In Review: Ladytron - Ladytron

Ladytron have released their sixth studio album eponymously entitled ‘Ladytron’ after seven years of hiatus. The album was co-produced by Jim Abbiss, also a reference to the Ladytron’s third album ‘The Witching Hour’ which most people believe is band’s most successful album to date. The latest long player was released in partnership with Pledgemusic and it was promoted with series of singles throughout 2018.

 Originally founded in Liverpool, Ladytron have been in the music business for twenty years now. In the early 00’s they started off well with their very innovative and distinct analogue synth pop form and soon, with the rise of Electroclash, became this style’s ultimate trademark. Towards to the mid 00's the band began to experiment even more with the music, embracing new elements and musical arrangements, becoming more mature and complex in sound.

 The brand new album 'Ladytron' is out today, February 15th, and it has been announced  as being much heavier than their previous work on 'Gravity the Seducer'. And indeed, the album does not have this immediate effect on the listener like the first two promo singles "Animals" and "The Island", but still, it manages to get under the skin. Once again the band returns with dark and very atmospheric sound that spreads over the whole album and it sounds like a compilation of songs and styles from all their albums, in a brand new song collection. The majority of songs on the album are performed by Helen Marnie whereas Mira Aroyo take leads on two tracks, "Paper Highways" and "Horrorscope". The former is also one of the album highlights placed halfway through the record changing the dynamics of the album for better course towards the end. Along "Paper Highways", the singles, the haunting "Figurine", dreamy and hypnotic "The Mountain" and acid "Deadzone" are clearly the high spots on the record. There are tracks where the bouncy synth elements might be over exposed, yet this does not affect album's balance in whole a lot.

This album has not revealed anything ground breaking from Ladytron's end, but overall happy to see that band is back and that we have been able to listen to their first new sound in seven years. With this album they mange to make a very nice comeback and round up Ladytron's body of work that now includes two decades. 


78/100

Negative Gemini - You Weren't There Anymore

Negative Gemini - You Weren't There Anymore - Bad Baby EP 
Directed by Cory Nixon 

Retrovision: Marc Almond & Gene Pitney - Something`s Gotten Hold Of My Heart

In parallel to the ongoing year, we are also celebrating some of the biggest hits from 1989, celebrating their 30 years anniversaries. Here is the first to start with. One of the finest music "accidents" and the cover than even outgrew the.

original and stayed on the top of the UK charts through out most of the February 1989.

 

Bananarama Return with New Album 'In Stereo'

Bananarama will return with a brand new Album 'In Stereo' this spring. This album will also sign the ten year anniversary since their last studio album in 2009. In 2017 the ladies reunited with former member Siobhan Fahey for a ‘original line-up tour’, but as per media announcements she will not be involved in the works from the new album. The first single, "Dance Music", was released on 18 January 2019 the album will be out on April 19th. 

In Review: Sharon van Etten- Remind Me Tomorrow

American singer and songwriter Sharon van Etten released her fifth studio album 'Remind me Tomorrow' on Jagjaguwar in mid-January. This album, in a way, also marks the ten year anniversary since her eponymous debut in 2008 and comes as a follow up to her 2014 release ‘Are We There'. There is an evident gap of four years which Sharon has been using to explore new grounds with acting and she also gave birth to her first child. New events in life certainly have had an impact on this new content which Sharon presented in ‘Remind me Tomorrow’.

"Remind Me Tomorrow" was produced by John Congleton which already successfully worked with Dirty Projectors and St Vincent. It clocks at 41 minutes and includes ten tracks out of which only one goes over 5 minutes and it seems pretty much like a straight forward release. As we did not experience much of Sharon’s previous work, we will treat this as standalone album review. 
Overall the album has a nice atmosphere and feel, and it is very evident that synth arrangements are taking the leads on this record. All in all, going track by track, there are also small instrumentation parts involved, but very measured which keeps up the listeners attention throughout the record. The decision with the two opening tracks in not something I am very happy about, neither lyrically nor production wise, but somehow this is the path up, to the first highlight of the album, the song “Memorial Day” which together with “Jupiter 4” and “Hands” mark this record's highlights. The blanket of synth ambiance seems to be spread over the most of the album's songs and the diversity and quality comes with the layered elements which bring the right amount of decoration to the sound. Organic elements meet with the synthetic textures and manage to spice it up with glitch drums, quirky synths and drone sounds. At the same time Sharon sticks to her very distinct style and her voice modulates perfectly and remains in the center of things.

Overall the album has a nice narrative and although there are weaker tracks it does not threat the dynamics of the whole album nor does it bore the listener. There do not seem to be exceptional lyrical highlights, yet the Sharon mangers to convey her emotion to the listener. Having also listened her previous album while I am writing this review, only confirms that that Sharon steps beyond her scope to create this new cosmic artwork.

82/100

WAW: These New Puritans- Inside The Rose

These New Puritans-  Inside The Rose - Inside The Rose
Director: Harley Weir 
Producer: Mike Rowling
 

WAW: Fat White Family- Feet

Fat White Family - Feet - Serfs Up! 

Directed by CC Wade 
Produced by Somesuch & Co

LCD Soundsystem Cover Heaven 17 and the Human League as Part of the Electric Lady Sessions

LCD Soundsystem have released a new live album this week, titled 'Electric Lady Sessions'. The 12-track double-LP was recorded live at the Electric Lady studios in New York. The album features live renditions of cuts from the band’s comeback LP 'American Dream' along with some of the LCD Soundsystem favorites from 80's including The Human League’s “Seconds and Heaven 17’s “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang.” The live album is available to preorder now on vinyl or digitally.