A Time-Lapse of Tokyo That Really Brings Me Back to My Replicant-Hunting Days

This is an excellent video with a totally appropriate Blade Runner soundtrack. It reminds me of the old days when I used to spend day after day after day scouring Tokyo's neon neighborhoods in my trench coat, carrying my laser pistol, listening to the Vangelis on my ear buds, and searching for Daryl Hannah, Joanna Cassidy, and bleach-blonde, soaking-wet Rutger Hauer so I could "retire" them, sexily. Those were some good times.

See Tim Review: Ladytron's Velocifero!!

Ladytron, just off the assembly line in 2000

Anyone who knows me will tell you, I've always been a sucker for a band in uniform. It's one of the main reasons why Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is my favorite Beatles album, even though I've never really listened to it. It's why I love the Pointer Sisters. It's why Prince and his Revolution really struck a chord. Add to the uniform the mimicry of robots, and I'm totally sold (Kraftwerk, Devo--front of the line). So when the four members of Ladytron emerged in 2000 wearing matching black cargo suits of the future, playing analog synths, and displaying the emotional unavailability of Daryl Hannah in Blade Runner, I was theirs for the taking.

Two manmachines (Daniel Hunt, Reuben Wu). Two fembots (Mira Aroyo, Helen Marnie). An Asian. A Bulgarian. Based in Liverpool. With a moniker that sounds like a futuristic pleasure device. What more could you want from a band?

Well, okay, music. But the ‘tron had that covered. Their first two albums, 604 and Light and Magic, were awash in cold synths and even colder ennui. Take this lyric from “Discotraxx”:

I know her, used to follow everywhere we’d go
And it’s so sweet, now she’s sleeping with a boy I know
The boy I know knows a pretty girl in every town
And the way they look, they were made to let each other down.

Dang, that’s cold. I like it. It was this lyrical bite that gave Ladytron, whose music was by and large quite beautiful, a below-the-belt kick.


Mira and Helen at the dog park in the off-world colony of Zambartylfyork

But it was on the band’s third album Witching Hour that their android hearts began to pump real blood, causing their waxy exoskeletons to allow a blush of passion to cross their sad, sad faces. Or something. Anyway, the album oozed fever, disharmony, and regret. It was their Disintegration, their Violator, their Juju, the album on which all of their strengths coalesced into one solid, ginormous cinematic opus. The sly humor was still there (“If I give you sugar will you give me/Something elusive and temporary?”), but only in short, sharp bursts. On Witching Hour the band was really going for it, simultaneously shoegazing and cloudbusting. But I should stop before I go over the top. So, what about new album Velocifero?


The band being attacked by deadly space squids on the cover of their new album

It’s Velocifegreat! Sure, there’s nothing new here, but I’m perfectly willing to let them rest on their laurels for a while. They’re tired! The band may no longer adhere to their original dress code, but thankfully the reliably melodic and expansive music makes up for the band’s disappointing lack of sartorial discipline. New single “Ghosts” creeps up on you (sorry, but it does), “I’m Not Scared” is sweetly spooky, “Burning Up” is a siren’s lament. So much drama. So much. Sadly, there aren’t too many laughs to be enjoyed this go round. But at least there’s lots of Bulgarian (“Black Cat,” “Kletva”). Well, not lots, but a good amount. Definitely more than Kraftwerk or Devo ever brought.

So there you are: Velocifero. One small step for Ladytron, one giant leap in the air for me.

Milestone

I've really outdone myself and need to be praised. As all of you surely know, Blade Runner is the best movie ever made. This has been proven by science. And those of us for whom the movie is not just something to watch but is something to spend one's life watching—Bladeheads, if you will (I just made that up!)—were thrown a big, long, rock-hard bone last December when the Blade Runner Final Cut Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition DVD was released into our lives. There was so much to choose from, so much. From brmovie.com:




"There are SEVEN different DVD sets on pre-order at present (in the US - I wish I could say all countries would have exactly the same releases, but it seems I can't) - which you choose will depend on where you stand on the range of "like the movie" to "totally obsessed" (like me). What you get depends on whether you want 2, 4 or 5 discs, Standard DVD, HD-DVD or Blu-Ray and if you want the super-everything including collectibles briefcase or not (I'm not kidding)."

I bought the 5 disc set, of course, because I'm not afraid of a challenge. It came in a silver briefcase modeled after the one Harrison Ford's Deckard carried around. (What? I needed a new one for work. It's not weird. Shut up.) I wasn't sure I would be able to make it through all 5 discs, at first, because I'm only human (not a replicant, like Rick Deckard).

Well congratulate me. I've scaled the mountain and achieved the summit. And the view is so pretty. Yes, I've watched every single thing there is to watch on every single disc: 4 versions of the movie (one with commentary!); a 3-hour documentary; several hours of short featurettes; deleted scenes; screen tests; and other stuff that I've forgotten because of all the weed I was smoking during this time.

I hope my story serves to inspire, to let the people of the world know that whenever you're in doubt about your abilities to get things done--even against seemingly insurmountable odds--just take a deep breath, sit down, turn on your television, then turn on your DVD player, then hit the "function button" on the gray TV remote, then take the DVD remote and choose the correct disc, and press play. Yes you can!