Extreme Listening Mode!

ELM’s resident curmudgeon Vespertine checks out the hotly-tipped electro act;

I approached this gig with an open mind. I knew a few Ladytron songs but had no in-depth knowledge of the band or the set they were likely to play. But the company was good, and I was able to have a few pints and a lift home! Sometimes going in blind is a good way to evaluate a gig. Sometimes it isn’t of course, but live music is an experience in its own right I suppose and differs from the guarantee that playing a CD, MP3 or vinyl record brings with it.

First, the downside of the venue, a venue I really like. To reach the smoking area you leave your drinks on a small table and then go outside. Upon return my pint had been lifted. I assume it was by some large haired student arsehole who has a constant hard-on daydreaming about Peaches Geldof. There were far too many fashion victim types, readers of The Face and id magazine. Rant over.

The band emerged wearing black, to a dimly lit stage. The impression they give is of electro goth and guess what? First impressions arecorrect! It is hip swinging, groovy and funky but it’s goth at heart. And this is strangely unsettling. The image one has of the band is one of bacofoil suits, laser beams, tinkling synths and vast projections of the planets. To find the reality is closer to Curve (google them kids!) is a tad odd. The live set up seems to have been geared towards a more ‘rock friendly’ sound with bass, drums and guitar being added to the keyboard. It is a very common move for electro bands, but has its own problems. Should such a band, whose image is so striking, be ‘reduced’ to something akin to indie rock? Is the need to promote the album reducing the scope of their ideas?

A second quibble is the sound: the vocals are too quiet. That is never good at any gig. Glaswegian Helen Marnie is the ‘front woman’ such as they have one, but she struggles to make herself heard at times. She does dedicate a song to her 83 year Gran who is in the audience, a nice touch!

However the songs themselves are often very good; from huge, brooding, dark opener ‘Black Cat’ sung in Bulgarian by Mira Aroyo, through to pop/electro/goth stormers such as ‘International Dateline’ and ‘Runaway’. There are moments that show the band could break free of their self-imposed ghetto: ‘Ghosts’ is simply a very, very good song and ‘Fighting In a Built-Up Area’ is a superb shimmering slice of funk. Great songs give any
band hope of a breakthrough. They have some great songs and so the future they often allude to in image terms is still up for grabs for them.

My gig partner was delighted when they ended on ‘Destroy Everything You Touch’ – another excellent track. It brought the short gig to an end and we emerged into howling wind and rain. Ladytron weather perhaps? They don’t strike me as a sunny afternoon festival band.

Overall a mixed bag: perhaps a lack of variation in their sound, and the need to get their songs across in a live setting has reduced the impact of the idea they had. Too often volume and crunch replaced soft caress of their sound. Four albums and a decade together must also dilute that initial impact to match minimalist synths, jump suits and dystopian lyrics. It’s hard to dream of a soundtrack in your head when the bills need to be paid. They are the kind of band you’d almost rather didn’t play live but instead transmitted their songs from an orbiting space station.

But when they are good they are very, very good and could move the feet of a corpse. The gig worked for me in the most crucial sense: I will be buying downloads and exploring their work further. That is a result for someone who came as a casual listener.

Filed under: gigs | Tagged: "Glasgow ABC", breadsticks, Electro, Glasgow, indie, ladytron, ladytron live, Live, NME, Pop