Search - Booka Shade :: DJ Kicks

A landmark in the DJ kicks series

Doctor Trance | MA, United States | 02/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you're looking for a mix based on Booka Shade's previous electro and tech house albums and remixes, don't look here, as this is not your typical Booka Shade sound. While it starts off with some darker minimal, including a short piece by Horror film legend John Carpenter, it quickly changes pace with an 80's track that starts out sounding a lot like Axel F. by Harold Faltermeyer (but it actually came two years prior) and into the quirky vocals of Karel Fialka's The Things I Saw. The mix continues into leftfield territory with all kinds of different musical genres and eras rolling on through. It is, after all, a DJ Kicks mix, so you know you are getting some off the beaten path, personal choices of the mixing artists, and usually from all different time periods.



Booka Shade are not normally DJ's, but they've pulled off one of the most exciting mixes I've heard of late, and it's my favorite listen to start 2008. From the gorgeous downtempo breaks of Aphex Twin's Alberto Balsam, to the playful 60's vocal from French chanteuse Brigitte Bardot, to the Cockney hip-hop rhymes of The Streets, to the 80's synth-pop of Heaven 17, this one really runs the gamut of taking you to all points slightly left of center in music.



What really sets this mix apart is it's ingenious tracklisting that fits so well together, but not necessarily with tracks that would hold up on their own. I sampled a few songs before I purchased, and was thinking, "what the heck is on here", but I am glad I finally accepted the challenge and went out and got it. I've quickly found it is loaded with tracks I want to play over and over again. In fact, the entire mix is getting more play than any other mix CD I currently own.



They do run back into more familiar techno territory near the end of the mix, with a classic Carl Craig track, a recent track by Amir Ad Fontes, and two tracks by Matthew Dear, including a Hot Chip remix of one of Dear's forays into synth-pop, Don and Sherri. Some of the highlights are the duo's knack for finding two tracks that mesh very well together: one instrumental and one vocal. They pull this off 3 times, and each with successful results. This all adds up to one of the most ecclectic yet enjoyable mixes I've heard in years. It will easily sit at the top of my list of this prolific DJ Kicks series."