Alex Ridha is considered one of the elite tastemakers in dance music having spanned a triumphant 10 years with his label Boysnoize Records as well as side projects such as Dog Blood, with Skrillex. Boys Noize is known for performing some of the most mind-melting sets packed with acid house and robotic electro. His presence at any music festival often lays to rest the vibes of a dancefloor with something much darker and experimental yet all too original. After years of being solely a DJ he recently decided to try his hand in the live performance field and we knew that we had to be present for his LA debut this Fall.
The ancient Mayan themed venue was a perfect place to host this historical event. Boys Noize has always found Los Angeles to be a second home full of obsessive fans (like myself) and he chose the perfect venue - with a large stage and great sized dance floor. The symbols from his recent album Mayday were hanging around the venue in massive banners, with a large sheet hung over the stage - a five minute ambient track began building the spookiest vibes to warm up his appearance. Soon the sheet was lifted to reveal Alex appearing through a dense fog with a cunning grin on his face - we were definitely not ready.
Since the release of Mayday Boys Noize has been opening with 'Overthrow', the track that echoes an all too familiar “I can break it down like this” verse and an evil build onto a Gessafelstein-like drop.
Almost every track from Mayday was carefully sprinkled throughout his sets such as the beautifully melodic 'Starchild' and the Danny Brown edit of 'Birthday' featuring Hudson Mohawke. What made his set stand out from the rest was his ability to mashup pieces of his previous works with parts of his new material. He brought back a ton of old vocoder acapellas from 2007’s Oi Oi Oi including my personal favorite My Moon My Man. The way that Boys Noize mashed up his own stuff was reminiscent of Daft Punk’s work with Alive 2007; a bold journey through their musical catalogue.
Boys Noize as a brand and concept has remained consistent since his debut record in 2007 and his live show presented how he can still manage to have a new take on all four of the LPs that he’s dropped since '07. The amount of thought that went into his show is truly unprecedented by any other electronic performer I have seen to this day and with that we thank you Alex Ridha for still showing us that there is hope for the future of experimental dance music.
