Mirror Balls & Booka Shade's

Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier have been recording music together as Booka Shade since the mid-90s. In 2002, with the assistance of DJ T and M.A.N.D.Y., they co-founded their own label, Get Physical Music, which has since grown by leaps and bound, gaining international attention along the way. Also on the label's roster: Chelonis R. Jones, Tomas Barfod and Zoo Brazil,

Let's have a look back at Booka Shade's first full-length, 2005's Memento and its upcoming follow up: Movements.

Memento: Friend for a Night?
After the inception of Get Physical Music, Booka Shade chose to stick to the side-lines for a while, producing other artists rather than releasing music of their own. There's nothing wrong with that, especially considering their amazing work on Chelonis R. Jones' Dislocated Genius and DJ T's Boogie Playground.

By 2005 however it was high time Booka Shade released an album of their own: something that we could sink our teeth into that would give us more than just a taste of what the duo was capable of. Booka Shade obliged and delivered an album called Memento. This first full-length, received vast acclaim from the start, and the Mandarine EP that followed drew even greater compliments.

It took me a while to get into Booka Shade's first LP. Frankly, I couldn't figure out what these German minimalists were out to do with it. I heard minimal house à la Steve Bug, but in some way it felt like IDM (however failing to reach the level of pretentiousness commonly associated with that genre). Still, one way or another I had to keep listening, perhaps expecting to find the authors at fault every time I gave Memento a listen. Even with a great set of remixes and an incredible offshoot EP (Mandarine), it seemed I just couldn't wrap my head around Memento. I was missing a piece of the puzzle, and it wasn't until I heard the album's music described as "nocturnal" that it started to make sense.

Booka Shade, while remaining mostly serious and all nocturnal-ish on Memento, had subtly managed to strip away all the intellectual pretension associated with minimal, leaving the listener with something intelligent and… disarming.

Disarming because it was so open, inviting and clearly begging to be listened to and enjoyed. I wouldn't go as far as saying the album is 'fun'. It's deep, it's thought-provoking, and it's involving: it's nocturnal.

"Friend for a Night", get it ?

So, is Memento the "bestest album ever in the whole wide world"? Maybe not, but it is a very good one that may take a while to grow on you but if you let it I guarantee you'll be pleasantly surprised.


Movements: The Beats at the Window.
Walter & Arno kept busy since the release of Memento. "Body Language", their collaborative effort with label-mates M.A.N.D.Y., received the 2005 Ibiza DJ Award for "Track of the Season", and Get Physical was awarded the "2005 Label of the Year" by MixMag. Booka Shade also produced the Mandarine EP which generated the massive dancefloor hit "Mandarine Girl". They remixed The Chemical Brothers and The Juan Maclean, and toured with Royksöpp and Mylo.

How they found the energy to record their sophomore effort is beyond me. What I can tell you is that no matter where they found it you can definitely hear it on the record. The album is just plain catchy from the very beginning, never letting go of its listeners for a seconds until the very end.

Contrary to its predecessor, Movements is plain simple fun and not hard at all to get into. Booka Shade seem to have figured out where their strengths lie and decided to exploit them to their advantage. Perhaps that's why they opted to explore diverse sounds, at times mixing the catchiness of some of their production work (most notably the funkier approach featured on DJ T's Boogie Playground) with the textural explorations of their own releases.

But Movements is not only Memento's follow-up, it's also an album released in wake of two influential club hits. Versions of both these songs are included on Movements. Walter & Arno's take on "Body Language" is a marvelous affair that's every bit as poignant as the original, almost letting you wonder if the guys didn't just decide to take the song away from M.A.N.D.Y.'s arsenal, with the mischievous intention of imposing their vision of the song as the one we'll be remembering (Yes – it's that good). What's perhaps less interesting is the "album version" of "Mandarine Girl". Granted: not including the song on the album would've been sacrilege, but the reworked version featured here is simply not as moving as the original. However, it's a good uptempo adaptation that will definitely find a home on the dancefloor and be a welcome addition to any fan's CD library.

"Night Falls", the first single off the new album and "In White Rooms" are clearly the album's core tracks. Both draw on the success of "Mandarine Girl" and repackage that song's approach under new guises. "Paper Moon" and "The Birds & The Beats at The Window" go down DJ T avenue and propose a funkier, perhaps unexpected, side of Booka Shade to great effect. Bring on the funk, 'cause both of these songs just kick ass.

Other songs are playful (the childish melody-propelled "Pong Pang"), others reveal Walter & Arno penchant for IDM (Richard D. James would be proud of "Darko"), while yet others follow a recipe similar to their first effort (the nocturnal trio of "Hide & Seek in Geisha's Garden", "Take A Ride" & "Wasting Time"). The album is not without it's downer tracks, such as "Hallelujah USA" & "Lost High". Luckily, both of them appear at the end of the disc, leading the listener out of the beautiful audio soundscape created by Booka Shade.

Following Memento was a tough bill for Booka Shade, but Movements easily accomplishes the task. The German duo did not only craft an intelligent and evocative piece, they managed to make it catchy, funky, sleek and smart. Once again, Get Physical begins the year with style, and Booka Shade promise to amaze us again and again in 2006 - and beyond.

Find out more about Booka Shade on Get Physical's webite. You can hear the new version of "Body Language" on Occam's Razor.