tonite! BOOKA SHADE @ metro
>BOOKA SHADE (LIVE)
Call their music what you will, but booka shade's relentless work ethic and keen mingling of styles—berlin techno sheen, Italo disco dramatics, leftfield twists—has drawn legions of fans and accolades worldwide (best album, pitchfork 2006; best live act, resident advisor, 2007; one of the 100 best albums of all time, xlr8r) . but perhaps pitchfork.com's philip sherburne put it best last summer when he said:
It can't be easy being Booka Shade. "The Sun and the Neon Light" makes their third studio album in three years, in addition to one installment of the mix series DJ-Kicks and numerous EPs, including a collaboration with Hot Chip. Thanks in large part to two of those singles, "Mandarine Girl" and "Body Language", a collaboration with M.A.N.D.Y. that was deemed Ibiza's 2005 "Track of the Season," they're among the most globally recognized names in an increasingly fractured electronic dance-music scene, and they tour assiduously to support that reputation. The duo's members, Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier, also co-direct Get Physical, the label they founded in 2002 along with Thomas Koch (DJ T) and M.A.N.D.Y.'s Patrick Bodmer and Philipp Jung. But it's not just the length of their workweek, nor the fact that their biggest hits are now three years behind them, that must be tiring. It's their ambitions.
Despite their roots in club culture, Booka Shade and Get Physical determinedly pursue the home-listening audience as well as the dance floor, at a time when album sales are down and electronic albums are even more of a "why bother?" proposition. As much as fans dance at their shows and DJs play their singles, Booka Shade are rare holdouts for grownup electronica, the kind of subtly shaded comfort listening, equally informed by pop and technological play, that has all but disappeared in this decade. [Philip Sherburne, July 1, 2008, pitchfork.com]
Don't miss this rare live performance from one dance music's few remaining superstars that combine quality and popularity on an equal footing.
