Ladytron Prep Hits Collection for 10th Anniversary

While it's true that Ladytron have been busy hanging with Christina Aguilera and writing songs for the singer's next album, that's not the reason the British electro-pop outfit has put off recording new material of its own.

"We've got some ideas about what we want to do about the next album, but I think first we're going to release a 'Best of Ladytron,'" multi-instrumentalist Reuben Wu tells Spinner. "Since we've done four albums, I think it would be time to put something like that together."

The Liverpool-based quartet has another good reason to take stock of its career: This year marks the group's 10th anniversary, something Wu finds "a little scary." "We had no intentions of becoming a proper touring band or anything," Wu says, explaining that, back in the early days, Ladytron were just a part-time project, something that he, fellow analog-synth wrangler Daniel Hunt and fashionable frontwomen Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo would do while on holiday from work or school. Little did they know their cool, futuristic pop -- saddled with the now-anachronistic "electroclash" label earlier this decade -- would win them fans around the world.

"The music became more and more popular, and more and more people wanted us to go and play live abroad," Wu, a former industrial designer, says. "It became more of an actual occupation. It was pretty much over a period of three or four years that we became more absorbed into the life of full-time writing and recording music."

In addition to releasing four studio albums, Ladytron have shared stages with Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails and remixed songs by Blondie and Gang of Four, among others. If the band hasn't yet earned kind of US notoriety it enjoys overseas, its contributions to Aguilera's forthcoming 'Light & Darkness' album -- due out next spring -- could heighten its profile.

Wu expects the best-of collection will be ready in about six months, and in addition to music, the package will include some of the artwork the group has made part of its live shows.

"We were able to put a lot of visual stuff we amassed over the years, which would be very interesting to [old] fans, and new fans," Wu says. "Since we've been working with Christina, I think a lot of new audiences out there will want to know about us."