Boys Noize is one of the few artists who can say that they have been making electronic music and working as a DJ for over half of his life. Quickly establishing himself as an amazing talent behind the decks, his sets have become a staple to festivals around the globe not only for their technical prowess but for their showmanship as well. It’s no wonder Rolling Stone voted this Ultimate Music Experience artist amongst the Top 10 “DJs Who Rule The Earth.”
Born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, Alexander Ridha has been finessing his skills on the decks from an early age, “My first DJ gig was in a proper house club in Hamburg when I was 16, supporting a local hero at the time, Boris Dlugosch. I was playing stuff by Mateo & Matos or Theo Parrish, a lot of Guidance Records releases, a couple of Masters At Work tunes. The first French stuff started to hit hard as well around ’97 and ’98 and from then I got more and more into electro labels like Gigolo Records.” Gaining traction on the DJ circuit, Ridha opened for acts like Felix da Housecat and DJ Hell, the latter of which released some of the earliest Boys Noize singles like The Bomb/Boy Neu EP in 2004.
The birth of social networks like MySpace proved to be very beneficial for the young talent, “I was very lucky, I have to say, because my music was only released on vinyl until then and it was the first time that people everywhere could listen to my music easily. I had a great deal of output at that time — a lot of 12″s and remixes — and it was so lucky that regular people outside of the DJ world were able to listen to my music.” Though his early productions were on respected labels like Kitsuné Music and Turbo Recordings, in order to retain full artistic freedom, Ridha established his imprint Boysnoize Records in 2005. “I don’t compromise when it comes to music,” he says, “I do what I think is cool and what I like and not what the market wants or people may expect. Maintaining artistic freedom has always been the most important thing to me — for my own music and for anyone on my label.”
Outside of his work as a label boss and DJ, Ridha has become a master in the studio. As a recording artist and producer, the Boys Noize sound is unmistakable. Amassing three albums, 2007’s Oi Oi Oi , 2009’s Power and 2012´s Out Of The Black, and countless singles and EPs, his work as a remixer is equally as impressive, making edits for everyone from Depeche Mode, Daft Punk, Feist, David Lynch, Santigold, and Scissor Sisters. Lest we forget his collaborations with heavyweights like Snoop Dogg, Erol Alkan, Mr. Oizo, and more recently, with Skrillex under the moniker of Dog Blood.
Now that the dust is starting to settle from his massive Go Hard EP released in summer 2013, you can find Boys Noize making audiences go hard all across the globe. Catch his critically-acclaimed set when Boys Noize makes his way to South Padre Island, Texas for Ultimate Music Festival on March 13-15, 2014. Tickets are now available, buy yours today!
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