Ladytron, Ladytron

[!K7, February 15]

After a couple of weeks sitting with the newest album from Ladytron—the group’s first record since the extended hiatus following 2011’s Gravity The Seducer—it’s clear the band reunited not out of obligation, but a creative impetus to push its icy electronic grooves in a bolder and brasher direction. The band had been slowly edging toward more expansive and richer sounds over the course of its previous five albums, but with this self-titled release, it has perfected the blend of warmer sonic and vocal palettes to pair with the dark rhythms and cool synth-wave flourishes that used to be the sole foundation. Tracks like “Paper Highways” showcase the album’s hopeful-sounding vocal runs and downright cathartic melodicism (which started to peek out on Helen Marnie’s recent solo releases), while even the quieter songs like “Run” feature emotional expressiveness that would’ve been verboten in the group’s earlier years. It’s not a reinvention or anything—this is very recognizably a Ladytron album—but the incorporation of shimmering, Tangerine Dream-esque waves of sound and soulful vocals has pushed Ladytron somewhere great. [Alex McLevy]

Lucki, Freewave 3

[LUCKI, February 15]

Lucki’s a survivor, in more ways than one. His understated, impressionistic mixtapes Alternative Trap and X (both excellent) netted collaborations with everyone from FKA Twigs to Chance The Rapper, but he never burbled over into wider name recognition. The new Freewave 3 details, at least in part, why: It’s a harrowing portrait of addiction, like Future after the lights fade, the chemicals drain out, and he’s still grinding his teeth as the sun comes up. At times, the slim, aquiline tape can recall the recent confessional mode of Earl Sweatshirt, who produces one track here. At others, Lucki glides over the phasing beats like a morose Playboi Carti. For all its lyrical ruminations about a curdled relationship and the physical toll of drug use on the body, Freewave still sounds darkly seductive, like a handful of pills to someone who knows they probably shouldn’t. It gets in your system and stays there. [Clayton Purdom]

 
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