Finding little credibility or innovation in the dance music scene that surrounded him, Alex Ridha took an unprecedented break in touring to write an album of music that could actually excite him again.
As Boys Noize he set a tone with his fearless and boundary-shattering LPs Oi Oi Oi and Power, but now found himself sharing huge stages with artists that failed to push the music forward, without relying on hollow commercialism to win over the ever increasing crowds.
Sounds came from recording something, then processing like crazy in Logic. I started to mess with plugins that excited me, too, because that was all new
“Suddenly that weird term ‘EDM’ came about,” says Ridha. “It was like a US version of what we had in the ’90s with the Euro dance stuff. So, it was essentially pop music, but electronic.
"And I would find myself on these main stages with crazy acts, but it was all quite commercial. I really wasn’t satisfied with the music that came out, for me as a DJ. So, I took a year off for the first time, and started to make these records.”
The characteristic Boys Noize sound of glorious, raw analogue filth and fury would get a meticulous overhaul, with Ridha adding and dismantling more sub-genres than on previous outings.
The album would be Out Of The Black, which turns ten this year. An audio snapshot in time that rebelled against the tired electronic dance music of the era.
This power struggle of distorted styles and back-to-his-roots flavours would open with disco riffs and D Train-flavoured melodies, processed to the hilt, alongside PiL-inspired vocals on What U Want.
Then take in sub-troubling flavours and dubstep bass tones through Rocky 2, bouncy hip-hop beats and raps on Circus Full Of Clowns, before the obligatory stadium banger Stop, and a gob-smacking Snoop Dogg cameo bring us home with Got It.
“I just wanted to make music that I wanted to hear, because nothing out there sounded fresh anymore,” says Ridha. “It helped that I’ve always been an outsider. From being the only guy in school into house and techno, to now. I’ve never really quite fitted in, you know, but I’ve always felt good with that.”
That’s what I do. I make money from gigs, and buy gear that excites me
“My studio was at home. By 2011 I had a lot of equipment. That’s what I do. I make money from gigs, and buy gear that excites me. I had an Elektron Octatrack, a Dave Smith Tempest, an Arp 2600, the Access Virus, an Oberheim OB-8. Then the 808, 909, a Roland SH-5, and a TalkBox.
“I was starting to mix everything through a Chandler summing mixer. I stemmed out all the grooves, hoping that it would give me more headroom, which might have helped. Sounds came from recording something, then processing like crazy in Logic. I started to mess with plugins that excited me, too, because that was all new.
“I used [Native Instruments] Massive. I fucking loved Massive. It had that really aggressive, raw bass. I started to make these really cool sequences with the LFO. That’s the best thing, when I find a sound that excites me that I don’t think was put in a certain context yet. That keeps me going.”
Out Of The Black, track-by-track
1. What U Want
“The club tracks at that time weren’t really inspiring me. So, for this, I went a back to my roots again to the rockier, punk stuff.
“I started with live drums. Obviously I put some electronic drums under it, but the main thing is real drums. Then I had these cool samples that I chopped; they were just banging. And then I put a Massive synth on that. I loved it. The sounds in some of the dubstep records from Skream and people after were some of the only things exciting to me.
“The main ‘Womp womp womp’ was Massive, and the answering ‘Diddle diddle iddle’ was the [Teenage Engineering] OP-1. I had to layer it like crazy, as it was so thin.
“I had like, probably five layers of the same sequence. And I remember I was so annoyed because it was really hard to mix.”
2. XTC
“I made this the night before my main stage gig at EDC, and I was so stressed. Like, ‘Fuck, I have this big gig and nothing that excites me to play for it’.
“I needed a big intro, that no one knew. So, I made this drone. And then I was like, ‘Yeah, I need a riser’. But, I had to be quick, because it was it was seriously the night before. It was just me trying to try to make it as fast as possible.
“I did this type of Kraftwerk beat, so people get in the groove, and then just dropped in a one-note arpeggio, which I’ve known for an eternity that it is the most effective thing you can do in music – just one note.”
3. Missile
“I absolutely loved that this was just a bunch of samples. Actually, I should do that again. I took a few days, and chopped up all my favourite ’70s/’80s/’90s records and jams that I’d just discovered, and put them in my Elektron Octatrack sampler. And that was the foundation.
“And I’m always inspired by Daft Punk in my drums – I just love that certain type of compression, which isn’t what you should do, I guess. But, the aesthetic is really nice.
“Then the B-part uses Massive again [mimes a ‘boom bam baowm’ sound]. I really loved making sequences, but LFO sequences. That to me was just so fresh. So, that became part of that record as well.”
4. Ich R U
“It started off with a disco record that I chopped up. Again, kind of live drums under it. And I played my real bass on it.
“I think I recorded vocals with the TalkBox, chopped it up in Logic, pumped it up like crazy, and put it back into my Octatrack. That machine had just come out, and I fell in love with it. I thought I could play a whole live show with it! But, that failed because they changed the OS, dramatically. I had an early version…
“Then Chilly [Gonzales] came in on keys on the breakdown. I had a disco sample, which was this arpeggio. And so I asked him to replay it for me. I was like, ‘Man, you’re my best human plugin!’.”
5. Rocky 2
“Again, this was a vibe of having some live drums, but with a hard electronic sound. To me, that was just the freshest, perfect, sound.
“When I listen to this track today, I still fucking love it. I know it’s just like a growly bass. But, I love the energy on it!
“I did this over two hours. I’d just make a load of LFO sequences in Massive. Then, even though it’s all MIDI, I bounced it out, then it becomes an audio file. Then I chopped that stuff up and put it all in a sampler.
“I had some of these sequences that I’d done previously in Massive. I loved them, but I didn’t have a track for it just yet. So, I chopped them up for this.”
6. Circus Full of Clowns
“This features Gizzle – she’s an underground rapper from LA who ghost wrote lyrics for my Snoop track. Before that, I didn’t even know that was a thing.
“I did this really hard beat that I made hanging out at Switch’s place, as if ever I was in LA, we’d connect.
“I played it to Gizzle and she came up with this ‘circus full of clowns’ lyric, and I fell in love with it immediately because it sounded so hard and raging.
“It was one of those tracks I never thought about putting out. But, as I was making this album, I took that as an excuse to put this other type of shit on it.”
7. Conchord
“This track features Moritz, aka Siriusmo. First of all, we are like, really, really good friends in Berlin. We’ve always played ping pong, and stuff like that. So, we’d hang out a lot. And then, I mean, we probably made about two albums worth of music together. And so it was just a logical thing for us to make a record on my album.
“We always had some crazy plans about making albums and stuff. But, unfortunately, it never worked out. But, that’s a different story….
“For this, he came up with this main riff thing, and I was just blown away. I took that, and basically built a whole track around it. And yeah, that was that one. Crazy times.”
8. Touch It
“Daft Punk-inspired. Some vocoder. And the drums are the Tempest – I think that just came out. It was one of the early tracks I made with it.
“This, in my opinion, is such an underrated song on the album, as well. It’s just the coolest, funkiest, hookiest record, that no one ever paid any attention to – even when the album came out. I don’t know why. I think it sounded a bit too ‘old-school’.
“I asked Xavier [de Rosnay] from Justice if it was too ‘old-school’, and he said something about AC/DC having their own sound. And that made me realise that maybe I have a sound, too. No, it’s not what’s out there right now. But, I just love it!”
9. Reality
“That was the epic one on the album, and I’m usually not a big fan of epic stuff. But, I went in.
“It started with chopped samples. Then I played my good old [Access] Virus, which was one of my earliest purchases. I used that for the bass. If I want to do epic pads, or big sounding stereo things, it’s the one.
“The one problem with poly synths is that they take so much space in a track. If you have a big sample, then add a big synth, it gets hard to mix. To combat that, use monosynths, because you can just make everything more direct, in the middle.
“It all turned out OK. It wasn’t really playable for other DJs, but I didn’t care.”
10. Merlin
“That one was made using the [Oberheim] OB-8. They weigh a ton! And break a lot. I had no idea how it worked. I sold it, but this was the first exciting sound I did on it.
“I had this ‘doo doo doo doo doo doo did’ sound. Like, I dunno, a Shepard tone? It blew me away, how it kept going. That melody was quite magical, hence the track name.
“I played the bass on it. And the drums are from the [Roland] 808. So, it was just basically the 808 sequencer, with Logic, into the OB-8, and it was just running at the same time. So, it was this kind of jam that I polished, obviously.”
11. Stop
“I had the album more or less done and went, ‘Fuck, I need one stupid banger!’. You know, the most simple in-your-face one, as I was missing that. And there’s always one on my albums. Yeah, just some tough shit I can play out, that’s not so ‘song-y’.
“I took the [Roland] 909, pumped up like crazy and compressed. Again, for this Daft Punk feeling. Then I used my [Roland] SH-5 for the [mimes small synth noise], and some Massive synth, as that was so fresh.
“The vocal was a recording of myself from when I was 17. I used to play in a band and we sadly only had one release. And I just chopped it up. I like to reuse my old stuff.”
12. Got It
“Yeah, Snoop Dogg on this! After millions of attempts to get together, we meet at his crib in LA. I was in this tiny room, with Bob Marley posters everywhere, as he was Snoop Lion then. And, there was a kid who rolled him blunts all night, who was also his engineer.
“It was already 4am, and still he didn’t record anything. He was in the other room playing games with his homies. Then after ages I was told he’d fell asleep. So, we just left. I didn’t think it would ever come off. Then at 10am I get a call saying he’s done it. I could imagine him rapping with a shower cap on!
“Now I have a record with Snoop Dogg! Like, my life’s complete, you know? I mean, even though it didn’t fit the album at all. Oh, and you should see the video!”
