Boys Noize enthralls with first ‘Mayday’ remix album
Boys Noize provided the world with perhaps the best album of his career thus far in May of 2016 when he released Mayday. Alex Ridha’s fourth studio album was a viscerally thrilling and stylistically dynamic innovation on industrial techno and electro and a dutiful homage to his early influences.
While Mayday was an electrifying manifestation of Ridha’s musical motivations, the first edition of his Mayday Remixes series is, in many ways, its more refined cousin. The opener – Boys Noize’s 303 overdub of “Overthrow” – inverts the sinister juggernaut of its original mix into a deeper, acid house-driven re-imagination. The syncopated vocal sample and recognizable 303 synthesis transforms “Overthrow” through a ground-up restructuring. It shouldn’t be lost that the March 3 release date of the remix collection is a reflection of Ridha’s pervasive – and incredibly effective – use of 303s.
At many points, Remixes Pt.1 is more subdued than its virulent predecessor. The “Mayday” club version, “Dynamite” dub mix, and “2 Live” silent mix all temper their respective originals in significant ways. However, Ridha’s subtler approaches to these tracks successfully evade surrendering the compelling natures of their nascent iterations. While this more restrained triad of revisions will translate well into a club setting, their refinement brings new sonic engagement to the table through often unexpected means.
While much of Boys Noize’s Mayday remix collection veers in a softer, deeper direction than his 2016 album did, there are inarguably points in which he goes in the opposite direction. Ridha’s reprise of the experimentally sedate Poliça collaboration, “Starchild,” largely draws from the original composition before building into a formidable, sub-laden climax. Rockwell’s remix of “Birthday,” Ridha’s Spank Rock-vocalized collaboration with Hudson Mohawke, is enlivened through intricate, invigorating percussion.
The most potent example of Boys Noize increasing the energy of his original Mayday tracks is arguably the strongest of his remixes. For his collaborative remix of “Euphoria” with MXM, Ridha transfers Remy Banks’ vocals from minimalistic, cerebral original onto an utterly stupefying production backdrop. Attendees of recent Boys Noize shows will recognize this cut as a recent live staple – and for good reason. Equally clean and raucous, this take on “Euphoria” marks a fitting high point the artist’s festival and club sets alike, and is arguably the crown jewel of this round of remixes.
Boys Noize will release the the second part of his Mayday remixes on March 17
Stream Mayday Remixes Pt. 1 below:
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Categories: Music