Running the sound for a live band is one of those thankless jobs where it’s your assigned task to make yourself invisible. If you’re doing it well, no one notices you — everyone’s attention is focused on the music. But should you fail, you become very, very visible, and you do it very quickly.
I spent an awful lot of Ladytron’s 6/27 show at the Sonar acutely aware of the sound guy.
In fairness, I think they’re probably an extremely difficult band to mix live. The squealing, shifting synths and super-processed guitars that form the center of their sound seem like they’d be hard to get good separation on, especially given that the ‘tron refuse to use any sequencers and so every keyboard is actually being played live. Additionally, neither Helen Marnie nor Mira Aroyo are super-powerful vocalists, but the lyrics demand to be heard well enough to be understood. There’s an awful lot of information there crammed into the mid-range; the album that Ladytron are touring behind, Velocifero, is on my record-of-the-year shortlist, but it almost demands a high-definition sound system.
Anyway, I spent the whole first half of the concert listening to a lot of bass and not much else — “Ghosts,” the brilliant lead single, sounded like it was coming out a stairwell. It got a little better towards the end, but not enough. The problem was compounded by the fact that this was possibly the loudest show I’ve ever been to, and the speakers almost sounded like they were clipping; the Sonar is also a building with harsh, unfriendly acoustics even when it’s full, which it was.
The band looked impressive, with a seizure-inducing light show behind them that left them in silhouette much of the time. Most of the musicians stood almost unseen in the background (for some reason, keyboardist Reuben Wu didn’t even show for the gig), leaving all the focus on the two frontwomen. Aroyo, with her haircut straight out of Jane Austen and her full-length black Victorian-style dress, could have been modeling for a live-action version of The Corpse Bride, while Marnie gave the impression that she’d just walked out of one of those science-fiction miniseries where she’d be addressed as “Commandant” and utter vaguely threatening lines every time one of the protagonists was mentioned.
From what I could tell, they played well too, but the sub-optimal conditions mean that it’s harder to talk about that than the way they looked. The songs themselves are amazing, some of the best electronic music of the past decade in this one writer’s opinion, but they’re all heard to better effect on the records. One of the attractive things about live music is that the very fact that it’s live introduces an element of chance into the equation; sometimes, however, even the luckiest coin can land tails. Especially when you start noticing the sound people.
P.S.: Datarock look terrible with their shirts off. And that’s all I have to say about that.
3 Comments »
Interestingly enough, I think it’s easily their strongest work, the perfection of everything they’ve been moving toward. And I say that as someone who loved both 0604 and Witching Hour. I thought Ghosts was tremendous…I’ve been listening to it and Versus nonstop for days. It’s like…goth robot shuffle, and then that incredibly sarcastic singalong chorus comes on.
I don’t know if I’ll talk you into it or not, but it’s probably my fave. album of the year so far.
favorite of the YEAR! you’re going to have to sell this one to me, sam. hard.
but hey, i’m a great consumer.
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Comment by amber — July 2, 2008 @ 5:33 pm
you really think ghosts is a great single? the only song on that whole album that intrigues me is black cat. i was so disappointed with the rest. and i LOVED the witching hour, so i was hopeful. i didn’t even go to the show when they came. SAD AMBER DISLIKE ALBUM