sonar, so good (again)

Kittin is high. Kittin is climbing across the decks on all fours, purring 'Rippin Kittin' and there should be fireworks going off in the sky right now above SonarPub she's so hot. The world's finest goth-techno-leopard-print-diva has devised a super-sized laptop solo show this year, but Mademoiselle Caroline could probably play broken records (which, wonderfully, she's done at previous Sonars) and still have us eating from her paws. Favourites from 'Thee Glitz' days right up to the recent 'Batbox' are multiplied and mixed live into stadium-filling, acid house anthems then overladen with those irresistibly accented lyrics. The Sonar press department might have been hyping the 'female factor' on the lineup, but every single year, the very womanly Miss Kittin unofficially headlines the festival and its reputation rides on her tattooed shoulders.

Last year Hamburg label Dial released (whisper it) 'This Bliss', the debut album by emo-minimal deity Pantha du Prince and some divine decisionmaker has put him in the sublime sunrise-slot. His live set is all surface-sparse techno, teetering on the deep side of house. Whatever it's called, this is music to make you go limp, wobble a bit and not recover your senses until several days later. Each shift in tempo or silky new sound in 'Eisbaden' or 'Saturn Strobe' is an exploding star expanding across the galaxy. When 'Florac' builds up then breaks into a mind-blowing sitar-drone apocalypse, it levels this girl to a trembling wreck, crouching on the concrete floor.

By which time the sun's up for non-stop dj/producer/legend Ricardo Villalobos. Since it's Sonar and since he's closing proceedings (for now) he appears to have undergone some kind of photosynthetic transformation in the Barcelona heat. This morning he could be on the terrace at Space, spinning what sounds Balearic house and having a very non-serious-techno time of it, so that when the glittering curtain finally falls he's grinning, hands aloft behind the decks and we're already counting down the days to Sonar09.

i heard a rumour

respect to my fave madonna blog, madonnalicious (and so she is!) who are refusing to report/just plain ignoring the *whisper* divorce rumours... good! no true fan would care to indulge such tabloid-filler when there's the far more important matter of STICKYNSWEET tour rumours to listen to!

you can't knock the hustle

You belong to the city
You belong to the night
In the river of darkness
He's a man of the night

omg jayz jayz JAY-Z!! can't believe he used to be hustling mixtapes with wraps of crack on the streets of NYC! he's SUCH A sweetheart - maybe something to do with beautiful B?

the whole jay-z/glastonbury ordeal ('controversy') has been sooo painful to witness. i don't think this would've been the case if it had been kanye booked in the headline slot - it's less to do with hiphop as a genre, than jay-z's low-visibility over here... even though he made 2 of the biggest hits in years (crazy in love and umbrella?)? i was putting the embarrassment down to the medyah until i watched it last night and witnessed the crowd for myself - only the chicks in the front row knew wtf was going down! no one even seemed to appreciate that utterly cutesome, badass brit-rap that he did 28 minutes in!! bow down mofos! bow tha fuck down!

and i also CAN't BELIEVE that he played 'can i get a OOO-OOO' at glastonbury!! one of my all-time swing-jack tunes ever, 'bounce wit me bounce wit me, uh huh'! yeeeeeeah

*hearts*