Culture

Germany's Boys Noize to beat up city electro scene

By Shannon Aitken (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-14 07:59

Boys Noize, shot here at Coachella Music Festival, California in 2007, is a German electro DJ who will bring techno beats to Beijing this weekend. Photos provided to China Daily

Beijing attracts a lot of musical talent from around the world, but this Saturday night it will hit the jackpot with one of Germany's leading electronic musicians and producers.

Berlin-based Boys Noize, aka Alex Ridha, will be filling Star Live with his mutant style of techno.

German Alex Ridha, aka Boys Noize, has been creating mix tapes since he was 14.

Far from being minimalist, Ridha's music is a cacophony of febrile, grinding sounds, festooned with strings, percussion and piano. It rises and falls, and its experimental style takes you on a journey that might well send you loopy.

Born in Hamburg, Germany in 1982, Ridha began creating mix tapes for himself and his school friends at the age of 14. When he was just 16 he was already DJing for the likes of DJ Hell and Felix Da Housecat, a daunting cast of musical heroes for a teen on the rise.

Ridah draws on a myriad of styles and influences to create his sounds and he is a prolific remixer, reinterpreting music from artists as wide-ranging as Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, Marylin Manson, Depeche Mode and Snoop Dog. When asked to describe his sound, he gives an equally all-encompassing picture.

"I never get stuck on one sound; my attitude toward music is what holds it all together I think," he said.

"If I have to choose a word to describe my style, I'd say 'modern-oldschool-techno-power-yeah'."

In 2005, Ridha diversified his career by creating his own label, Boysnoize Records (BNR). He has now achieved 50 releases and produced beats for such acts as Black Eyed Peas and Gonzales.

"I'm really happy to work with people like Gonzales," he said.

"This is like a dream come true because he is such an amazing musician."

Ridha steps away from the decks to meet his fans at Sydney's 2009 Field Day Festival.

Having his own record label might seem like an alternative career path that takes him away from his own music, but Ridha said this is actually just a different part of being a musician for him.

"It's always great to work with someone who inspires me," he said.

"As (Gonzales') producer, I had to change to working on real orchestration with strings, violin, flutes, bells and piano. Normally you have rules in how to mix those elements, but I just trust my ears. When I work with other people, I want to learn something from the other guy, I think that is very important."

Ridha released Boys Noize's first album, Oi Oi Oi, in 2007 on BNR. A synth-laden compilation of danceable beats, influenced by techno and house, Oi Oi Oi achieved something many of today's producers are now trying to achieve.

Ridah is nonchalant about the influence his music has had on others.

"I think it's something that always happens in music. After the first punk bands in the 1970s, everybody became a punk, and remember when disco died because too many producers made bad music?" he said.

"Recently it was the same with minimal techno. There are always a handful of guys that make something exciting and when other people pick up that sound those five people are somewhere else already."

Technological developments over recent years allowed Boys Noize's sound to morph. The 2009 release, Power, took on a strikingly different character. The trippy Tranmission, an experimental-style recording with surreal vocal sampling and mutating, swooping synths, is a standout track on the album.

"For me that track defines modern techno with classic electronic elements," said Ridha. "It is a timeless, powerful track."

Germany is one of the world's great hotbeds of electro talent, so to be at the top of the game there is a remarkable achievement. Having this talent perform in Beijing makes it an event not to be missed.

"Boys Noize is one of the biggest electro DJs/producers of our decade," said Maxime Bureau, founder of Beijing and Shanghai's newest music events agency, The M Agency.

"It was obvious for M to hit it hard with such a star. Shanghai isn't new to him as he went there a couple of years ago, but it was time to do it again with Beijing included."

China Daily

(China Daily 10/14/2010)