nough of this electroclash business, Ladytron make pop music through the finest of electronic tools. Ladytron are a full-on band, which seems to be something people forget. At live shows there are four human beings playing instruments and re-creating the songs on their records. There are no robots. Yeah, there are plenty of elements linking them to contemporaries like Adult., Miss Kittin and Soviet, but this group is more relevant in comparison to luminaries like The Human League, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan and current innovators like Stereolab and Broadcast. Electroclash is a 15 minute thing, and Ladytron are making music that is going to last longer than some fad.

604, their debut album, was an awesome display of synth-heavy, distorto pop. The singles on it were amazing – “Playgirl”, “Another Breakfast With You”, “He Took Her To A Movie”, “The Way That I Found You”, “Mu-Tron” – and they didn’t even turn the record into a battle between singles versus filler, because hey, everything was stellar. Think I liked that album? Yep, sure did. But Light&Magic is even better.

Light&Magic succeeds most in the musical progression that the group underwent in between the two albums. For one thing, the aura is a lot darker than before. Recorded in L.A. with Mickey Petralia (Beastie Boys, Beck), the album sure doesn’t sound like the band caught a lot of that California sunshine. A good representation of the cold vibe of Cali is felt most on “Startup Chime”. Even with the soft vocals of Helen Marnie, it’s still the band’s bleakest and heaviest moment to date, with a deep and brooding tone emphasized through ultra harsh beats. “True Mathematics”, which opens the album, is a deadpan ode to “Warm Leatherette” in its sinister and menacing quality. Complete with heavy Bulgarian commentary by Mira Aroyo, this track instantly shows off the band’s interest in stretching their use of instruments—namely, guitars. Marnie also avoids showing much emotion on “Seventeen”, the album’s most immediate pop hit. The song contains zing but without any eagerness to show how catchy it is. The chorus, “They only want you when you’re 17/When you’re 21/You’re no fun” should be a wake up call for all supermodels or everyone to realize that, after your teens, you are just getting old.

No matter how much it resembles the mood of a Joy Division record, Light&Magic is a pleasant listen. The songs are intriguing and engaging, invoking the ability to make audiences to both dance and pay attention to how well the music has been produced. Never mind the electroclash, here’s Ladytron.