Best of 00-10

Recording information: Bryn Derwen Studios; Sahara Sound, London, England; The Motor Museum.
Photographer: Alejandra Guerrero.
During the 2000s, Ladytron carved out an intriguing niche for themselves in the electro-pop world, forging innocent indie pop melodies with electronics that were by turns nostalgic and menacingly futuristic. This straightforwardly named set presents nearly every standout moment from the band's albums in a thoughtful mix that lets each album's sound come through while also contributing to the overall flow. Because Ladytron's approach is so distinctive -- due in part to the complementary styles of vocalists Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo, and also to the way the band incorporated everything from shoegaze to darkwave to chiptune into its sound -- the band's earliest work is as fresh as its later music. 604 tracks like "Discotraxx" spotlight Marnie's tremulous voice and insightful lyrics, while Light & Magic's "Seventeen" and "Blue Jeans" reflect Ladytron's darker, sleeker, electroclash-tinged vibe on that album. Witching Hour's "Soft Power" and "Destroy Everything You Touch" -- which may be the group's definitive moment -- capture the collage of goth and dream pop Ladytron pursued in the mid-2000s, and Velocifero's industrial-inspired edges are defined by "Ghosts" and "Deep Blue." A few key tracks, like Witching Hour's "Sugar" and 604's "He Took Me to a Movie," are missing, as are some of the band's more playful tracks like Light & Magic's "Re:Agents," but the inclusion of the Death in June cover "Little Black Angel" and the quintessentially sleek new song "Ace of Hz" help compensate. Overall, this is a generous, beautifully packaged retrospective of one of the 2000s' premier synth pop acts. ~ Heather Phares