boys noize new album
About 3am sometime in January I was in a taxi with DJ Diplo heading towards some hot springs in the mountains of north Taiwan. Diplo, which the Fujirockers crew pretty unanimously selected as one of the all-stars of FRF09 and who is currently blowing up bigtime with his Major Lazer project as it tours the US, had just played a set in a Taipei club and was being unusually candid when it came to other DJs of the realm. Most were not exactly getting what one would call a lot of love, and actually, the only other DJ to get spontaneous praise was none other than:

Boys Noize.

Diplo: “That dude, he just mixes up all kinds of strange stuff you’d never think would go together, but somehow – and I don’t know how he does it – he makes it work.” High praise indeed.

Boys Noize is 28-year-old Alexander Ridha, a DJ and producer from Hamburg, Germany. He’s already got a global underground following for his infusion of banging electro nu-rave beats into house and techno, but compared to Diplo, who mines Jamaican dancehall and Brazilian favelas for raw, organic beats, Boys Noize tends to be a lot more machine-oriented. Think of him more as a Kraftwerk of the new wave of electro DJs, though he also mixes it up with Dirty South rappers like ATL’s Gucci Mane. And he’s definitely got pedigree: he’s produced for the Black Eyed Peas (Let the Beat Rock), done a song for Grand Theft Auto, and remixed Snoop Dogg, Justice, Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party and even Depeche Mode.

Check out his new video (Apr. 26, 2010 release). If you love machines and snakes in formaldehyde, this is for you!