''Velocifero'' is the fourth studio album by English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

band

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 ...

and their first to be released by

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 ...

. The album was first released digitally on 19 May 2008, followed by a physical release on 2 June in the United Kingdom and on 3 June elsewhere. ''Velocifero'' peaked at number 75 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, becoming the band's second highest-charting album to date in the UK (after ''

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 ...

'' reached number 72 in 2011). It was also their first album to chart on the US ''Billboard'' 200, reaching number 131. ''Velocifero'' spawned three singles: "Ghosts", "Runaway" and "Tomorrow".

Background

According to band member

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 ...

, "velocifero" literally means "bringer of speed", and is also the name of a classic retro-styled scooter. "Black Cat" and "Kletva" are both sung entirely in

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 ...

. "Kletva" (which means "oath") is a cover of a song from a solo album by

Kiril Marichkov Kiril Marichkov ( bg, Кирил Маричков, 30 October 1944 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian rock musician. Biography Marichkov was born in Sofia and played piano, clarinet, bass-guitar and guitar since young age. In 1963 he founded one of the ...

of Bulgarian rock band Shturtzite.

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 Ladyt ...

provided additional vocals on "Versus".

Singles

"Ghosts" was released as the album's lead single on 12 May 2008. It reached number 106 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The song was included on the soundtrack to the video games '' Need for Speed: Undercover'', '' The Sims 2: Apartment Life'' (''Apartment Life'' featured the song as an instrumental version; both in 2008) '' The Sims 3'' (2009) and ''

LittleBigPlanet 2 ''LittleBigPlanet 2'' is a puzzle-platform game that features user-generated content. The game is developed by Media Molecule, published by Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3. It was released in January 2011. The game was released in ...

'' (2011), as well as on the soundtrack to the 2009 slasher film ''

Sorority Row Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradua ...

''. The track was also used in the TV advert for the 2010

Jameson Dublin International Film Festival The Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF; ) is an annual film festival held in Dublin, Ireland, since 2003. History Dublin International Film Festival was established in 2003. It was revived by Michael Dwyer, international film critic and ' ...

. A remix of "Ghosts" by New York

alternative rap Alternative hip hop (also known as alternative rap) is a subgenre of hip hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising " hip hop groups that refuse to confor ...

collective Blestenation was released as a free download on 22 August 2008 by

RCRD LBL RCRD LBL was a website for free, curated, and legal MP3 downloads from emergent artists. RCRD LBL was launched in 2007 by Josh Deutsch, Peter Rojas Peter Rojas (born March 18, 1975) is the co-founder of technology blogs Gizmodo and Engadget, a ...

Critical reception

''Velocifero'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 73, based on 26 reviews.

Track listing

''Velocifero (Remixed & Rare)''

On 6 April 2010,

released a compilation of remixes, B-sides and rarities titled ''Velocifero (Remixed & Rare)''. The cover is the based on the black and white stripes artwork of the single "Runaway".

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Velocifero''.

Musicians

– additional vocals (uncredited) * Semay Wu – cello * Slic – drums * Somekong (Peter Salmang and Javier Benitez) – additional musicians

Technical

– production *

Michael Patterson Michael Patterson may refer to: *Michael Patterson (animator), American director and animator, creator of MC Skat Kat *Michael Patterson (English footballer) (1905 – after 1931) *Michael Patterson (Australian footballer) (1941–2002), AFL player ...

– mixing * Vicarious Bliss – additional production *

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 ...

– additional production * Erwan "Eq" Quinio – engineering * Daniel Woodward – engineering * Alex Hasson – engineering assistance

Artwork

* Stéphane Gallois – photography *

Assume Vivid Astro Focus assume vivid astro focus (avaf) is both an alias of Brazilian-born New York-based artist Eli Sudbrack,Wilson, Michael (2003) "Assume Vivid Astro Focus: Deitch Projects.(New York)(artist's work is combination of psychedelia and glam, pop kitsch and k ...