Music Review: Booka Shade - Charlotte

From the forthcoming new album is Charlotte, which continues in the same vein as past works. As usual, will be released on Get Physical of course.

The first track on the release is simply labelled "remix", leading me to believe the new album will contain the original mix. This tune sounds like a leftover from Movements, an album I have enjoyed many times over. It has the same smooth bass line, the same clapper sounds, and the same warbly synths as many of their previous tracks. Added is some soft female harmonising which is a nice touch.

However, while this is undeniably "pure Booka", Charlotte (Remix) is missing the infectious hooks and catchy strains that made Night Falls, Body Language and Mandarine Girl so popular, instead employing an unmemorable melody which will no doubt impact the song's airplay.

While hardcore fans will no doubt still fawn over this release, I'm disappointed to see such a sameness of sound two years on. Though generally this is a solid track, cruising along with typical Booka ease, somehow dancey and relaxing at the same time, it still feels a bit dusty, as we've heard this exact same sound too often. Nevertheless, a good listen.

The second track on the release is "Booka's No Pain, No Gain Mix", which really adds little to the aforementioned description, being more for DJ programming usage than anything else it would seem.

Third up is the Dubfire Remix. YAWN.

Why the hell does everyone go crazy for Dubfire productions? Ali's music makes me positively sleepy; it's a fine example of "plodding" techno; music that has no soul, no rhythm, and goes no where. In this generic track, that great Booka bass line has been removed and replaced with a monotonous string pluck and boring hats. Horrible, absolutely horrible. This would be fine if there was melody to keep things happening, but the melody has been largely stripped back too, leaving nothing but pure poo with which to indulge our ears; six minutes of dubby bass line and minimal percussion with minute variations.

Three tracks in and I'm less than impressed.

But! In flies newcomer Matchbox, with his "Right Or Wrong" remix, single-handedly saving the day!

Matchbox's version adds a happier bass line, switches the Booka percussion for something slightly different, and pours a whole lot of emotion on top, a stark contrast to Dubfire's cold remix. Providing most of the feeling in the track is a blissful breakdown which uses an array of interesting sounds, but ties them altogether nicely, with my favourite being the 80's style tom-toms. Altogether is has a more serene feel than the other three tunes, and clearly shows that Matchbox put of lot of work into this, as rising producers out to impress the world tend to do.

On the other hand, the other three songs feel positively heartless and rushed; the efforts uninspired producers completely comfortable within the scene, knowing that their names alone will be enough to make people go gaga over their work. On the whole, a disappointing release, but worth it for the last track alone. Sample below.

Music Review: Booka Shade

Soon to be released on Get Physical is Booka's new one, City Tales, the title track of which can be heard on M.A.N.D.Y's Fabric Mix, using the Neon Dub Mix.

Forget the Booka Shade you thought you knew; this one is dark, and vaguely scary; a far cry from the catchy Body Language or Night Falls. No, the first track of the release, the club mix of Planetary is far more like Triple Identity, one of the duo's darker and lesser known tracks.

Opening with some very von Stroke-ish whistling, Booka's strong sense of rhythm is immediately apparent, with a lighter tech-house kick being followed by some vaguely African sounding blippy noises not unlike those in Eric Prydz' Tigerstyle, under the Cirez D alias, and followed later on by croaking frog noises of all things.

What really makes Planetary, however, is a strange wavering organ, which sounds, strangely enough, like wind and other "night" noises filtering through...a city, a big, terrifying city. This comes to a peak in the middling breakdown, where the organ gets harsher and harsher, playing out in a descending note pattern with more and more scream injected to it every time, which sounds great. From here out, it's reasonably happy to the end.

The dub mix of Planetary is quite similar, but features less melody and more "bounce", making it a bit more club friendly.

The Neon Dub of the title track sees a return to brighter territory, using similar percussion to the first two songs but stripping back nearly all the nasty elements and injecting some faint paino-ish noises and some (again) very von Stroke, The Whistler-ish "uh" noises by a male vocalist. This is my least favourite song on the release, but one which I predict will be more popular with crowds, simply for it's greater sense of groove and shuffling rhythm.

DJ Review: Booka Shade

TRACK SELECTION: 47/50

This was a live show, in every sense of the word. Unlike other acts who purport to be playing “live”, Booka Shade actually used drums, keyboards, samplers and other effect units. The results were very interesting.

The duo played only their own productions; Mandarine Girl, Nightfalls, Body Language, In White Rooms and basically anything else you can think of.

I was disappointed not to hear Triple Identity. It seems to me to be the most underrated of all the Booka Shade tracks, but it's a favourite of mine.

Like all live acts, they improvised and put some interesting twists on their own music which just sent everyone wild. Somehow it always seems better when you hear a DJ or group play their own song…I still have absolutely no idea why.

TECHNICAL SKILLS: 27/30

This really hard to judge because, again, they were playing live. However, while I may usually score DJs on their “mixing”, as in beatmatching, whatever untraditional method Booka used seemed to work fine. I didn’t notice too many big gaps in the music at all, only a few small breaks.

SET FLOW: 8/10

Respectable, but not as good as I would have expected, considering that they played all their own tracks. This gives them a distinct advantage in that all the songs are of the exact same style, and secondly, that they know each song like the back of their hand.

SHOWMANSHIP: 5/5

While I have always found the concept of live music completely abhorrent, Booka Shade are a definite exception to this.

The drummer (Walter I think) was possessed with a manic energy that rubbed off on the crowd within minutes of him stepping on stage. Both members spent the whole ninety minutes bouncing around stage, and quite obviously enjoyed every second of it.

Afterwards they could be seen chatting with fans and signing autographs; true models for all DJs to follow!

CONSISTENCY: 5/5

They played a second show two nights before, which I didn’t attend, but by all accounts was just as good, as have been other live sets on Radio 1.

OVERALL SCORE: 92/100

Unlike Sasha and Digweed, where I arrived in a bad mood and left in a bad mood, this time I couldn’t help but brighten up and enjoy the music.

DJ T followed Booka Shade and by the time he hit the decks I was back to my usual crazy self, fired up by Booka’s mammoth set.

I was expecting this review to end up in the mid to high eighties before, and after the night, but really, I just can’t fault them that much. I think they have a slightly unfair advantage over other acts due to the fact that they are playing live, and with their own music, which they have a more intimate knowledge of.

Nevertheless, they go into third place on my all time list of acts!

DJ T review to follow.

Review based on one show in April 2007.