The studio partnership of producers,
remixers and live act Booka Shade aka Walter Merziger and
Arno Kammermeier has come a very long way since its incarnation
in the early 90s. Back then, Arno and Walter were a synth
pop act signed to a major label. They released two albums
and did a number of tours, but at the same time they were
being seduced by the emerging trance and techno sounds they
heard in Frankfurt clubs like The Omen.
Subsequently, Arno and Walter changed their focus to club
projects and released trance records on R&S, Tommy Boy
and Sven Vath’s Harthouse imprint. However, it was on
Dutch label that Booka Shade scored their biggest releases
with the progressive ´Kind of good´ and ´Silk´.
By the end of the 90s, Booka Shade had tired of the trance-techno
scene and again needed a new direction to focus on. At this
stage, they decided to found their own label. By chance, they
met with Thomas Koch, aka DJ T, one of Germany’s most
experienced DJs. Arno and Walter’s old friends Patrick
Bodmer and Philipp Jung, aka M.A.N.D.Y., whom they knew from
the 90s in Frankfurt’s club scene, completed the new
partnership.
By 2002, the Get Physical label was launched, with Booka
Shade responsible for all of the productions and remixes by
M.A.N.D.Y., DJ T., Sunsetpeople and Chelonis R. Jones. In
just a few years, the label won supporters from a wide spectrum
of DJs because its releases covered a broad brush stroke of
electronic styles, including trance, electro and techno, within
its club-friendly grooves.
In 2004, with Get Physical established as one of Europe’s
most respected new electronic music labels, Booka Shade decided
to step from the shadows and pursue their own solo career
again.
Get Physical was home to Booka Shade’s widely acclaimed
and admired 2005 debut album ‘Memento’, which
saw Walter and Arno use the experience that they had gained
working in the pop and trance spheres during the 90s to stunning
effect. Slivers of pop melody and shiny trance euphoria are
underpinned with twitchy, stripped bare beats. The end result
was an ultra-modern, occasionally menacing and evocative but
always rewarding work.
The label was also the outlet for their huge 2005 club hit,
‘Mandarine Girl’ and ‘Body Language’
- both firm favourites in their live show - with the latter
track, a collaboration with M.A.N.D.Y, winning the DJ award
‘Ibiza Track of the Season 2005’ and gaining support
from big league DJs as well as underground house and techno
names.
Last year also saw Booka Shade hit the road, and their rocking
live show earned them a reputation as one of Europe’s
most exciting live electronic music acts. This status was
confirmed by their electric performance at the 2005 Sónar
festival in Barcelona, and dates supporting Royksopp on tour
and Mylo in London.
They also remixed Moby (Mute), The Juan McLean (DFA) and
Yello’s electro pop classic ‘Oh Yeah’. The
culmination of a fantastic year was the honour of Get Physical
being voted as ‘label of the year’ in DJ Magazine.
However, Booka Shade didn’t rest on their laurels:
in between gigs to promote ‘Memento’, the duo
worked on material for the 2006 follow up album, ‘Movements’.
Released in April, it maintained Arno and Walter’s love
of soaring basslines, epic melodies and club-friendly arrangements,
but it also showed that they were not afraid to experiment
with other styles, like slow motion hip-hop, electro and chilled
Balearic house music.
‘Movements’ is a more varied and possibly more
mature work than ‘Memento’, but the two singles
to date from the album, ‘Night Falls’ and ‘In
White Rooms’, show that Booka Shade still know how to
write emotive, powerful dance tracks. It’s not just
club DJs who have picked on their material: Booka Shade’s
music features regularly in the top 5 genre charts on iTunes
all over the world.
Since the album’s release, Walter and Arno have been
touring continuously around Europe - most recently, they had
the somewhat nerve-wrecking pleasure of doing the warm up
slot for synthpop legends Depeche Mode on the Berlin date
of their world tour – with performances at festival
and club goers alike won over by their powerful live act,
including the audience at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Arno and Walter are now getting ready for their second US
tour, having already visited the States in March to promote
‘Movements’. They are also embarking on a tour
of Asia and Australia tour in early 2007. Now that all of
Europe has heard this unique electronic act, it’s the
time for the rest of the world to hear the Booka Shade magic.
