Boys Noize
BIOGRAPHY
You’ve probably heard of Alex Ridha, aka Boys Noize, for a while now through high profile remixes of hits such as Bloc Party’s ‘Banquet’, Kaiser Chiefs’ ‘I Predict a Riot’ or his work with labels such as Kitsune, Turbo and Datapunk.
Ridha has been DJing under the name since 1996, producing since 1998 and directing Boys Noize Records since 2005. The label has a strict diy ethic- ‘the way I handle my label and myself’, he says, ‘is by always saying ‘no’ to managers, shitty promotions and things I don’t like. It’s kinda ‘anti’ but it fits the music well’.
His self released debut, Oi Oi Oi, out in 2007, is followed this week with his second full length, Power, a title which conveys well the insistent, constantly building beats and weird electronic squeaks and moans which combine to create music which he describes as ‘a techno party made to feel like a punk concert’.
Boys Noize is synonymous with truly electrifying electro, and his second full length is hotly anticipated, combining signature dance floor drive with new found melodicism to create something refreshingly creative.
Lyrically sparse, his music has been compared to Daft Punk and Digitalism, also from Hamburg, and though there are certainly comparable elements, this does not fully encompass the originality of the sound.
His second album is out this week and shows a different side- it picks up on the theme of ‘just wanting to make club tracks’ of his debut, but is a different animal in terms of taking risks and going beyond the territory marked out in Oi Oi Oi.
Ridha was born in 1982 and grew up in Hamburg, Germany. Between the ages of six and fourteen, he practiced piano and drums. Once he reached fourteen he began to purchase records and produce music with software. At sixteen, he started to produce in a studio with a colleague who would later be known as D.I.M., who taught Ridha engineering over the next five years. When he became 21 years of age, Ridha moved to Berlin, though he does not claim to be involved in the scene there so much.
TOUR DATES:
Boys Noize has a world tour coming up to promote Power, dates below.
1/10/09 – UCD, Dublin
2/10/09 – The Academy, Dublin
3/10/09 – Warehouse, Manchester
7/10/09 – Gebaude 9, Cologne
8/10/09 – Talstrasse 9, Hamburg
9/10/09 – Alte Kongresshalle, Munchen
10/10/09 – Housemeister, Berlin
15/10/09 – Festival Della Creativita, Florence
16/10/09 – Strassbourg
17/10/09 – Zenith, Amsterdam
22/10/09 – Melkweg, Amsterdam
23/10/09 – Bataclan, Paris
LINKS:
VIDEOS:
VIDEOS:
’FRAU’:
’& DOWN’:
’LET’S BUY HAPPINESS’ (PROXY MIX):
’ARCADE ROBOT’: