I can hardly wait for June 3, which happens to be the release date for the latest Ladytron album, Velocifero. To tide everyone over, Ladytron has put the entire album up streaming on their MySpace, which may make buying the album in June a bit anti-climactic for some people, but I'm nonetheless excited to get the physical album in my hands. Named after an Italian scooter, Velocifero definitely continues to propel the band further, perfectly fusing rock sensibilities with electronic fuzz and synths. The album ends up sounding like a Velocifero - cool, vintage, sleek, fast and undeniably European.
Black Cat, which is available for free download from the band's Web site , is an electric album opener with a tingling upper register contrasting with a rumbling lower one. Ghosts, the first single to be released off this album, swaggers along like a rock god for the verses and then kicks into a sing-song, see-saw chorus, ending with electronic bliss and what sounds like a gong. I'm Not Scared sounds like a reckless ride along a French motorway, both light and airy, but also frantic enough to turn your pulse to quicksilver. Speeding in I'm Not Scared's wake, Runaway, a track which features a fantastic beat, blends all that was good about '80's synth music as the vocals straddle icy and sweet like a sexed-up robot. Sounding like a proper Depeche Mode song should, Burning Up twinkles and blinks like a candy-coloured strobe light, and carries hints of Destroy Everything You Touch. Kletva, along with Black Cat, is one of the two songs of the album completely sung in Bulgarian by band member, Mira Aroyo, and it bounces around in several directions at once like a gypsy on amphetamines. Apparently, Kletva is a cover of a '70's Bulgarian folk-rock song by Shturcite. The track, Predict the Day, is reminiscent of Simian Mobile Disco with its fuzzy and twitchy rhythms, while Lovers, a briefer song, features chunkier rhythms under breezy vocals. Deep Blue moves back into lighter, splintery beats with splashes of sound effects and synths vibrating like speeding tires over pavement. The closing track of the album, Versus, features some male vocals in addition to the regular female ones, and it works blindingly well. It boggles my mind just how Ladytron continue to impress me, keeping their signature sound, but creating such brilliant melodies and beats that always sound fresh.
It's nice to have an incredible album from one of my favourite bands to look forward to this summer. After all, Destroy Everything You Touch is one of the most perfectly crafted songs of all time. Anyone who believes differently deserves to be run over by a Velocifero.
Black Cat - Ladytron
Ghosts - Ladytron
Runaway - Ladytron
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