Having seen them live last night, I can understand how Ladytron have gathered as many fans as they seem to've in the last few years - they've come a long way since the days of "Playgirl" and "Seventeen" (both ace, by the way, but my point is that they came out in like 2001 and are both basically straightforward, if unusually simpatico and catchy, synth-poppers), which was my last real exposure to them. If the show last night was anything to go by, they're considerably more crashy and noisy these days, with the electroclash-y/robot-pop elements at the fore (though there are significant new wave and even rock strands in the mix too), while retaining their facility for hooks and melodies wrought into anthems, if with a bit of a tendency towards repetitiveness and lacking the spark that would push their music to a higher plane. Anyway, this felt like kind of a long night, to be honest, and I wasn't totally in the mood for live music by the time we got there and they got on stage, around 11pm; also, the sound was pretty muddy, which was a bit of a downer, plus there was a bit of an idiot element in the crowd, so all told it was only a so-so concert experience.
(w/ M)
