Ladytron
The Witching Hour
Rykodisc
Ladytron is what DJs would play for roller skaters in an abandoned Eastern European factory. It’s retro, stylized, with pounding yet danceable beats that are as icy-sweet as the mint chocolates found in Christmas stockings. This UK-based four-piece made its name with the breakout Light and Magic, one of the best records, in any genre, released in 2002. The Witching Hour expands their fantastic electro-pop melodies with a healthy dose of live instrumentation, but maintains what makes Ladytron so special — barreling 4/4 rhythms coated with the foreign, crystallic vocal sheen of sexy Helen Marnie, as on “Destroy Everything You Touch” and “Sugar.” This is peak-era Depeche Mode fronted by a Bulgarian Blondie.
—Johnston Farrow