Booka Shade make intelligent house music with enough melodic interest for their music to cross over and interest an indie crowd.

But they’re not as hip as Hot Chip and don’t reference rock as much as Soulwax. Thus there were none of the interminable queues that plague this festival before the show.

The German duo are, however, are techno pioneers whose every move is scrutinized by the dance music media. They are also accomplished musicians.

They’ve been making music together for 25 years. First as Planet Clair, then in Frankfurt as Degeneration.

They penned a few pop hits for German major labels before making their home in Berlin, where Booka Shade grew with the launch of the Get Physical label.

The apprenticeship means they know it’s no fun to watch two DJs bouncing up and down in front of laptops. Both decked all in black, the professional Euro-producers, they played live.

They picked the best of 2006‘s Movements - Body Language, Mandarine Girl, In White Rooms - plus tracks from across the back catalogue and some newbies from a record number five due, with any luck, later this year.

They’re at their best when the passion for percussion and rhythm is up front, driving the four to the floor tracks harder, making the giant basslines and big melodies which make Booka Shade a different proposition sing.

Walter was camped behind a rig of electric drum pads which he battered as if his life depended on it.

Arno, surrounded by analogue synths and laptops, ping-ponged Kraftwerkian lines in and out, did the rock God trick of straddling two keyboards at once, and even laid down a few vocals.

They opened out the organic heart behind the mechanical sounds, and probably made a few new fans.