Meanwhile, Booka Shade’s own redefinition of dance music found its expression on their debut album, 'Memento', which drew on their background as pop producers and their ability to sculpt nocturnal yet melancholic music for the dance floor and beyond. When it was released at the tail end of 2004, 'Memento' hit with velvet-coated sucker punches, its prowling, understated menace, combined with Walter and Arno's knack of penning melodies and creating evocative moods mapping out a fresh alternative for electronic music.

Now Booka Shade are about to release their second album. After the crossover success of their 'Body Language' (together with M.A.N.D.Y) and 'Mandarine Girl' singles, which seduced crowds from Berlin to Ibiza, and a summer spent blowing festival audiences all over Europe away with their live performances, Walter and Arno sat down to pen a follow up to 'Memento'.

Unsurprisingly, the changes and experiences in their lives between the release of their debut album and its follow up have had a considerable impact on the evolving sound that 'Movements' captures. Taking in metallic electro, 80s funk, brooding downtempo soundtracks and jazzy, sun-kissed jams alongside their trademark futuristic, intricate electronic rhythms and love of catchy melodies and soaring hooks, it shows Booka Shade as the quintessentially modern electronic act.

On 'Night Falls', the taster single for 'Movements' and the album opener, Booka Shade work a spine-tingling trance riff over scuffled, hazy beats. It's the natural successor to 'Mandarine Girl' and on 'Movements', it's followed by a laid back version of their 'Body Language' collaboration with M.A.N.D.Y, its unforgettable bass soaring over a shuffling, broken beat.

" 'Night Falls' sets an atmosphere for the album, and as soon as it was finished, it was clear that it would be the first single and the opening track on the album," Arno explains. "It has an epic melody that gives it a heroic sound. We love creating atmospheres, there's no point in being dark for the sake of it." "We also wanted to present a different view of the 'Body Language' track we did with M.A.N.D.Y, to give it something new," Walter adds, explaining why they completely re-recorded every note of their biggest track so far for the album. "People love it for its club appeal, and we wanted to give it a special twist, a jazzy feeling with broken beats. "

Booka Shade also revisit 'Mandarine Girl', giving it an extra dose of spiky percussion. "It'll be nearly a year old when this comes out," Arno observes. "Not a lot of people have it on CD in an unmixed format and this version is from the live show, it has more percussive elements that work well. Of course, that hook is still there!"

This fascination with making the perfect track, capturing the perfect beat, is audible on 'Shimmer'. Its dark, bass licks and intricate percussion became a highlight of their live sets and it's also evident on 'Darko', a pulsing electronic groove that underpins wispy, spacey melodies.

There is no shortage of melodies on 'Movements'. Although it's more laid back, 'In White Rooms', climaxes with an epic hook that's as jaw-droppingly beautiful as anything Booka Shade have released. "It's perfect for that 5am, after-hours vibe," Arno believes. 'Wasting Time' starts off in moody, minimal mode before a pumping bass and a haunting vocodered vocal lend it that elusive, epic feeling unique to Booka Shade.

In marked difference to 'Memento', 'Movements' shows a lighter side to Booka Shade, inspired by time spent in Spain and Ibiza last summer. In particular, the mellow, jazzy groove of 'Paper Moon' is the kind of languid affair that's tailor made for the White Island's beach bars and restaurants. "We thought it would be cool to do a track to suit those places and, after discussing it for ages, we decided to do a track with a jazzy melody and to use jazz guitars. It's the first time that we have done this," Arno says. The beautifully plaintive piano lines and muffled chants on the interlude piece, 'At The Window', and the slow burning ambience and seductive French vocals on the album's finale, 'Lost High', mean that this blissful state is a recurring theme, and is, Booka Shade believe, a product of their diverse listening tastes.

" 'At The Window' is a transition, an interlude, the piano chords make it sound very atmospheric and cinematic, like a journey from one mood to another," Arno claims. "We listened to some DJ Shadow music and love his atmospheres, these piano-based arrangements are really our thing." " 'Lost High' is one of my favourites," Walter adds. "The music that Boards of Canada or even Sigur Ros make in a dubby, guitar based way inspired us to do something similar in an electronic, minimal fashion. This track has a lot to do with these acts and the influence that they have on us."

Further surprises are in store on 'The Birds And The Beats' and 'Take A Ride', with the duo inspired by original electro. The former bubbles along with Herbie Hancock-style heavy 80s drums and funk basslines, and is augmented by the splintered percussion that is Booka Shade's trademark.

"'Birds And The Beats' was a departure for us," Walter believes. "It's electro funk done in a modern way and it worked out well. It's not typical of what we do, it's somewhere between 'Cha!' and 'Mr Torrance' from the 'Memento' album. We played bits of 'Cha!' in our live shows and that's how this track came about."

The Detroit electro influences inherent in Booka Shade's work come to the surface on 'Take A Ride', which journeys to the darkest recesses of Motor City to lay down a starkly foreboding, futuristic soundtrack. "It sounds like it was made from metal, there is nothing warm about it," Walter says. "It is the darkest track on the album. Our music is always melancholic but with a positive end, but in this instance, it's dark and there's no way out!"

Walter and Arno's musical journey doesn't end there: they travel to the Far East for the quirky, hypnotic 'Hide And Seek In Geisha's Garden' and the off-beat, stop-start groove of 'Pong Pang'. "We wanted to do something with an Asian flavour as some people think that we are from Asia because of our name and 'Mandarine Girl'," Arno explains. "We are very interested in Asian music, its use of harmonics and its sometimes very happy nature and 'Geisha's Garden' has a happy, trippy sound." " 'Pong Pang' is the name of a kids' game in Thailand," Walter adds. "It's not a track that you could fit into a typical minimal set, but anywhere we played it, it went down well."

It's time for electronic music to move on: let Booka Shade be your guides.