

'', another chapter in Ladytron's story is about to begin." On 26 November 2016, Ladytron posted on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

an image with a SSL recording console, implying that the recording of their sixth album started. On 28 February 2018, Ladytron started a

campaign to finish recording and releasing their new album. On the same day they released the first single "The Animals". On 16 August the band premiered the single "The Island". The track was accompanied by a disturbing short film directed by Bryan M. Ferguson. On 10 October the band announced that the new album would be titled ''

'' and released on 15 February 2019 through their own Ladytron Music imprint via

!K7 !K7 Music is a music company based in Berlin, Germany that focuses mostly on electronic music. The name is an abbreviation of the company's original Berlin address, Kaiserdamm 7 (it has since relocated, first to Heidestrasse 52, and currently he ...

suspended operations in February 2019, after repeated cases of failing to pay artists. The band subsequently issued updates stating that while much of the merchandise had never been made, they had been able to buy the vinyl and CDs from PledgeMusic's administrators and were in the process of sending them out to subscribers who were willing to pay for the postage. On 16 September 2019 Ladytron premiered the music video for "Deadzone". The video was directed by frequent collaborator Bryan M. Ferguson. On 4 February 2020 Ladytron premiered the music video of "Tower of Glass". Ladytron will release a 20th anniversary edition of their second album, ''

''. On 22 August 2022, the band published a previously unreleased video for the album's title track, "Light & Magic". Ladytron announced the release of their seventh studio album, ''Time's Arrow'' for January 2023, alongside the release of the single "City of Angels" in October 2022.

Side projects

All band members are also involved in various side projects. Besides touring, each member plays

DJ set A DJ mix or DJ mixset is a sequence of musical tracks typically mixed together to appear as one continuous track. DJ mixes are usually performed using a DJ mixer and multiple sounds sources, such as turntables, CD players, digital audio players ...

s (solo and with other band members) in clubs and events around the world. Ladytron have produced remixes for many artists, including

, Blondie,

and

. Using her surname as stage name,

released 2 solo albums: ''

'' on 11 June 2013 and '' Strange Words and Weird Wars'' on 2 June 2017.

worked on several movie scores, including that of ''

Would You Rather "Would you rather" is a conversation or party game that poses a dilemma in the form of a question beginning with "would you rather". The dilemma can be between two supposedly good options such as "Would you rather have the power of flight or the ...

'' in collaboration with Icelandic musician

. Hunt also produced Marnie's album, ''

''. He started the band Tamoios with singer Luisa Maita, and Fernando Rischbieter, in 2014, in São Paulo, Brazil.

is an accomplished photographer. He posted a selection of photos on his own website and he also released in 2011 a book with a collection of photographs from an expedition with a friend on

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

in the same year. Hunt, Wu and DJ Revo opened the

club night Evol in September 2003. In September 2005, Hunt and Wu helped by some collaborators, opened the Liverpool bar/restaurant/music venue Korova.

collaborated with

John Foxx and the Maths John Foxx and the Maths is a musical project featuring electronic music pioneer John Foxx, Benge and more recently Hannah Peel. The group specialises in the use of analogue synthesizers and drum machines. It was initially a studio based proj ...

and The Projects. She also worked for some documentaries. Ladytron are credited as co-writers and producers of the bonus songs "Birds of Prey" and "Little Dreamer" from the 2010 album ''

'' by

Music style

Ladytron have described their sound as "electronic pop", with music journalists similarly describing their sound as

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

. They focused on a balance between pop structures and experimental sounds. Their sound has also been described as

post-punk revival Post-punk revival (also known as garage rock revival,J. Stuessy and S. D. Lipscomb, ''Rock and roll: its History and Stylistic Development'' (London: Pearson Prentice Hall, 5th edn., 2006), , p. 451. new wave revival,. and new rock revolution) is ...

, new wave,

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

, witch house, and

art pop Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre draws on pop art's ...

. While some writers have labeled Ladytron as an

electroclash Electroclash (also known as synthcore, retro-electro, tech-pop, nouveau disco, and the new new wave) is a genre of music that fuses 1980s electro, new wave and synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) ...

act, others have claimed that they are not entirely electroclash and Ladytron members have also rejected the term, with Daniel Hunt and Helen Marnie commenting: 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".

Touring

Ladytron - Live at The Circus, Helsinki (14 May 2011)

Ladytron toured during each one of their major albums: ''604'' (2001), ''Light & Magic'' (2002–2004), ''Witching Hour'' (2005–2007), ''Velocifero'' (2008–2009), ''Best of 00–10'' (2011), ''Gravity the Seducer '' (2011), ''Ladytron'' (2019–2020). During the years, they toured in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Australia. The band played at various

music festivals A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or ho ...

like La Route du Rock 2001, Reading Festival 2001, Koneisto 2001, Festival Internacional de Benicàssim 2001 and 2005,

Coachella Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. I ...

2003 and 2006, Hultsfred Festival 2003, Arvikafestivalen 2003 and 2006, Lowlands Festival 2003, Dot-to-Dot Festival 2005,

Pukkelpop Pukkelpop is an annual music festival that takes place near the city of Hasselt, Belgium, in mid- to late August. It is held within a large enclosure of fields and woodland—adjacent to a dual carriageway called ''Kempische Steenweg''—in the ...

2005, Exit Festival 2005, Creamfields 2007, Electric Picnic 2007, Bonnaroo Festival 2008, Ruisrock Festival 2009, Traffic Festival 2009, Standon Calling Festival 2009, Electrosonic Festival 2009, Ping Gu Valley Festival 2011, Donaufestival 2011, Selector Festival 2011, Hegyalja Festival 2011, Decibel Festival 2011, DeLuna Fest 2011, Zouk Festival 2011. Since ''Light & Magic'', Ladytron started to tour extensively and to add touring members to play live bass and drums. Previous touring members include Pop Levi (bass during ''Light & Magic'' tour), Andrea Goldsworthy (bass during ''Witching Hour'' tour), and

(drums during ''Light & Magic'' and ''Witching Hour'' tours). Bands to open for Ladytron on their tours include

Simian The simians, anthropoids, or higher primates are an infraorder (Simiiformes ) of primates containing all animals traditionally called monkeys and apes. More precisely, they consist of the parvorders New World monkeys (Platyrrhini) and Catarrhi ...

The Presets The Presets are an Australian electronic music duo of Julian Hamilton (vocals, keyboards) and Kim Moyes (drums, keyboards). Formed in 2003 and signed to Modular Recordings, Modular Records, The Presets released two EPs (''Blow Up (EP), Blow Up ...

Client Client(s) or The Client may refer to: * Client (business) * Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer * Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuable ...

, Phaser,

CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone techno ...

Asobi Seksu Asobi Seksu was an American shoegaze/dream pop band based in New York City. Their music used a textured and effects-heavy vocal and guitar sound. The band primarily consisted of Yuki Chikudate (vocals, keyboards) and James Hanna (guitar, vocals ...

Mount Sims Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

Crocodiles Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant memb ...

, VHS or Beta and

. Ladytron have opened for other artists like

on their UK tour in 2001,

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

in 2003, and

in 2006. In early 2007, they opened for

on their European tour, at the invitation of

. In 2009, Ladytron and

co-headlined a North American tour. During the early part of the ''Witching Hour'' tour, the band used to name their four Korg MS-2000B synths to easily differentiate them: ''Cleopatra'' (Marnie), ''Babylon'' (Aroyo), ''Ulysses'' (Hunt), and ''Gloria'' (Wu). A staple of all Ladytron shows is

Korg MS-20 The Korg MS-20 is a patchable semi-modular monophonic analog synthesizer which Korg released in 1978 and which was in production until 1983. It was part of Korg's MS series of instruments, which also included the single oscillator MS-10, the ke ...

played by Mira Aroyo.

Discography

*''

'' (2001) *''

'' (2002) *''

'' (2005) *''

'' (2008) *''

'' (2011) *''

'' (2019) *''Time's Arrow'' (2023)

Awards and nominations

Classic Pop Reader Awards , - , 2019 , "The Island" , Video of the Year , MVPA Awards , - , 2006 , "

" , Best Directional Debut , PLUG Awards , - , 2006 , "

" , Song of the Year , Popjustice Twenty Quid Music Prize , - , 2003 , "

" , rowspan=2, Best British Pop Single , , - , 2006 , "

" ,

Media usage

References

External links

* * {{Authority control English synth-pop groups English electronic rock musical groups Electropop groups Post-punk revival music groups Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups from Liverpool Musical quartets Remixers Nettwerk Music Group artists Rykodisc artists Island Records artists Telstar Records artists 1999 establishments in England

History

Band formation and their debut single

The first EPs and ''604'' (1999–2001)

''Light and Magic'' (2002–2003)

''Witching Hour'' (2004–2007)

''Velocifero'' (2007–2009)

''Best of 00–10'' and ''Gravity the Seducer'' (2010–2011)

Hiatus and side projects (2012–2015)

Self-titled album and ''Time's Arrow'' (2016–present)

Side projects

Music style

Touring

Discography

Awards and nominations

Media usage

See also

References

External links