Amelia’s Magazine | Ladytron at the HMV Forum: Live Review

Ladytron by Claire Kearns
Ladytron by Claire Kearns.

Has it really been this long? This long since I first caught the subtly seductive beats of Playgirl on Radio 1’s Evening Session? Hearing Helen Marnie’s coy yet devastating vocals for the first time? And what was the band’s name? Ah, cialis 40mg taken from an Eno-period Roxy Music song. Cool! And how long since I first saw them live, on the South Bank (Queen Elizabeth Hall, I think)? Daniel Hunt drolly announcing that dancing was allowed. Then the one and a half gigs at the late, not necessarily lamented Astoria (the first attempt was abandoned when the mixing desk packed up half way through the set). And now here we are, with a decade-spanning greatest-hits-that-should-have-been in the shops, a new album in the offing and a date to keep in Kentish Town.

Ladytron by Robert Tirado
Ladytron by Robert Tirado.

YouTube Preview ImagePlaygirl

Two single green beams of light cut through the Forum’s darkened auditorium as a curious synthwave re-working of the old jazz standard You Go To My Head played over the PA. Then Ladytron (all dressed in black, as ever) appeared – Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo centre stage, flanked by Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu –and launched into Runaway, with those pounding drum beats bouncing round the room. Backed by pulses of blue, green and red light, we then got a blistering High Rise, which gave way to a typically immense-sounding Ghosts.

YouTube Preview ImageRunaway

There seemed to be a kind of back to basics approach tonight – recent flirtations with stringed instruments seem to have been put to one side (though from my vantage point I couldn’t make out whether Hunt did tinker with a guitar at all), and it was a return to the straightforward analogue synth sound of old, save for the presence of a drummer behind the quartet.

Ladytron by Michelle Pegrume
Ladytron by Michelle Pegrume.

Marnie’s ice queen vocals belie a commanding stage presence (in between vocal and keyboard duties, she was even seen perched on the drum riser!). Her voice really comes into its own, though, on the darkly pulsing Soft Power and the forbidding International Dateline (both from 2005’s acclaimed Witching Hour album). Aroyo also got in on the act, with her stern Bulgarian intonations giving the dark dance beats of Fighting In Built Up Areas an extra edge.

YouTube Preview ImageSeventeen

The delicate White Elephant provided a taster for the forthcoming album, Gravity The Seducer, and marks how far the band have travelled since the likes of Discotraxx (from debut album 604, and which also got an airing tonight). Near-hit Seventeen, with its perceptive pop culture mantra (“they only want you when you’re seventeen, when you’re twenty one you’re no fun”) received a rousing reception as we headed, inevitably, towards Playgirl and the traditional set closer, the massive Destroy Everything You Touch.

YouTube Preview ImageDestroy Everything You Touch

And so, the lights come up and Ladytron depart for their remaining few shows – apparently our last sighting of the foursome on these shores for the rest of the year. Still, we got what we wanted, a glimpse through a synth-pop past darkly, mixed with a teaser of what is still to come. And it really has been this long, a decade of remarkable music that still sets the standard for the latest wave of synthwave bands to aim for.

Categories ,astoria, ,brian eno, ,Claire Kearns, ,Daniel Hunt, ,Destroy Everything You Touch, ,electronic, ,forum, ,Gravity The Seducer, ,Helen Marnie, ,jazz, ,Ladytron, ,Michelle Pegrume, ,Mira Aroyo, ,Reuben Wu, ,Robert Tirado, ,Roxy Music, ,south bank, ,Synth-Pop, ,synthwave, ,Witching Hour

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Amelia’s Magazine | Jon Hopkins and King Creosote perform Diamond Mine live at the Union Chapel: Review

Jon Hopkins and King Creosote by Jim Design
Jon Hopkins and King Creosote by Jim Design.

It was a while before I twigged who Jon Hopkins‘ was: he provided a lovely soundtrack for a piece of contemporary dance I saw a few years ago and I saw him as a support act a couple of times. His music ranges from the powerfully visceral to the hauntingly beautiful but he suffers from the curse of most electronic musicians in that it is a little bit dull watching a man play with a laptop. The gig at the Union Chapel on Wednesday 25th May 2011 was a live performance of his Diamond Mine collaboration with King Creosote, link which is a reworking of songs recorded across King Creosote‘s career. As a big fan of the record I was looking foward to this gig.  

union chapel diamond mine

The Union Chapel is a venue that I have been meaning to visit for as long as I have been in London, information pills and it was a setting perfectly in tune with this gig – providing subdued lighting, magnificent architecture, and fabulous acoustics. It also differed from most gig venues in that I was sat on a pew next to a middle aged woman clutching a mug of tea rather than a teenager with a pint.

Jon Hopkins and King Creosote by Robert Tirado
Jon Hopkins and King Creosote by Robert Tirado.

Performed live the record has even more impact than it does on record and the addition of live musicians provided a focus while Mr. Hopkins hid behind banks of instruments. The record, which is short at just over half an hour, was run through without interruption which is how it is intended to be experienced. After this there was a performance of more songs, this time with the patter for which King Creosote is known. And Jon Hopkins even escaped from behind his wall of instruments to play a squeeze box. 

union chapel diamond mine-king creosoteunion chapel diamond mine
That’s not Jon there by the way…

It was one of the best concerts I have been too in awhile but if you missed it this time round you will get the chance to see Diamond Mine performed live again when King Creosote and Jon Hopkins embark on a mini tour in September, full listing information here. Don’t forget to check out Amelia’s interviews with both Jon Hopkins and King Creosote by clicking on their names.

An excellent track by track explanation of Diamond Mine can be found on Drowned in Sound.

Categories ,Diamond Mine, ,Drowned In Sound, ,James Clarkson, ,Jim Design, ,Jon Hopkins, ,King Creosote, ,live, ,Robert Tirado, ,union chapel

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