Photograph: Stephane Gallois

Terminal 5; Wed, Jun 25

From conception, Ladytron has trained its eye on electronic pop of earlier eras, employing an array of primordial synthesizers to generate a sound that’s both sad and cool—like a jeans commercial for the clinically depressed. Much of the band’s work tempers its gloom with ironic detachment, manifested through the aloof singing of Mira Aroyo and Helen Marnie. “They only want you when you’re 17—when you’re 21 you’re no fun,” they robotically sing on 2002’s “Seventeen,” a sly response to Kraftwerk’s “The Model.” The Liverpool, U.K., quartet’s new album, Velocifero (Nettwerk), finds the mood darkening further. Once spare and icy, the music has coagulated, lending a hint of menace to the breeziest of pop songs. Cry not for Ladytron: Such a strategy also stadium-readies the songs, a necessity for a band that has been opening for Nine Inch Nails, as well as playing the new breed of massive indie clubs like Terminal 5.