BrightestYoungThings: Reuben Wu of Ladytron

This Wednesday, Reuben Wu of Ladytron will descend upon U Street Music Hall to make you dance like you haven't danced mid-week in a while (with the support of BYT's very own DJ Cale and BYGays super-favorite DJ Shea Van Horn).

To mentally prep you for what's to come, we (short-and-sweetly) caught up with Reuben and made some free-association playlists, talked about his favorite photo from DC, lessons learned and unlearned over the last dozen years of Ladytroning and a couple of other things in between. Enjoy:

Hi! Tell us what you are doing right now (be as specific or as vague as you'd like)
I'm in San Diego right now. I'm DJing tonight, and then in Madison tomorrow.

and...what would make this day better?
Nothing really. Life is good.

Ladytron has been around for 12 years; is there anything you wish you knew about this business when you started?
Not really. We've always been careful about our decisions and we have been very lucky to get where we are after all this time.

How have things changed over the last decade electronic/pop music wise? Who are some of the bands you miss and some of the new bands you're looking forward to?
I miss the Fat Truckers and Les Georges Leningrad. I also miss Elastica.

Is there a song you wish was Ladytron's but isn't?
All those songs, we've covered already, or have used them to march onstage to.

In your spare time, you are an avid photographer - do you have any snaps when you were in DC? ... and if it had a sound track, what would it be?
Yes I do. Here is one of my favorite photographs I took backstage at the 930 Club. I like the backstage area because it's so distinctive, with its bunk beds and bright blues. At the time, I thought I was just taking a picture of my reflection. I didn't think it would turn out so weird and interesting. No soundtrack, just the incessant tapping sound of laptop keys.

What's next for Ladytron? Tomorrow, next year....
I'm going to continue DJing and remixing for now. For me personally I might also publish my second book of photography and travel.

So, you're DJing at U Street music hall, so we thought we'd do some "songs for every mood/occassion" free association. When just fill in the blanks and say why that song, if you know why.