By DCist contributor Mehan Jayasuriya

If you've ever watched a sci-fi flick, you're probably familiar with the theoretical dilemma posed by artificial intelligence — namely the potential that someday, a sentient race of super intelligent toasters will achieve consciousness and violently cast off the shackles of human oppression. Well, Ladytron's musical trajectory to date has been a bit like the plot from one of those movies.

The Liverpool electro-pop outfit debuted with 604 in 2000, a danceable mix of bleating synths, shuffling beats and disarmingly sweet, vocoder-wrapped vocals. Their sound was remarkably frigid, yet it was clear that somewhere underneath the cold, metal exterior beat a human heart with some serious pop sensibilities. The band has seemingly spent the last few years searching for this essence, adding more traditional instrumentation, increasingly favoring density over minimalism and leaning heavier toward their post-punk bent. The result was a warmer, fuzzier and more accessible Ladytron on last year's excellent Witching Hour. Given the band's recent output, how would the tension between organic and mechanic would play out live? Would the band rep their refined sound with a poppy live set?

I must admit, I was initially quite skeptical about opening act CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy), an indie-dance-pop six-piece from São Paulo. Their self-titled debut is for the most part, a disposable wad of hipster bubble gum; eschewing good pop songwriting for snarky punk posturing and tongue-in-cheek name-dropping. "Meeting Paris Hilton" has nothing more to say than "The bitch said 'yeah!'" and "Art Bitch" veers dangerously close to Peaches's tired territory. I should have heeded all of the warnings though: CSS proved impossible to hate live (trust me, I really tried).

Lead vocalist Lovefoxxx bounced around the stage in little more than a t-shirt, throwing adorable tiger claws at the front row and declaring in broken English "Music is my big friend!" while the band pulsed with energy behind her. "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above" (introduced as "Let's Make Love and Listen to a Band That Just Broke Up") would have been cringe-worthy were it not for the thick, fuzz-bass groove of the chorus-a perfect homage. By the time they brought a girl from the audience in a panda hat onstage, CSS had me eating out of the palm of their collective hand.

CSS definitely energized the crowd and set the bar high for the headliners, who, by stark contrast, looked like actual robots. This, however, is not necessarily a bad thing for a band like Ladytron, whose dark pop found a fitting match in the futuristic dystopia on stage. Dressed in all black and set against a blinking morass of lights and a video-projection screen, the band delivered an enjoyably chilly set of synth-heavy jams. Lead vocalist Helen Marnie deftly played the part of automaton; staring straight ahead and offering little in the way of between-song-banter aside from the obligatory "It's good to be back in Washington".

Unlike electroclash contemporaries The Faint, the members of Ladytron mostly stood still, preferring to let the music do the talking. Early single "He Took Her to a Movie" was near perfect, if a bit too up-tempo; all gurgling synths and crystalline keys, the song blazed by too fast to really settle into a groove. The band's best single to date, "Seventeen," was especially hard-hitting, playing much closer to the apocalyptic album cut than the post-punk Soulwax Mix. Marnie breathily repeated the lines "They only want you when you're 17/When you're 21/You're no fun" while a monochrome overhead tour of the Chicago skyline rotated choppily behind her. "Blue Jeans" and "Discotraxx" were also album-perfect, retaining their shuffling beats and ensuring that every blip was in its right place. It was precisely this kind of robotic precision that convinced me that Ladytron isn't going to become human any time soon. Mankind is safe, for now, at least.