Amazon.co.uk Review
Is this what we once imagined the future would sound like? On
604 Liverpool-based synth-pop collective Ladytron may show all the electronic hallmarks of 1980 but they impart far less of the "New Dawn Of Technology" neurosis of their cyberphobic "Futuristic" forebears. Remember in those days how man feared the totalitarian march of the machine? How we worried that our friends might be electric? That our minds might be toys? That video would kill the radio star? That human labour would be redundant and we'd all be reduced to a Mao-suited existence in an architecturally morose metropolis? OK, so
604 does contain a few Marxist nursery rhymes (sung by stern Bulgarian female vocalist Mira Aroyo) but it also contains a version of the theme tune to 70s sit-com "Are You Being Served" (sung sweetly by the kittenish "Bond Girl" voice of Helen Marnie). Ladytron's inspired, accessible electropop is where latterday, Tarwater-style Krautrock meets the melodic nous of
The Human League, the Pet Shop Boys and Abba, with just a little bit of the socio-sexual commentary of
Black Box Recorder thrown in for good measure.
Gary Numan was never as much fun as this. --
Kevin Maidment