Interview Booka Shade

L'onda minimal techno che si ingrossa sempre più nelle disco europee (e anche italiane) investe a pieno anche la serie Dj-Kicks , visto che i quartier generali della K!7 affidano l'ennesimo volume della serie (si spera infinita) alla coppia di dj di Francoforte (ma operativi da diverso tempo nella fremente Berlino) Walter Merziger e Arno Kammermeier , noti come Booka Shade e fondatori dell'ottima label Get Physical, che dopo un'intera estate passata a Ibiza, hanno realizzato lo scorso anno un disco davvero pregevole intitolato Movements , in cui le influenze recepite nell'isola balearica sono facilmente riconoscibili. Non escludendo che possano raggiungerne altri, riteniamo quel disco il picco espressivo dei Booka Shade , nonostante sia solo il loro secondo album, la cui abilità a captare e ripensare il cosiddetto minimalismo è confermata dalla qualità della selezione e dall'abilità nel mixing per questo dj-kicks, nonchè dalla buona fattura della loro traccia esclusiva (Numbers) infilata prontamente nel catalogo K!7 , registrata e licenziata appositamente per l'occasione. Siamo riusciti a far recapitar loro qualche domanda tra il loro tour sudamericano e quello che li porterà a suonare nel Sud Est Asiatico e in Australia per le tappe conclusive del tour legato proprio a Movements. Booka Shade Dj Kicks (K7, Distr.Audioglobe) 01.Passengers A Different Kind Of Blue 02.Nôze Slum Girl 03.Cerrone In The Smoke / Ben Westbeech Hang Around (Wahoo Dub) 04.John Carpenter The Bank Robbery 05.Booka Shade Estoril 06.Yazoo Situation (US 12" remix) 07.Akiko Kiyama The Misida Monarchy / Karel Fialka The Things I Saw 08.Lopazz 2 Fast 4 U 09.Quarion Play Your Part 10.John Carpenter Arrival At The Library / Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia Far Away 11.Aphex Twin Alberto Balsam 12.Heaven 17 Geisha Boys And Temple Girls 13.The Tubes Drums 14.Brigitte Bardot Contact 15.Booka Shade Numbers (DJ-Kicks) 16.Quarion Karasu 17.The Streets It's Too Late 18.Amir Ad Fontes Virtual Nature 19.Carl Craig Landcruising 20.Matthew Dear Tide 21.Matthew Dear Don & Sherri (Hot Chip Remix) 22.Richard Hawley Last Orders

Hi there! Everything's well? We´re fine. Just returned from a two week tour in South America, which went great. Now we have a couple of days in the studio / at home, before we leave for Moscow and then a tour in Australia and South East Asia. When all these shows are done, the MOVEMENTS tour will be finished (after 20 months and more then 150 concerts ....!)

Two songs you kicked could describe your last (and long awaited) album's cover. Passengers' A Different Kind Of Blue and Cerrone's In The Smoke! I've visited Frankfurt last summer, but no-one sold me cobalt cigarettes! Anyway I've been very lucky in that occasion. All museums were closed and above all Cocoon was still inactive. I finally decided for a tour in Red Light's porno shops wondering about those strange pleasure tools(!) and a plenty of delicious weiss beers combined to beef bratwurst here and there. What's the best period to visit it for people with my interests? Don´t go to Frankfurt ! Come to Berlin, where we live and where the GET PHYSICAL camp is. You can have plenty of booze and go clubbing 24/7.

I remember you made a sort of tribute to Juan Atkins in that nice track called "In White Rooms" in your last album Movements. You played for Detroit audiences as well. Why did you not include Atkins in your Dj Kicks? Any differences between American and European audiences? You´re actually the first one who says we made a tribute to Juan Atkins... But anyway, he is a fantastic artist who influenced the Detroit sound, which we love. Probably in a next DJ mix !! We performed at the Detroit electronic music festival this year, we played the last but one slot on the main stage, before jeff mills closed the festival. All Detroit legends stood next to the stage, including Derrik May, and saw us play for 5.000 excited people. We felt very proud and thankful to be given this opportunity, especially as German musicians !! We went to the States three times this year to play lots of club shows and festivals. The reaction of the audience there is great, I guess it´s because they appreciate the performance we do on stage. they like to see real musicians play and sweat !

You're one of the most renowned acid-electro jewellers at the moment. Some says you're going to be considered almost as Kraftwerkian diplomatic body for disco music. What do you think about such a definition? Kraftwerk were soo unbelievably creative, especially in their "the robots" / "menschmaschine" aera, I think they had contact to extratrerrestian lifeforms !!! We are just musicians who try to push boundaries in electronic music .......

I didn't recognise that track by Aphex Twin at a first glance. Initially I thougt it was a Pole's track! I´m glad we could surprise you, just as many other people. The APHEX TWIN track for sure is a highlight of the comp. I love the way it divides the mix in two. it kind of starts again with Heaven 17 after this track.

I also appreciated the choice of two Matthew Dear's excerpts, one of the best electrodubbystepper in my opinion nowadays! That´s why we didn´t mind choosing two of his tracks for the comp. We initially wanted to add something by Hot Chip, good friends of ours. But they didn´t have anything new out at that time. The remix for "don and cherrie" works brilliantly though and sounds like an original Hot Chip song. !

What about your plans in the immediate future - especially those related to Get Physical - ? Currently, apart from working on our third artist album, we finish a Booka Shade LIVE DVD, recorded at pukkelpop festival in Belgium with approx 11.000 crazy fans. It was a wonderfully emotional show and we´re happy that it was captured on video. The DVD will also feature a tour documentary on the MOVEMENTS tour and a lot of bonus material. it´s a fan item and shows the way booka shade felt and performed in 2007, before the next album came out. We see it as a statement, because for the next album and the next world tour, we´ll prepare a completely new show with new visuals and new stage design.

How do you imagine the upcoming developments of techno and electronic music? Do you belong to those people arguing that music innovation is almost impossible? We´re quickly getting bored and constantly try out new ways to write and produce music. it´s not easy to always try and come up with something new, that´s why songwriting and production takes longer and longer for us nowadays. When we first started with electronic music in approx 1993, we could easily finish a track in one day. But nowadays, the sound of Booka Shade is known to be quite defined and detailed. And it´s rather songs then tracks, really. That´s why we now sometimes need six weeks for one song (like MANDARINE GIRL or DARKO, for example) and, I can tell you: IT HURTS !!!!! songwriting can be a very painful process. I guess that´s why many people tend to give up too early and are satisfied when they actually could reach more.

I've seen you met Branson before his terrible bungee-jump. We already knew that the founder of Virgin was mad enough, but do you know how he is? We only met him briefly, but I can say that the whole Virgin festival had that "Branson vibe", a bit hippie-ish, well organized and very friendly. Every artist/band had the same size of backstage area and was equally treated. well, except for THE POLICE, but that´s ok with me ......