I had the pleasure of being invited to the launch of Booka Shade’s North American tour in Montréal this last Wednesday at Club Soda. I was looking forward to the music but dreading the mosh-pit mentality of Montréal party folk as they tend to amass into quite the rowdy bunch but that’s the beauty of Booka Shade; the music is less of a head-bangers delight and more of a hip shaking sex beat.
The setup was simple with Walter stage left in control of a mixing board, some synths, and some software and Arno stage right beating a set of drum pads and cymbals. You could tell by their smiles and effortless movement that they love their jobs.
Their tour continues on and if you have the chance, come out to the show!
20.10.10 – Club Soda, Montreal, Quebec (CAN)
21.10.10 – Mod Club, Toronto, Ontario (CAN)
22.10.10 – St. Andrew’s, Detroit, Michigan (USA)
23.10.10 – Congress, Chicago, Illinois (USA)
25.10.10 – Royale, Boston, Massachusettes (USA)
26.10.10 – Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn New York (USA)
27.10.10 – Factory, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA)
29.10.10 – Cow Palace (Live 105 Event), San Francisco, Cal. (USA)
30.10.10 – DJ SET @ Dallas Convention Center Arena, Texas (USA)
31.10.10 – Shrine (Hard Halloween), Los Angeles, Cal. (USA)
And in case you missed it, here’s some music from this years album More!
On a side note, I saw this album cover today from 1979 for “The Way I Feel” by Adrian Gurvitz…Inspiration for the “Get Physical” Logo?
THE KNIFE
W-where did the time go? One minute I’m going to a New Years party and the next thing I know, it’s target=”_”>over 9000 minutes later and I’m writing my yearly “Best Of” post.
This year was a tough decision as I frequently found myself comparing apples to oranges. Yes, they’re both fruits but that’s where the similarities end. You see, on one hand there’s apples…forbidden fruit, teachers pet, home of the worm. And then there’s oranges…citrus, nothing rhymes with, orange you glad I didn’t say banana?
For me, the decided winner of Best Album 2010 goes to The Knife Featuring Planningtorock & Mount Sims – Tomorrow, In A Year [Rabid Records]. This record was commissioned by the Danish performance group Hotel Pro Forma for their opera based on Charles Darwin On the Origin of Species. The album begins with a click, a pop, an impulse, a sample, a flicker of voltage that is not unlike the prick of energy from which our universe so chaotically evolved. These first sounds twist together as a double helix of sonic experimentation which soon becomes the building blocks of our sonic landscape. The highlight for me is the song The Colouring Of Pigeons which you can download for free RIGHT HERE.‘s
What are we to expect for this coming year? Let us take a lesson from this album and expect the unexpected as our musical focus evolves and changes throughout our time. Our only certainty is that something wondrous is right around the corner.