Booka Shade - 'Movements' (Get Physical) Released 05/06/06

With a couple of mammoth club smashes under their belts in the shape of ‘Mandarine Girl’ and last summer’s omnipotent collaboration with M.A.N.D.Y ‘Body Language’, Booka Shade – aka Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier – are ready to unleash their second long-player ‘Movements’. Thoughtful and musically wide in scope, the duo exhibit their knack at creating moments of sheer dance floor ecstasy, stunning melodies and brooding electronica. Cohesively constructed, it pulls in organic electro, futuristic beats, retro funk and blissed-out vibes to create a contemporary and relevant electronic work. 

One of ‘Movements’ main strengths is easily its understated quality. This is not dance music that jumps out the speakers for a quick, brash hit - instead it needs more work than that and is all the more rewarding for it. Slow-building opener is indicative of this, with its haunting, spine tingling synthetic hook pasted over chunky beats, gently drawing you in and teeing you up for more. ‘Body Language’ itself comes in a new re-recorded form, stripped of its original muscle and simplified into something more plaintive yet it’s just as direct thanks to the killer signature hook.  Simmering rather than boiling, the cheeky electro of ‘Paper Moon’, the squelchy ‘The Birds and The Beats’ peak with the atmospheric and grooves of ‘Darko’ and the haunting and organic ‘Hide and Seek in Gaisha’s Garden’ – just like the ultimate ‘Lost High’, it’s a tune Boards of Canada or Nathan Fake would be proud of.  

Later, the album gains momentum thanks to the likes of the voluminous ‘Pong Pong’, the sublime ‘Madarine Girl’ and the gritty, vocodered ‘Take A Ride.’ Following the housey ‘In White Rooms’, the Shade show another side of their character by having a brief crack at political writing with the down tempo ‘Hallelujah USA’ featuring the fragmented rants of a Christian fundamentalist preacher. While ‘Movements’ is not without its faults, inflicted with the odd repetitious and rambling moment, there’s little denying Booka Shade have created a great album.