Following their recent club and radio hits ‘Numbers’ and ‘Karma Car’ and an all-conquering, 20-month world tour, Booka Shade return to their roots for a dynamic, uncompromising three-track 12” of sheer dancefloor firepower. A version of ‘Planetary’ appears on Booka’s forthcoming new album, The Sun & The Neon Light, but here it’s the club and dub mixes which are the centre of attention. The club mix begins with menacing, atmospheric synth interplay before a robust, hypnotic kickdrum and woodblock pattern propels us forward into the great unknown. When the snares drop there’s no doubting the peaktime purpose and momentum of this groove, emphasized yet more by the low-end tweaks, crowd-hyping drum edits and melodic refrain that comes courtesy of a stylophone – the 60s-made synthesizer beloved of David Bowie and Kraftwerk. Three minutes in and we’re gifted an instantly addictive, quintessentially Booka Shade bass hook that draws us into a Korg-assisted breakdown so huge it feels as if the whole dancefloor might capsize! On the flip, the dub mix is a darker, more minimalist affair which early on locks into a fierce, spellbinding bass and drum lattice, with deranged, disorienting effects and drum fills peeling off it. This is serious, seductive and mind-bending house music for the party’s crazier moments. ‘City Tales’ appeared in a different version on the Fabric mixCD by Booka Shade’s friends and label mates M.A.N.D.Y.. For a long time, M.A.N.D.Y.’s Patrick was the only person who had a copy of this mix, and the Booka guys forgot about it, until Patrick started telling them about the overwhelming dancefloor reaction he was getting when he played it out. So here we have Booka Shade’s ‘neon dub’ of ‘City Tales’ – an uncompromising, dark but delicately arranged dancefloor scorcher that sets juddering vocal samples to unbelievably crisp drum sounds and devastatingly simple, heads-downbass action. With a rhythm at once utterly rigid and perfectly elastic, ‘City Tales’ boasts