Booka Shade

One of those rare electronic music acts who channel the spirit and sounds of underground techno, but who can rock any festival crowd, Booka Shade increasingly find themselves winning over new fans across the rock and dance music tribes. For instance, as they prepared for a 2011 tour of Australia – with the mixed rock ‘n’ dance festival, Big Day Out – Booka Shade were voted one of the world’s Top 5 live acts by the cutting-edge electronic music hub, Resident Advisor. That perfectly illustrates how they transcend borders and genres.

In a way, that broad appeal is no surprise. Yes, Booka Shade make dance music, but it is dance music which audibly absorbs influences from everywhere: classical, rock, jazz, dubstep. Throughout their 25 years making music together, the Berlin-based duo, Arno Kammermeier and Walter Merziger, have found it impossible to restrict themselves to one set, sound, or scene.

Since the release of their fourth album, ‘More!’, Arno and Walter have been touring almost non-stop. And loving every minute of it. In contrast to previous albums, “More!” was built from the dance floor up. Every track, from the pixelated ear-worm, ‘Donut’, to that ethereal rave anthem, ‘Regeneration’ (which reached No.2 in the Beatport chart), started out as a killer club groove which Arno and Walter then worked around. It received reams of positive press and an iTunes Top 20 chart placing. The pair are currently working on new album.