Boys Noize

Teutonic techno troubadour Boys Noize (otherwise known as Berliner Alex Ridha) returns with his third major LP, Out of the Black, released on his Boys Noize Recordings. While Ridha has ascended to the dizzying heights of DJ/producer superstardom and a much larger audience for his unique brand of buzz saw techno house, we are now experiencing a type of EDM saturation. Electronic music, always secondary to rock and hip-hop in North America, has finally made it onto the main stage, and while universal acclaim and tidy profits are always a plus, we must remember that electronic music fans and producers, for the most part, are notoriously protective of their art form. So, have fame and the pursuit of mainstream plaudits muffled the Noize? Luckily, no. Fans of previous Boys Noize release Oi Oi Oi will be pleased to find the elements that made that record so vital are still present: the tight syncopation that drops in and out of view so thrillingly, vocoders galore and a healthy disregard for subtlety. Has Boys Noize broken any new ground with Out of the Black? Not really. Will people care? No. As the old saying goes: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."