Booka Shade's 3rd studio album
The Sun & The Neon Light will be released on
Get Physical on May 26th, 2008. If you enjoy
Hybrid's breaks,
Depeche Mode cold electronica and
Chab's space disco, this is one for your collection.
The first bulk of the album contains
Outskirts´ acid bass line and strings leading onto
Duke's mood settler and introducing the first 4/4 track of the album before launching into
Dusty Boots' country-ish guitar.
Control Me opens the next section upping the tempo and toughness while introducing the first vocal effort with a huge nod to the mid 80s from
New Order's Hooky's bass line to
Camouflage tecnno pop sound.
Solo City drum patterns and guitars join the dots with the first section and
Redemption closes the trio with some micro drums sounds, ethereal synths and all the Booka Shade trademark sounds.
Charlotte is perhaps the chirpiest song of the bunch with some twisted disco chord changes, brassy sounds for the dancefloor and a familiar melody. Lots of remixes possibilities here.
The Sun & The Neon Light is another bridge track of electronic soundscapes leading to another grey-ish slice of techno pop:
Sweet Lies.
Karma Car was taking of their
Dj Kicks album and has a memorable melody that sticks after just a few listens.
Psychameleon is another track with a dark vocal that will remind you of Underworld's Karl Hyde's deliverance and sound effects.
Planetary comes from their
Planetary / City Tales EP and I recommend you to get the full EP that includes the great
City Tales (Neon Dub).
Comacabana is definitely not the stand out track of the album and it only starts making sense when the guitar comes in. To close
You Don't Know What You Mean To Me (J's Lullaby) is a wave goodbye affair with breathing samples.
All and all, a good album that has the right structure and tracks that most of the electronic/dance artists fail to deliver.
Tracklist
01 Outskirts
02 Duke
03 Dusty Boots
04 Control Me
05 Solo City
06 Redemption
07 Charlotte
08 The Sun & The Neon Light
09 Sweet Lies
10 Karma Car (Album Version)
11 Psychameleon
12 Planetary
13 Comacabana
14 You Don't Know What You Mean To Me (J's Lullaby)
