IN THE SHADE IN THE SHADE

body language > in white rooms > control me /charlotte.

booka shade

GLOVES UP

i knew that boxing was back.

sack the stylist

special men's fashion issue of STstyle today, featuring a pic of WILL YOUNG!! wearing this! t-shirt in jessica brinton's column! SHOCK! yes i'm in shock. it looks like an orchestra of bubbles/bpitch design, so wondering how will got his hands on it. didn't know he was berlin techno, how sweet. i can see him going down a treat at panorama bar, strike a pose!

GOOD RIDDANCE YEH

grim west end hellhole the astoria has received it's bulldozing orders (almost) from mayor ken. demollition has been mooted for years, but something to do with the crossrail scheme has finally been confirmed i think, which means it's - PRAISE BE - about to be razed to the ground. the intersection of tottenham court/charing x/oxford st roads is one of my least favourite places in london. let it be damned.

NEW GIRL ON THE BLOCK

trust jahcoozi to find me another electrobootyshouty laptop girl to love... they previewed their latest album in true old school hiphop style with the blitz'n'ass mixtape in late 07, showcasing their own tracks next to the klaxons (it works), dizzee and 50cent. 18 minutes in, after snoop&jfoxx's 'psst' the syncopated beats and clipped rhymes of 'tricky' drop. it's got that kind of 'brrrr' very last year drill sound, but with a broken housey girl vocal over the top - that's ELLE P (not el-p), berlin experimental artist and new best thing ever. she lists her influences as 'clic clac, art, up and down' which works for me.

more hot germans for plan b under the dizzying influence of red wine

MIT - Coda
Confession: I am a total Germanic-maniac. I don't drink lattes, I sup milchkaffees. I don't do London, ich liebe Berlin. So, naturally, I snoozed to brooding Cologne electro-minstrels MIT on my headphones in some Kreuzberg hotel and drifted into bliss.

MIT are one of those acts who think they have to pretend to be an indie band just because once upon a time they learned to play some instruments. However, thanks to the still-evolving indie-dance crossover legacy of DFA, they needn't worry - no one has to feign band-ness anymore. Instead of letting the frontman sing then, I wish they'd no lyrics at all - who needs 'songs'?

The finest tracks on Coda are the post-Jeans Team almost-instrumentals (Coda, Park and Deispiel) showcasing oi-techno which pulses with zippy beats worth at least one Soulwax edit and echoing with the masters of electroclash - a bit of T. Rauschmiere here, Kittin there and Tiga all over.