M.A.N.D.Y. vs. Booka Shade “Body Language”

The birth of our underground brand Factory 93 not only brought on an adrenaline rush reminiscent of the renegade warehouse era of raving—on which Insomniac was founded—but it also had us thinking back to all the people, places and parties that made this whole operation possible. And with that came a burning desire to crack open our collection and dust off the classic records we couldn’t live without. Through our From the Crate series, we’ll be breaking out both seminal and obscure cuts alike, imparting some knowledge in the process.

It’s 2005; George W. Bush kicks off his second term, Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans, the Afghanistan War enters its fourth year, YouTube launches, Apple debuts the iPod Shuffle, Brokeback Mountain breaks moviegoers’ hearts, Gorillaz unleash Demon Days, and Madonna drops Confessions on a Dancefloor.

A bit further off the mainstream radar, Booka Shade take the electronic music world by storm; their three-year-old imprint Get Physical wins DJ Mag’s Label of the Year, their performance at Barcelona’s Sonar festival wows audiences, and their single “Body Language” (coproduced with Get Physical cofounders M.A.N.D.Y.) is declared “Ibiza Song of the Season” at the 20th Annual DJ Awards.

By the time “Body Language” is released in 2005, music fans have become attuned to crate diggers who reach beyond recognizable influences. Thanks to late 1990s and early 2000s acts like LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk, and Fischerspooner, formerly obscure subgenres like no-wave, post-punk, electro, Italo, and boogie become part of an expanding vernacular into which the squiggly robotic charm of “Body Language” easily enters. Once in, the ethereal jam dominates the conversation and dancefloor.

Like “Miura,” Metro Area’s 2002 neo-disco smash, “Body Language” is a hyper-dynamic slice of dubby minimal space funk, no less kinetic or infectious for its sparse, fastidious elegance. Immaculately arranged and produced, “Body Language” is a slow burner built on warm bass and spindly rhythms, growing more hypnotic and irresistible as its stealthy, diaphanous groove undulates along. A guitar-licked rework of the single turns up on their sophomore album, Movements, which includes an edit of “Mandarine Girl,” plus “Night Falls,” “In White Rooms,” and “Darko,” which kept the duo’s momentum going.

A Tocadisco remix in 2006 makes it more accessible to a larger audience, will.i.am samples it on 2007’s “Get Your Money,” and in 2016, it is remastered on Movements 10, a collection celebrating the original’s 10th anniversary, featuring remixes by andhim, Dennis Ferrer, Eats Everything, M.A.N.D.Y., and Nils Frahm.

Also in 2016, Jax Jones basically throws some vocals on “Body Language” and calls it “You Don’t Know Me.” Just this month, it is retouched again—this time by Danniel Selfmade—testifying to the track’s enduring allure. It was even allegedly considered for the title track of Kylie Minogue’s 2003 album of the same name. Even in a catalog rife with dancefloor gems, “Body Language” remains a standout for the duo, who have spent a lifetime collaborating.

Originally conceived as a synth-pop act, Book Shade’s Walter Merziger and Arno Kammermeier are longtime friends from Frankfurt, who caught the music bug in the 1980s. A recent post of them on Instagram, tagged #summeroflove, shows the two in 1988—the pivotal year in DJ culture when acid house and raves swept across the UK and the US, conjuring 1968’s psychedelic spirit through MDMA and Roland 303 machines.

Finally, in 1995, Walter and Arno turned heads with their trancey debut single “Some Kind of Good” and their 1996 follow-up “Silk” on Touché, the Dutch label founded by Dobre & Jamez. Among the first to champion the emerging hybrid techno-house sound, Touché eventually released tracks by Carl Craig, Felix da Housecat, and Laidback Luke. While Booka Shade fit in at Touché, the need to indulge their expansive sonic curiosity without restraint made establishing their own label inevitable. In 2002, they launched Get Physical with another pair of old rave friends, M.A.N.D.Y., plus Thomas “DJ T” Koch and producer Peter Hayo.

Since “Body Language” and its fusion of melodic synthpop, club-savvy beats, and jazz-influenced experimentation, Booka Shade have repeatedly and effortlessly crossed musical boundaries, resulting in a diverse following that cheers them at events as varied as Coachella, Lollapalooza, and the Montreux Jazz Festival. In 2010, Resident Advisor was so impressed by their live performances, they placed Booka Shade in the top five on their list of live acts to catch. The duo’s remix credits are equally eclectic, including Hot Chip, Kings of Leon, the Knife, Moby, and Depeche Mode—whom they cite as a major influence.

In May of this year, Booka Shade shared a photo of themselves with Dave Gahan on his birthday. In the photo, Walter is wearing a T-shirt of the Australian synthpop duo the Presets. The picture’s caption reads in part, “Thank you for singing the soundtrack of our lives. It was a privilege and inspiration to play as support band for Depeche Mode in 2006 and 2013. Keep on doing what you love for many many years.”

The same can be hoped for and expected from Booka Shade, who in 2008 told XLR8R, “When a name for a style is found, you’re already lost. People start working with a strict formula, the beats get too hard, and it stops being sexy.”