Fractured Presents Ladytron - 3 HOUR DJ SET

Friday 25 July Fractured welcomes two members of Ladytron, DJs Rueben Wu and Daniel Hunt.

These two gentle men are the two producers behind the infamous 'Ladytron' and will be delivering a 3 hour dj set to the Fractured Faithful.

Four like haired, like humoured and very different individuals assembled 3 years ago from different parts of the world under circumstances that are no longer important. They had similar views on what today and tomorrow meant to them but what really mattered was that they wanted to make pop songs that cleared the skies for city kids, country kids who love the sound of analogue synths and kids who don't know what a synth is.

Ladytron existed outside fashion and against the grain ……… and continue to do so. And whilst synths may drive their music, what lies at its heart is a strong melodic base and a killer pop instinct.

Ladytron initially existed as a concept dreamed up by founder members Danny Hunt and Reuben Wu, two friends from Liverpool who shared a love of music and djing. The idea of Ladytron as a band became a reality when the duo were joined by Mira Aroyo and Helen Marnie who'd met whilst travelling Eastern Europe.

Released in 2001, their debut album, 604, is now regarded by many to be a seminal record. Ladytron followed their instinct and produced an album that married 80's electronica with the purist of pop. It received exceptional reviews on its release with Muzik naming it "the first great electro record of the millennium" and prompting The Sunday Time to include it in their albums of the year. Variously described as "the sound of Shangri-las high on techno" and "Kraftwork playing 12 bar blues". 604's songs made an impact both at home and abroad turning up on dance floors, transistors and catwalks alike. He Took Her To A Movie, one of four NME Singles of the week had the writer enthusing "this is such a fantastic record, I keep having to play it again and again just in case I dreamed it into existence!"

Following the album's release, Ladytron spent the remainder of the year playing festivals, touring Europe and Ding, confusing and amusing audiences wherever they went and picking up yet more adjectives along the way. And whilst they might consider themselves anti-style, no one else seemed to "they look fantastic, existential art terrorist chic meets comme des garcons catwalk show", said the NME after their Paris gig.

As the year came to a close, a new musical trend was emerging. Electro-clash / nu-electro / synthcore was starting to make an impact and Ladytron found themselves at the forefront of the movement. 604 quickly became regarded as the template for synthcore, something of a surprise to Ladytron who had never intended making anything other than a classic pop record. Despite being highly regarded amongst their peers from Felix Da Housecat to Tiga, they found their new position as tech pop pioneers flattering but bewildering. They are after all first and foremost a band not a laptop; something of a rarity in a scene dominated by DJ led acts. And their influences seemed far removed from those of their contemporaries.. as Danny points out, they don't even like Human League.

In early 2002 and with everyone else looking east to Berlin and New York, Ladytron decided to do the opposite and head west to Los Angeles to record their new album. In a studio full of old synths and rum machines Mickey Petralia (Beck, Beastie Boys) worked with Ladytron to produce an album that reflected their diverse tastes and personalities. Six months on and Ladytron are set to release LIGHT AND MAGIC, an album with the emphasis on song writing and narrative and incorporating everything from analogue warmth to dreamy vocals to varied beats.

It's an album with songs about spatial girls, city lines, Spanish comedown, jetlag, hotel fires and cheap models. From the pop extreme on tracks like Evil (Papa Don't Preach meets The Exorcist,) and the forthcoming single, Seventeen with It's disturbi Tags