February 13, 2001

Single Of The Week - LADYTRON : The Way That I Found You

If Stereolab ever try to invade Poland, they'll come marching to this.

London, Paris, Tokyo, Munich, everybody's talking 'bout, er, Darius off Popstars actually, but they should be screaming blue murder about the Teutonic pop blitzkreig that is Ladytron sailing over the horizon like a Hindenburg with hits, loaded up with explosive-tipped Scud choruses and on a mission to wipe all non-black-wearing, anti-miserable races from the face of music.

They have braved the opium dens of Eastern Europe, prowled the Parisian underworld, soaked up the sake of a million Tokyo DJ spots and sunk the
lager of innumerable Liverpool theme pubs. They appear onstage as if preparing to bomb your embassy rather than play you sparkling yet deadpan kraut-synth pop tunes. They are Bride Of Kraftwerk, an android Blondie, the Atari Teenage Riot you can bear to listen to AND The Human League being roughed up by Can down a back alley in Prague while Sarah from Dubstar tries to separate them, screaming "Leave 'eem Helmut! 'Ee's not worf eeet!"

'The Way That I Found You' is a particularly spangly diode in the
Ladytron circuit board bizarre delights to come include singer Mira Aroyo singing Marxist children songs in her native Bulgarian and tracks which the band claim recorded themselves while they were out of the studio. It's a love song to a face in the crowd, awash with chilly Wagnerian organ and the dark boom-tish of St Petersburg Ritzy's. If Stereolab ever try to invade Poland, they'll come marching to this.

Mark Beaumont