In the same way that their contemporaries in bands like ADULT. and Fischerspooner are regretting the now-infamous steamroll of the early 00’s electroclash label, which resulted in many late night/early mornings in Miami’s Soho Club but nill credibility, Ladytron is, undoubtedly, regretting what’s come to be seen (and scene) as the first-album haircut heard ‘round the world.

Ladytron has, in recent years, become a bit of a music-industry punchline interchangeable with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol; however, like the aforementioned bands, it’s more of a deep-seated dig on the scene that’s sprung up around them than the music they’re making. Despite this, or maybe more accurately because of it, the world wasn’t ready for sheer beauty and power they wielded on their third album, 2005’s Witching Hour.

I was one of those that was underexposed and therefore underappreciative of the giant artistic leaps Ladytron had made since the days of the casio-rock of 604. The washes of noise and sound that seemed so far away from anything the early group would havecomposed virtually blanketed their sound when they played Atlanta mid-Feburary, on one of only two nights preceding their European tour (sponsored by Camel Cigarettes-yay, smoking!).

Without bothering over such minor details as, oh, Steve Aoki’s opening set of DanceRock whitebread or the atrociously boring opening act, Brazilian Girls, there’s only two words to describe the fierce intensity of Ladytron’s live show:

Light. Magic.

Opening with “High Rise”, the first song from Witching Hou, the band rode an underpinning wash of feedback that carried the 17 song set from beginning to end. This newly energized sound of older, 3 am afterparty familiars like “He Took Her To A Movie” and “Blue Jeans” were well-met with the surprising energy of frontwoman Helena Marnie. Ladytron’s renowned for their stodgy, front-and-center, droning stage presence, but this night it was the bass reverb that droned and enveloped, as the band actually *gasp* danced, smiled, and played their fucking hearts out.

The highlight came when, near the close of the main set, a deep, heavy, blue-lit “Beauty #2” cascaded into Witching Hour’s strongest and most meaningful track, the emotionally precise subtle knife that is “International Dateline”. The synth line that permeates and sparkles in “Beauty #2”’s half-light took a twisted, bottom heavy turn and, juxtaposed as the “Beauty” yearning ache of “hey, can I go with you” was with “Dateline”’s coldly fierce insistence of “let’s leave it here/let’s leave her here”, the two songs became linked together into one wet-eyed, blue-lidded tonepoem.

The Ladytron live show wasn’t without a few missteps, most notably on the subdued and muted “Sugar”, which rode heavy on the song intro’s promise of sonic deconstruction and instead became radio-pop, and far too often the impending wall of wail was fenced and locked away in favor of the now-trite “Commodore Rock” sound, which pails in comparison to the potential this, Ladytron 3.0, holds.

In like a lamb and out like a lion, though, as a ferocious “Destroy Everything You Touch” closed the night with a wail and a growl-the only thing missing was an unending loop of shattering distortion to play the band off the stage.

At this point in their career, what Ladytron has accomplished, as a unit, is spectacular-but what really shines is their potential. Two years into the haze and mystique of “Witching Hour” and it appears they’ve gotten the idea and the mood right, but still cling to the passive, uninvolved aesthetic they built their name on. To let go of that, to embrace the climaxing pillars of noisethetic they’ve begun to dip their toe into, would be to show the world that they’ve become less a punchline and more a dark, cold breeze.

Ladytron, “Destroy Everything You Touch”-live, Atlanta, Feb 2007.

Ladytron: Beauty #2

Ladytron: International Dateline

Ladytron: Destroy Everything You Touch (Catholic Version)

Ladytron: Oops (Oh My) (Tweet Cover)