Witching Hour
Witching Hour | ||||
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Studio album by Ladytron | ||||
Released | 3 October 2005 | |||
Recorded | 2004 at Elevator Studios (Liverpool, UK) | |||
Genre | Electronic, synthpop, new wave, dream pop, shoegaze | |||
Length | 51:11 | |||
Label |
Island Records (UK) Universal Music (Germany) Rykodisc (US) Major Records (Germany) So Sweet Records (UK, US) Nettwerk (re-release) | |||
Producer | Ladytron, Jim Abbiss | |||
Ladytron chronology | ||||
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Singles from Witching Hour | ||||
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Witching Hour is the third studio album by English electronic band Ladytron. It was released in the United Kingdom on 3 October 2005 by Island Records and in 4 October 2005 in Europe by Universal Music Group and United States by Rykodisc. The album was promoted by two singles: "Sugar" and "Destroy Everything You Touch".
Witching Hour received mostly positive reviews and reached number 81 on UK Albums Chart.
Production
Ladytron began working on demos for Witching Hour immediately after concluding Light & Magic tour with a homecoming gig in Liverpool in September 2003, where they were supported by Franz Ferdinand.[1] Within a few months, they had mapped out the entire record.[1]
By the time they were ready to start recording in April 2004, their UK label Telstar Records had gone into administration.[1] Their US label, Emperor Norton, also had problems: the company was purchased by Rykodisc in 2004 and was then shut down later that year, with Rykodisc inheriting its back-catalogue.
The band announced on 7 December 2004 that they signed to Island Records.[2] By June 2004, the album was ready, except mixed.[1]
This album was recorded in 2004 at Elevator Studios (Liverpool, Merseyside) and it was produced by Ladytron and Jim Abbiss. They also had two collaborators: Pop Levi played bass and Keith York played drums.
In a 2005 interview for XLR8R, Daniel Hunt shared some information about the equipment used on Witching Hour: "most of the bassy riffs are a Roland SH-2 or a Korg MS-20. Reuben especially likes sticking his Korg MS-10 through Electro Harmonix boxes and fattening them up. For the poly stuff, we used Farfisa organs and Solina string machines–basically the same stuff we've used all along, but we probably treated it a bit rougher. We also used a load of the producer's toys as well–Reuben's got an ARP 2600, which you can sit around with for a full day trying to get something useful out of and fail, and the next day you switch it on and it'll automatically make something genius. I've got this really shit, five-pound, sub-Casio keyboard that I got off this trader; the chords for 'International Dateline' were written on that. It's good to have that kind of gear. The shit toys can end up being quite inspirational".[1]
Regarding their approach as producers, he also added: "our approach goes back to the whole Eno/Bowie Low thing – the treatments are as important as the synths. We like to confuse synths and guitars quite a lot–there are some things people hear they assume is a guitar that's a synth and vice versa. On the last album, there were guitars all over 'Cease2xist' and a few of the other songs, but they were treated in a way that people didn't recognize them".[1]
Release
Witching Hour was released in 3 October 2005 in the United Kingdom by Island Records and in 4 October 2005 in Europe by Universal Music Group and United States by Rykodisc.
The initial pressings included at the end of the album, an untitled 9 minutes and 3 seconds track of complete silence, not listed on back of jewel case insert. Some editions didn't include the instrumental "CMYK". The silence and the omission of "CMYK" makes the album exactly one hour long, as a nod to the album's title.
Island also released a limited edition containing a bonus disc with the music videos of "Seventeen", "Sugar", "Destroy Everything You Touch", and the documentary Once Upon a Time in the East: Ladytron in China, detailing highlights of their 2004 tour across China.[3]
Major Records released in 5 April 2007 in Europe a special edition of the album, including a bonus disc with remixes and B-sides. So Sweet Records did the same in 5 November 2007 in the United Kingdom and the United States, with a different bonus disc.
The album was re-released by Nettwerk in 18 January 2011 in the United States and in 24 January 2011 in the United Kingdom. This edition included four additional remixes.
Singles
"Destroy Everything You Touch"
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Two songs from Witching Hour were released as singles: "Sugar" on 20 June 2005 and "Destroy Everything You Touch" on 19 September 2005. "Destroy Everything You Touch" reached number 42 on the UK Singles Chart, the highest position a Ladytron single has reached to date. It also became the band's best known song.
The album was also promoted by two music videos: "Sugar" (directed by Andy Roberts) and "Destroy Everything You Touch" (directed by Adam Bartley). The unfinished video for "International Dateline" was rediscovered and finished by Daniel Hunt in 2012, and premiered on 22 February 2013.[4]
According to Daniel Hunt, the band wanted to make a fourth video for "Soft Power", but the plans were abandoned.
Commercial performance
Witching Hour charted at number 81 on UK Albums Chart, number 7 on US Top Electronic Albums, number 32 on US Top Heatseekers and number 40 on US Top Independent Albums.
Reception
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | (78/100)[5] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [6] |
The A.V. Club | (favourable)[7] |
The Guardian | [8] |
musicOMH | (favourable)[9] |
Pitchfork Media | (8.3/10)[10] |
Playlouder | [11] |
PopMatters | (8/10)[12] |
Prefix Magazine | 8.0/10[13] |
Stylus Magazine | B+[14] |
Tiny Mix Tapes | [15] |
Witching Hour received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 78, based on 21 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[5]
According to Tiny Mix Tapes, "the standouts are too numerous to mention, and all in all, Ladytron have set a new peak, getting to the heart of their best previous moments and expanding on them".[15] Mark Pytlik, writing for Pitchfork, rated the album 8.3 and described it as "the most urgent and immediate of their career" and also as a "quantum leap record".[10]
Edward Oculicz of Stylus magazine scored Witching Hour a B+ and said that "those who have loved Ladytron's move toward a mix of harsher electro and lighter pop elements will find this a welcome progression, and seemingly a natural one, too".[14] Heather Phares of Allmusic, rated the album four stars of five and said that "Witching Hour is the album that Ladytron always seemed capable of, and its dark, dreamy-yet-catchy spell makes it the band's most sophisticated, and best, work to date".[6]
The Guardian described the album as "their most humane work, with abrasive atmospherics akin to those of My Bloody Valentine" and gave it a 4 stars of 5 rating.[8] Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club felt that "The Witching Hour doesn't vary much from the pattern established by its predecessors, but it's every bit as beguiling".[7]
Adrien Begrand, writing for PopMatters, gave the album a 8/10 rating and also said: "while Witching Hour has the band sounding more adventurous, there's a consistency to the tracks that holds it all together".[12] NME described the album as "a record that rather makes one want to have sex".[5] Kate Collier of Prefix Magazine rated the album 8.0 and said that "Ladytron's greatest accomplishment here is the atmosphere of cool beauty it creates immediately and maintains to the finish. It's rare for an album to transport you so fully onto its own terrain, and Witching Hour is a worthwhile retreat".[13]
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Ladytron.No. | Title | Length | |
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1. | "High Rise" | 4:54 | |
2. | "Destroy Everything You Touch" | 4:36 | |
3. | "International Dateline" | 4:17 | |
4. | "Soft Power" | 5:19 | |
5. | "CMYK" | 1:49 | |
6. | "AMTV" | 3:26 | |
7. | "Sugar" | 2:50 | |
8. | "Fighting in Built Up Areas" | 3:59 | |
9. | "The Last One Standing" | 3:11 | |
10. | "Weekend" | 3:57 | |
11. | "Beauty*2" | 4:23 | |
12. | "Whitelightgenerator" | 3:59 | |
13. | "All the Way..." | 4:08 |
Untitled silence track on initial pressings | ||||||||||
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No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
17. | "Untitled" | 9:03 |
European special edition bonus disc (by Major Records) | ||||||||||
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No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
1. | "High Rise" (Club Mix) | 6:08 | ||||||||
2. | "Nothing to Hide" | 3:51 | ||||||||
3. | "Weekend" (James Iha Mix) | 4:00 | ||||||||
4. | "Citadel" | 3:48 | ||||||||
5. | "Tender Talons" | 3:28 | ||||||||
6. | "Last One Standing" (Shipps & Tait Mix) | 3:46 | ||||||||
7. | "Soft Power" (Ebon's Strong Weakness Mix) | 5:39 | ||||||||
8. | "International Dateline" (Harmonium Session) | 4:18 |
UK & US special editions bonus disc (by So Sweet Records) | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
1. | "Soft Power" (Vicarious Bliss Gutter Mix) | 6:48 | ||||||||
2. | "Soft Power" (Loz & Brendan Long Remix) | 7:39 | ||||||||
3. | "International Dateline" (Simian Mobile Disco Remix) | 5:42 | ||||||||
4. | "Destroy Everything You Touch" (Hot Chip Remix) | 6:52 | ||||||||
5. | "Weekend" (James Iha Remix) | 4:04 | ||||||||
6. | "High Rise" (Ladytron Club Remix) | 6:11 | ||||||||
7. | "Sugar" (Jagz Kooner Remix) | 5:27 | ||||||||
8. | "Destroy Everything You Touch" (Playgroup Vocal Edit) | 5:27 | ||||||||
9. | "Nothing to Hide" | 3:53 | ||||||||
10. | "Citadel" | 3:56 | ||||||||
11. | "Tender Talons" | 3:31 |
Nettwerk re-release bonus tracks | ||||||||||
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No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
14. | "Sugar" (Archigram Remix) | 6:14 | ||||||||
15. | "International Dateline" (Simian Mobile Disco Remix) | 5:20 | ||||||||
16. | "Destroy Everything You Touch" (Hot Chip Remix) | 6:49 | ||||||||
17. | "Soft Power" (Vicarious Bliss Gutter Remix) | 6:45 |
Witching Hour (Remixed & Rare)
On 20 December 2011, Nettwerk released a compilation of remixes, B-sides and rarities titled Witching Hour (Remixed & Rare). The cover is the negative of the Witching Hour cover.
Track listing | ||||||||||
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No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
1. | "International Dateline" (Simian Mobile Disco Remix) | 5:40 | ||||||||
2. | "Weekend" (James Iha Mix) | 4:02 | ||||||||
3. | "Soft Power" (Vicarious Bliss Gutter Mix) | 6:46 | ||||||||
4. | "Destroy Everything You Touch" (Hot Chip Remix Edit) | 6:50 | ||||||||
5. | "Sugar" (Archigram Remix) | 6:12 | ||||||||
6. | "Citadel" | 3:54 | ||||||||
7. | "Nothing to Hide" | 3:51 | ||||||||
8. | "Soft Power" (Loz & Brendan Long Remix) | 7:37 | ||||||||
9. | "High Rise" (Club Mix) | 6:09 | ||||||||
10. | "Destroy Everything You Touch" (Playgroup Vocal Edit) | 5:25 | ||||||||
11. | "Tender Talons" | 3:31 |
Personnel
- Ladytron – production
- Helen Marnie – vocals, keyboards
- Mira Aroyo – vocals, keyboards, photography
- Daniel Hunt – keyboards, electronic drums, drum programming
- Reuben Wu – keyboards, electronic drums, drum programming
- Keith York – live drums, drum loops
- Pop Levi – bass[16][17]
- Jim Abbiss – production
- burneverything.co.uk – design, illustration
- Dean Chalkley – band photograph
Charts
Chart (2005) | Peak position |
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UK Albums Chart[18] | 81 |
US Top Electronic Albums[19] | 7 |
US Top Heatseekers[19] | 32 |
US Top Independent Albums[19] | 40 |
Release history
Country | Date | Label | Edition |
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United Kingdom | 3 October 2005[20] | Island | Standard |
Germany | 4 October 2005[21][22] | Universal Music | |
United States | Rykodisc | ||
Germany | 5 April 2007[23] | Major | Special |
United Kingdom | 5 November 2007[24] | So Sweet | |
Germany | 1 September 2009[25][26][27] | Redbird, Cobraside | Witching Hour (Remixed & Rare) (digital only) |
United Kingdom | |||
United States | |||
United States | 18 January 2011[28] | Nettwerk | Re-release |
United Kingdom | 24 January 2011[29] |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Ladytron: Spell Bound – XLR8R".
- ↑ "Ladytron".
- ↑ "Ladytron – Witching Hour (CD, Album) at Discogs".
- ↑ "Ladytron's Facebook page".
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Witching Hour – Ladytron". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Phares, Heather. "Witching Hour – Ladytron – Review". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 3 October 2005.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Phipps, Keith (14 December 2005). "Ladytron: The Witching Hour". The A.V. Club. Onion, Inc. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Burgess, John (9 September 2005). "Ladytron, The Witching Hour". The Guardian. guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ Hubbard, Michael. "Ladytron – Witching Hour". musicOMH. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Pytlik, Mark (4 October 2005). "Ladytron: The Witching Hour". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 15 May 2006.
- ↑ Turner, Luke (30 September 2005). "Ladytron: Witching Hour". Playlouder. Archived from the original on 20 November 2006. Retrieved 15 May 2006.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Begrand, Adrien (5 October 2005). "Ladytron: Witching Hour". PopMatters. Retrieved 27 December 2005.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Collier, Kate (6 March 2008). "Album Review: Ladytron – Witching Hour – Prefix". Prefix Magazine. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Oculicz, Edward (14 October 2005). "Ladytron – Witching Hour". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Ladytron – The Witching Hour – Music Review – Tiny Mix Tapes". Tiny Mix Tapes.
- ↑ http://www.abc.net.au/rage/archive/s2045308.htm
- ↑ http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/listen-pop-levi-dita-dimon
- ↑ "Chart Log UK: 1994–2010". The Official Charts Company. The Zobbel Website. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 "Witching Hour – Ladytron". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ "Witching Hour: Ladytron". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ "Ladytron – Witching Hour" (in German). Universal Music Germany. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ "Witching Hour: Ladytron". Amazon.com. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ "Witching Hour [Doppel-CD]: Ladytron" (in German). Amazon.de. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ "Witching Hour (special edition): Ladytron". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ "Witching Hour (Remixed & Rare): Ladytron" (in German). Amazon.de. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ "Witching Hour (Remixed & Rare): Ladytron". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ "Witching Hour (Remixed & Rare): Ladytron". Amazon.com. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ "Witching Hour: Ladytron (2011)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- ↑ "Ladytron: Witching Hour (2011)". HMV. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
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