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Liverpool synthpunks return with Softcore Jukebox
— Carly Carioli
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Electroclash hadn’t yet entered the lexicon when, back in 1998, the coed Liverpool electro-pop quartet Ladytron combined Kraftwerkian automation, synth-pop lusciousness, and techno thunder on a track called "He Took Her to a Movie" that made an instant splash among rock and dance audiences alike. The group’s two subsequent albums, 2001’s 604 and last year’s Light & Magic (both Emperor Norton), have established them as the band most likely to be left standing when the electro fad has faded. They’re equally assured promoting their music with live performances — which find them dressed in matching outfits that look straight out of Star Trek — and club-hopping as guest DJs. And it’s the latter mode that’s celebrated in their latest offering, Softcore Jukebox (Emperor Norton), a collection of (mostly) other people’s songs that arose, as de facto leader Daniel Hunt writes, "out of a subconscious desire to make everyone who’d come to see us a mixtape." Keyboardist/singer Mira Aroyo has been tapped to represent the group, and the album, on a DJ tour that’ll bring her to the Kells in Allston next Sunday. "We all used to DJ at clubs before the band started," says Aroyo over the phone from Liverpool. "And we still do the DJ thing quite a bit, but the way we’ve always done that kind of thing is that our sets are song-driven, not beat- or groove-driven. So this isn’t something like [labelmate Felix Da Housecat’s new disc] A Bugged Out Mix. They’re just songs that mean something to us, old favorites like [Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood’s] ‘Some Velvet Morning,’ and [’60s Swede garage-rockers Shocking Blue’s] ‘Send Me a Postcard.’ And some new things that we really like, like Pop Levi, who is our touring bass player." There are a couple of rare Ladytron tunes on the disc, including their fab crunk/punk cover of Tweet’s auto-erotic "Oops (Oh My)" and a remix of their underground hit "Blue Jeans." A few tracks come from artists signed to Hunt’s quirky new Invicta Hi-Fi label. The rest is an eclectic compendium of modern novelty and lost classic. The Fall, Wire, and My Bloody Valentine represent the group’s Brit post-punk jones. !!!’s "Feel Good Hit of the Fall" does the same for new-school NYC indie dance punk. And both sides of the Atlantic are permitted their respective cheap thrills courtesy of a remix of "Cameltoe" authors Fannypack’s "Hey Mami" as well as Ladytron pals the Fat Truckers’ "Teenage Daughter," which Hunt has described as "Vincent Price fronting Cabaret Voltaire." The song closest to Aroyo’s heart, though, is "What’s a Girl To Do" by ’80s punk-disco diva Cristina, whose two albums, 1980’s Cristina and 1984’s amazing Sleep It Off (both on the recently revived NYC no-wave/disco label Ze Records), are out of print, though a revival of her work — a proto-Madonna mix of Brechtian cynicism, bubblegum synth-pop, and punk panache — is long overdue. "I was a big Ze records fan," she explains. "I love all those groups, like the Waitresses, and Alan Vega, and Suicide. I’m a big fan of Cristina, and then a few months ago, a journalist friend got me in touch with her, and I went to meet her. She’s not in touch with music so much anymore, she’s kinda been a housewife, just looking after her kids. But she has a daughter at Oxford, so she spends a lot of time in England. I’d never heard ‘What’s a Girl To Do’; I’ve only got her first album, and I hadn’t known there was another. But she had an iPod, and we were in a bar in Soho, and she just said, ‘I can play it for you now,’ and of course it was amazing. Now I want to do a cover of that song with her." The cover is in the works, as is a new Ladytron disc, which will go into production this winter. In the meantime, Aroyo will get to take off her Ladytron uniform for something a little more down-home: one of her DJ nights in England is called "Black Skiffle," and it’s possible you’ll hear a bit of Merle Haggard tucked in among Juan Atkins, 808 State, and the Softcore Jukebox tunes. "We love everything from ambient to classical," says Aroyo, who was, last week, still devastated over the death of Johnny Cash. "People get so shocked when you’re dressed up not in your Ladytron uniform but in your country-and-western uniform. You build up an image, and you hope people aren’t disappointed." Ladytron’s Mira Aroyo spins next Sunday, September 28, at the Kells, 161 Brighton Avenue in Allston; call (617) 782-9082.
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