Booka Shade have reached a point where pretty much everything they do-- both as musicians and heads of dance imprint Get Physical-- are scrutinized. And in the past few years, the scrutiny hasn't always been positive. The duo's last record, The Sun & Neon Light, found them out in front of the decks aiming to craft a crossover techno-pop album. Depending on who you asked it was either a brave experiment and stab at something new or a frustrating move from a duo responsible for some of techno's best 21st century tracks. Whatever the case, Booka Shade's stock is down after Neon Light, a sometimes brooding affair that delivered an attempt at growing an organic heart in the midst of their robotic gullets. The guys even sang on the thing.
More! is a re-donning of their producer/percussionist hats. Bona fide beats dominate the record and the vocals are sparse and handled by guests like Yello and Chelonis R. Jones. But, at the same time, there truly is more on this record-- there are more electro-inspired keyboard lines and mood changes. This record can't be called "minimal." That said, the tracks here are missing the melodic weight that lent Booka Shade singles like "In White Rooms" or "Body Language" their crossover panache. Those synthesizer lines-- once delayed, drunken, and enigmatic-- helped tracks feel spontaneous (a feeling reinforced by Booka Shade playing live percussion on stage).
Synths throughout the record are more punctual, like more like a Berlin train than a gyrating body. This facet seems to be used even to comic effect, as on the opening "Havanna Sex Dwarf", whose staccato squelches and robot singing deadpan the unspoken words novelty song. It's certainly a weird cut to begin an album by a group usually constrained to the darkness of the club or a late-night living room. The record really gets going with the brooding "Regenerate", but from there it's all pretty standard fare, with four-on-the-floor beats at inconsistent levels of innovation and a few Kraftwerkian synth lines ping-ponging throughout the tracks. Jones turns in an uncharacteristically low-key performance on "Bad Love", which might have passed for an early 80s R&B hit. Yello vocalist Dieter Meier grumbles his way through "Divine", not requiring a government-issued ID to remind you that he's 65.
But for the most part, the beats and the synths are the stars of the show here. They're not as compelling as in the past-- maybe only four albums into their career, the duo is preferring to color inside the lines. But for all those hits and misses, fans will keep listening, keep scrutinizing. Booka Shade gained that blessing, or the curse, as the result of consistent innovation.
