Ladytron Album: “Extended Play”

I really hate to put down a release by Ladytron who are one of my favorites, but I really don't get why they were compelled to release this. The remixes have the same loop over and over (and then over and over), I would have at least expected the same creativity for the original songs. I put 2 starts in here because of the bonus dvd.

If you are a really hardcore Ladytron fan you might consider having this in your collection as not to miss any of their stuff, but all in all even as a hardcore fan myself I regret having shelled out for this.

"Witching Hour" is one of the best albums I've heard and you very well may be interested in buying this for the additional mixes. Unfortunately they're mediocre and don't expand on the songs' original structure, instead muddying them up, ruining what makes them great to begin with. As for the dvd, there are two excellent clips for "Destroy Everything You Touch" and "Sugar"(which was shot in an EXTREMELY wide aspect ratio, at about 2.85:1). The footage of their travels in China is mostly uninteresting, just some cobbled footage of press junkets interspersed with intentionally, choppily edited "behind-the-scenes" nonsense. It's all rather dull and uninvolving. Except for the videos, you're likely to be disappointed with this release.

While the tracks on the disc are fine, and include some otherwise unavailable stuff, I got this for the 25 minute mini doc about the band while in China, which I found an interesting look at this somewhat reclusive group.

A few dance remixes that you can play down at the club and a couple new songs don't really make a new album, but at $7 - maybe. The DVD has a couple vids that you could get from YouTube and a follow the band around in China documentary that's pretty cool. All-in-all I guess I got the value I paid. Ladytron is a great electronica band and this sure will add to your collection. Die-hard fans would be recommended to buy this, occasional fans should try out one of their regular releases instead.

I love Ladytron, and I think their latest LP, 'Witching Hour' is fantastic. So I was very excited to get this release - a CD with remixes and 3 extra non-LP tracks, plus a DVD with 2 videos and a tour documentary of the band in China.

The CD - the problem is the remixes are awful. They add nothing to the power of the originals. The first track in particular titled as a 'Club Mix' is bad, bad, bad. The remix for "Destroy Everything You Touch" strips away all the energy of the original and replaces it with a droning farfisa organ. Bleh. Maybe the original tracks just shouldn't be messed with.

The 3 new tracks, 1 new song and 2 instrumentals, save the CD from being a total disaster. Certainly worth owning.

As for the DVD, 2 videos are featured, one for "Destroy Everything You Touch" and the other for "Sugar". "Destroy..." is a good video, if only because it has some original images. Placing band members heads in a snowy mountain landscape... how often do you see that?

The "Sugar" video is pretty boring. There's nothing wrong with it, it's just your run of the mill video. Is it an audition for the girls? Ooh, dialogue before the video like it's a movie, with actors! Now they're all playing as a band in a trendy apartment. Wow, creative. I think this is the video the record label wanted. It's all very safe and dull.

And then we have a half hour long documentary of Ladytron performing in China. What a mess. This is the worst kind of documentary, because we learn so little about the band. There are brief interview segments, there are performances. But the problem with the performances is that they do not sound live. Unless Ladytron can play just like the last LP, the performance audio is NOT live. So what's the point?

Are we expected to be impressed by the 'hands-on', shakey camerawork with bad audio of the band driving around in a car? I don't know if the audio is intentionally bad, or if it's supposed to make us feel like it's a bootleg. The editing... is it editing? Was it edited by chimps?

A total mess.

So, the extra songs are good. One video is very creative.

The documentary is awful.

"Witching Hour' is the greatest album Ladytron have done yet and I listen to it over and over again. But this is disappointing.