LADYTRON 604 ALBUM LABELS, INVICTA HI-FI RELEASE: FEBRUARY, 2001 REVIEW: APRIL 24, 2001

From nowhere to super hyped. Ladytron is the band of the day. I though, may be one of the few who actually consider "604" a minor letdown. Only a few tracks can measure up to the utter genius and retro-futuristic spacepop of "Playgirl". "Discotraxx" is one of those. "Ladybird" another. Some of the other material tends to sound almost too smart, though never, at any point, uninteresting.
This is highly exciting, innovative, yet retro flavoured stuff packed in a somewhat too big box. Too many tracks that could have been left out and they lower the overall impression of the album. Interesting, however, to hear new music using ideas from eighties synthpop and combining this with a unique female voice, that of Bulgarian Mira Aroyo. That the rest of the band is British can be heard from time to time, in some of the house/electronica influenced instrumentals. The single track "He Took Her to a Movie" loans heavily from Kraftwerk's "The Model", but also stands firmly on its own due to impressive innovation. A typical "604" song.
Ladytron is one of the bands that will further develop the electronic pop genre and their breakthrough into "regular" charts is most welcome. It may boost the interest for this type of sound. "604" is fresh and retrospective at the same time and I genuinely expect them to conquer the world.

NIKLAS FORSBERG