April 28, 2008 4:52 PM PDT

Booka Shade at Mezzanine SF

Posted by Anngie Dehoyos

Booka Shade

(Credit: Get Physical )

For those Bay Area folks who didn't make it to this year's Coachella, you could have taken advantage of the handful of artists who stopped in on their way to the festival. Not only did Death Cab for Cutie pay us a visit, but we also had indie favorites Goldfrapp, Hot Chip, and Cut Copy to shake our money-makers to. But it was Booka Shade, one of Germany's most exciting electronic live acts, that I found to be a real treat on a Friday night at club Mezzanine.

If you're not familiar with the sounds of Booka Shade, think of the soulful experimentation of Metro Area melding with the minimal-but-funkiness in techno as heard from Matthew Dear. If that doesn't pique your interest, I don't know what would.

Celebrating their third studio album entitled The Sun & the Neon Light, Booka Shade's (aka Walter Merzigerand Arno Kammermeier) SF performance offered an evening made up of beautiful pop melodies and catchy synths with electronic, cinematic space blips draped in between. Playing favorite club hits such as "Mandarine Girl" and "Charlotte," a remix of Laurie Anderson's electronic classic "O Superman," as well as to the duo's breakthrough track "Body Language," Shade created an atmosphere that not only built a rare intimacy between the artist and listener, but also managed to turn our bodies into all-night dance machines. And as a bonus, those who arrived a bit early were able to indulge for an hour or so in a crunchy mash of electro-house and saw-tooth techno sounds found in the DJ set of Heidi as a warm-up to Booka Shade's late-night performance. Again, if that doesn't grab your attention, then check out the playlist below showcasing a sampling of beats by Booka Shade, M.A.N.D.Y.--who's also on tour with Shade--as well as a few other audible treats for extra pleasure.