Electric Ladytron
By Taleen Kalenderian
Nov. 1, 2006 9:00 p.m.
LADYTRON CONCERT Today, noon Bruin Plaza,
FREE
As far as musical uppers and downers are concerned, Ladytron has
found a way to integrate energy on the stage with its electronic
mood-based ethos.
Hailing from Liverpool, the oft-dubbed electroclash foursome
will be playing a free show in Bruin Plaza today at noon, courtesy
of UCLA’s Campus Events Commission. After touring
internationally for its 2005 release “Witching Hour,”
the band’s signature bleak-chic mantra is more prominent than
ever ““ Ladytron has adopted more gothic fashion, moving away
from the military costuming it wore on past tours.
The album rises above normal associations of the electroclash
genre as the band’s revamped look ““ and new-found
mastery of melodic songcraft ““ iconically showcases its
growth. While previous albums drew abstractly from their
influences, this album finds itself in closer contact with a solid
musical identity. And according to Mira Aroyo, vocalist and
keyboardist for Ladytron this identity is the one the band is
happiest with so far.
“It takes awhile to find your own sound,” Aroyo
said. “With every album we’ve tried to do something
better than the previous, both with sound and songwriting. It all
evolves quite naturally and we’re very conscious of staying
away from a formula.”
Ladytron’s set at Coachella this year was testament that
its pale-faced, stoic aesthetic is capable of energizing an
audience.
“You could see us come onstage as it was getting dark, and
you could see the palm trees in the background while the audience
was dancing away,” Aroyo said.
The band is known for using no loops or pre-recorded music
during performances, instead translating the heavily embedded
textures of its albums in real time.
“It’s more song-based with us, and everything is
played and translated live,” Aroyo said. “It gives a
lot more of a groovy, natural sound to things. We don’t like
the song to suffer onstage, we like it to emerge with the analog
synth.”
For the Los Angeles leg of its tour, Aroyo said Ladytron’s
set list is not going to differ too greatly from the ones the group
has already played, but the band has plenty in store to kick up the
mix. Ladytron played and DJ’d at the El Rey on Tuesday, in
costume, for a special Halloween show, a holiday which Aroyo
describes as being like Christmas for the band. In addition,
Brazilian dance-pop band CSS, which played a show at UCLA last
Thursday, has been the opening act for many of Ladytron’s
shows, generating hype and sold-out venues.
“CSS is really good fun,” Aroyo said. “They
get us really energized before we go on and they put us and the
audience in the right mood. They excite them and then we bring them
down.”
It is evident in this bipolarity, as well as Ladytron’s
self-proclaimed influences (which Aroyo says range from Bob Dylan
to classical to My Bloody Valentine), that the band’s list of
diverse musical influences is not derived from style, but momentum
and attitude, according to Aroyo.
Today’s campus show will be the band’s last Los
Angeles show and the end of its well-received homecoming, for lack
of a better term.
“(Playing in) L.A. is like a homecoming gig for us in more
ways than playing in London and Liverpool, because our first two
records were based out of L.A. We’ve always felt at home
here,” she said.
For a dark, stoic band, a daytime show should present even more
bipolarities. But as long as the members of the crowd are enjoying
themselves, Ladytron is willing to make anyone dance.
“We’ve never played a proper college show, but a
younger crowd is usually better for us because we get a lot of
energy out of the audience,” Aroyo said. “It’s
very symbiotic ““ they need to enjoy themselves for us to
enjoy it. Hopefully they’ll be dancing and jumping around so
that we can vamp off their energy as well.”
