As a jazz radio broadcaster I listen to a lot of jazz music. I buy a lot of jazz CDs. Well, I would if my day job paid more. However, jazz is not the only music I'm into. Dear me no. I grew up in the Eighties, and my first love was synthpop. Heck, I own (and play) a Korg X3 Workstation.
Finally, finally, finally.... I've gotten around to buying a Ladytron CD. I bought their debut album, "604".
I've been hearing them on BBC 6Music for months, and every time I do, think, "They sound worthwhile checking out further" and then promptly do nothing about it.
Ladytron are a British quartet, with a sound so reminiscent of early 80's synthpop, that I'm starting to appreciate how old (real) punks feel, when they here modern-day bands claiming to be punk bands.
The clue here is that your band is not a punk band, if you're wearing $100+ Nike sports shoes. Sorry, but "punk" was about anarchy, rebellion, and not-fitting in. These middle-class American white boys should stop deluding themselves, whilst they're cashing the cheques from Geffen or Sony.
However, unlike ageing punks, I really approve of what the lads and lasses of Ladytron have done with the synthpop sound. They have taken a genre from my formative years, and kicked it up a notch (without help from Emeril), giving it a bright new modern beat, perfectly suited to 21st Century.
Driving bass synth lines and drum machines keep the whole album moving along nicely, whilst swirling lead synths, distorted vocals and odd spoken samples add the sort of depth that keeps you interested in what's coming next.
Some albums are love-at-first-listen, some take a while to get under your skin. 604 is halfway between the two. The Ladytron sound was an instant hit with me, and the actual songs/tracks/whatever, are growing on me.
In any event, I suspect I'm likely to be checking out their later work, because as synth bands go, they push all the right buttons for me.
Posted by Max at November 16, 2003 12:59 PM | TrackbackAh, the techno pop of the 80's...
As snobbish or ignorant as I may look, I remember my problem with those bands then. The problem was Kraftwerk : I can't think of another genre so completely defined and explored, with such an advance, by a single group. Whathever the british groups of the 80's may record, Kraftwerk had already done it in the 70's ! Those guys were visionnaires.
one of my boyfriends in high school l o v e d kraftwerk. they gave me hives (still do). come on? "boing-boom-chak"? what the hell is that?
Posted by: melanie on November 17, 2003 11:54 AMYou are right as ever Philippe. Kraftwerk were there first, and were visionaries, however, in many ways, I found some of their output too montonous, whilst I was growing-up in the 1980's.
My personal favourites were (and still are) Depeche Mode, OMD, Yazoo (Yaz if you're American), Blancmange and some the early Pet Shop Boys stuff.
I think I got into synthpop because it went against the guitar dominance of 70's music. Then again, it may have been because I knew, deep down, that I'd look stupid trying to play guitar.
Posted by: Max on November 17, 2003 09:52 PM