Resident Advisor 150 - Booka Shade

Walter and Arno don their DJing caps for the 150th edition of the RA podcast.

You may only be aware of Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier's work as Booka Shade, but their time in the music industry stretches all the way back to the early '90s, when the pair started working together in a band named Planet Claire. The group was largely centered around synth pop, but after releasing two albums (both of which featured some of deep house diva Lisa Shaw's first vocal tracks) they disbanded in 1995. By that time, Merziger and Kammermeier had become increasingly interested in electronic music and began to make club tracks under various different pseudonyms, experimenting with trance, techno and house as they left their synth pop sound behind. After flirtations with both the underground and the mainstream (as Perky Park they even remixed a version of Aqua's "Barbie Girl"), the duo got together with Patrick Bodmer and Philipp Jung of M.A.N.D.Y. and Thomas Koch (AKA DJ T.) to create their Get Physical label, which has gone on to rack up over 100 releases and become a powerhouse in the German electronic music scene.

Merziger and Kammermeier's production prowess proved to be one of the driving forces behind their initial popularity, with their work for both M.A.N.D.Y. and DJ T. garnering acclaim on top of their own productions as Booka Shade. 2005 was arguably their breakout year, with "Body Language" and "Mandarine Girl" becoming inescapable anthems worldwide and taking their sleek electro-house sound to a much wider audience. Nowadays they're headlining large club gigs and festivals with their energetic audio/visual live show, and while you generally won't find them playing over people's records when you go to see them, they've proved their DJing talents with their eclectic addition to the DJ-Kicks series. Their RA podcast—the 150th in our weekly series—sees them in a relatively more straightforward mood, mixing up minimal, electro, tech and boompty house flavours with a couple of surprises along the way.

- RA

1. DJ T. - The Inner Jukebox - Get Physical Music
2. Ray Okpara - Snice - Oslo Records
3. M.A.N.D.Y. vs Booka Shade - Donut (Ben Hoo Rmx) - Get Physical Music
4. Lowfish - Little Mistakes - Fish Music
5. New Order - Confused - Factory
6. Worst Case Scenario - Hot Beef (No Ears Red Beard Rosbif Rmx) - Rekids
7. Moderat - Rusty Nails (Booka Shade Remix) - BPitch Control
8. Jürgen Paape - Nord - (Kompakt
9. Mohan Das - Oh Yes - TMV
10. Bronnt Industries Kapital - Objects & Purpose (Booka Shade Rmx) - Get Physical Music
11. Brett Johnson & Dave Barker - Stucco Homes (Derrick Carter Re-edit) - Classic
12. Mutant Clan - Perfect Place - Connaisseur Recordings
13. Skylark - Krakatoa (Joel Mull Funky Flower Remix) - Saved
14. Estroe - Circumlocution - Mina
15. David Gray - Please Forgive Me - Warner

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