Booka Shade roll call (I'll be DJing)

[Christine Moritz]

I wasn't feeling RNS at all, either their music or their repeated exhortations of "D.C., make some noise!!"  In fairness, I should note that it's not my (sub)genre to begin with, and that I was cranky on account of being jet-lagged and sleep-deprived.  But on another board, it sounded like even folks who are more into the tech-y side of things weren't feeling them either.

I was really impressed with Booka Shade's set. The music sounded good, and they had very effective and well-integrated lighting and visuals. Thanks in large part to the guy on percussion, they also had good stage presence -- something that's often difficult for electronic acts to pull off.

Definitely recommended!

BTW, my DJ setlist from the show is in this thread: http://www.930.com/forum/index.php?topic=18665.0

[azaghal1981]

Completely agree re: RNS. I caught 15-20 minutes of their set and got bored.

[sweetcell]

i caught booka shade last friday in NYC.  it was a solid set, although they didn't blow me away like they did at lolla.  something i forgot: those two can look pretty dorky at times, and drummer-dude's cheerleading is a bit over the top.  nonetheless i had a great time.

this was a show where the openers might have outshone the headliners: brooklyn's tortured soul absolutely killed it.  funky, soulful live house.  admittedly, my perception is colored by my high expectations of booka and none for tortured soul.  their set-up is interesting: dummer/singer (!), keys and bass.  they played a non-stop 50-minute set, segueing perfectly from one song to the next.  ms moritz, i suspect you'd really like these guys.  highly, highly recommended - they'll be playing the 8x10 in baltimore on sat may 30.  i'll definitely be at their CD launch party in NYC on may 19.

[jd930]

I agree about Tortured Soul.  I saw a short set from them at FloydFest a while back and really enjoyed it.  Their first CD doesn't live up to their sound live. I'm curious to hear the next CD.  Thanks for the heads up about the Baltimore show.

[sweetcell]

i've just read the 8x10's taping policy - essentially, they encourage taping (even have a dedicated hook-up for patching in), allow as much taping as the artists permit and even push the artists to allow a soundboard + ambient mix.  very cool.  hopefully someone will get a good recording of this show and pops up somewhere like here.

8x10 even has happy hour specials that run until the music starts... cool.

[Firebutt McGee]

I remember seeing Tortured Soul open for Esthero some years ago. I wonder how they've grown/changed since then...

[Christine Moritz]

this was a show where the openers might have outshone the headliners: brooklyn's tortured soul absolutely killed it.  funky, soulful live house.  admittedly, my perception is colored by my high expectations of booka and none for tortured soul.  their set-up is interesting: dummer/singer (!), keys and bass.  they played a non-stop 50-minute set, segueing perfectly from one song to the next.  ms moritz, i suspect you'd really like these guys.  highly, highly recommended - they'll be playing the 8x10 in baltimore on sat may 30.  i'll definitely be at their CD launch party in NYC on may 19.

Yep, I've seen them a few times and been impressed.

Thanks for the tip on the May 30 show!  Since it's a Saturday, I might well make it up to Baltimore.

They've played in D.C. a few times in the past several years.  They opened for Esthero at the 9:30 Club in the early summer of 2005 [EDIT: as ixkpd-bk noted while I was still revising/composing this post].  I missed them then (had had an exhausting weekend and needed a pre-show nap), and was kicking myself when everyone was raving about how great their set had been.  So I saw them for the first time in the UK, at the Big Chill Festival in August 2005.

They played at the 9:30 Club in March 2008 as part of a triple bill with Amp Fiddler and Fertile Ground.  Most recently, they did a Sunday-night show in D.C. at Bohemian Caverns (under-publicized, alas) the weekend after Inauguration Weekend.  I missed the latter (it was a school night, plus I was still worn out from the inauguration weekend festivities), but they were great at the former.

Link for their new album:
http://www.traxsource.com/index.php?act=show&fc=tpage&cr=titles&cv=32139&alias=upfront

[Christine Moritz]

I forgot to ask last week... can anyone give me a track ID on the Booka Shade track that had really lush "Unfinished Sympathy"/Craig Armstrong-style strings in it?

Thanks!

[jd930]

I can't remember the exact track that you are referring to, but it might have been "Outskirts" from their latest album. There are a couple on that album that have strings, so I'm not positive that's the one.

[Christine Moritz]

I forgot to ask last week... can anyone give me a track ID on the Booka Shade track that had really lush "Unfinished Sympathy"/Craig Armstrong-style strings in it?

Thanks!

Bumping my query in case anyone has a definitive answer...