I always feel crummy when I abandon a band I champion, but it's happened a gajillion times already and it's probably only going to get worse as time goes by. But one of the side effects of this Decade project is that I'm confronted by the Ghosts Of Popstars Past, especially when I look at the early years of thee millennium. And the most notable example on my list is Ladytron. So icy cool, so chic, so future-retro. Of course, I was going to be hooked in by the notion of a modern-era new Human League where the two girls took over. The first album, 604, was good enough, but Light and Magic (2002) was the kicker. Jampacked with singles like Blue Jeans (presented here in one of those dumb stare-at-the-cover videos, sorry) and Seventeen, Ladytron resurrected the spirit of '80's pop while staying firmly planted in modern sounds. Both songs are still catchy as hell, so what happened?
Well, it's a classic case of More Of The Same Syndrome. Subsequent records mined the same ice-queen dark pop vibe, and it wore me out. Sadly, new Ladytron records made me less inclined to listen to the old stuff, and they fell to the middle of the digital pile. But I've dusted off those two songs listed above and some other goodies. They probably aren't going to dent the big Songs of the Decade list, but a late-game comeback doesn't hurt their chances either. (And the Lego version of the cover is not the real deal, but in many ways, much more awesome.)
No comments:
Post a Comment