Boys Noize's Power fizzles and sputters on turntable

By Kyle Barnhart     10/1/09 7:00pm

When Alexander Ridha, better known by his stage name, Boys Noize, announced that his heavily-anticipated sophomore release would be entitled Power, people got excited. And for good reason.After all, 2007's Oi Oi Oi was a stellar debut by the German DJ and a masterpiece of the contemporary electro house movement. Power's audacious title conjured up images of melting speaker stacks, lasers moving over sweaty, dancing twenty-somethings at 160 beats per minute and brownouts in European rave districts. There was certainly no reason to expect anything less: Boys Noize has been known to deliver the goods.

And yet I'm left wishing that Power had more ... power. Ridha has traded a healthy stack of Oi Oi Oi's raw, danceable energy for a newer sound that lacks serious cohesion. One minute, the album is paying tribute to late '90s techno and dance; the next, I'm being assaulted by mechanized vocals and warped drum beats. Still, a few tracks shine through the confusion, mostly near the end of the album, to give us a healthy taste of the Boys Noize we've come to love. While Power may not live up to its name, it still puts out an honest effort and gets points for aiming the genre in a new direction.

It's apparent that Ridha isn't exactly barking out musical orders to get up and dance the way he did on Oi Oi Oi from the first few moments of "Gax." And that's not a bad thing. Instead, he's happy spending Power's first minute setting up an ethereal and spacial soundscape before digging into the routine four-on-the-floor. The track is reminiscent of Oi Oi Oi's "Shine Shine," shifting back and forth between simple melodic bliss and an enjoyable (albeit soft) dance beat.

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But whereas "Shine Shine" was an pleasant anomaly in the midst Power had more ... power. Ridha has traded a healthy stack of Oi Oi Oi's raw, danceable energy for a newer sound that lacks serious cohesion. One minute, the album is paying tribute to late '90s techno and dance; the next, I'm being assaulted by mechanized vocals and warped drum beats. Still, a few tracks shine through the confusion, mostly near the end of the album, to give us a healthy taste of the Boys Noize we've come to love. While Power may not live up to its name, it still puts out an honest effort and gets points for aiming the genre in a new direction.

It's apparent that Ridha isn't exactly barking out musical orders to get up and dance the way he did on Oi Oi Oi from the first few moments of "Gax." And that's not a bad thing. Instead, he's happy spending Power's first minute setting up an ethereal and spacial soundscape before digging into the routine four-on-the-floor. The track is reminiscent of Oi Oi Oi's "Shine Shine," shifting back and forth between simple melodic bliss and an enjoyable (albeit soft) dance beat.

But whereas "Shine Shine" was an pleasant anomaly in the midst for its stark soundscapes, á la Simian Mobile Disco, and has one of the catchiest hooks on the album. The experimentation can be appreciated but still feels a bit awkward for Boys Noize.

"Sweet Light" finally kicks the wattage into Power as listeners are treated to the blend of mechanical noises and powerful melodies that made Boys Noize famous in the first place. The fades, samples and beats of "Sweet Light" pay respect to the dance of yesteryear while avoiding the repetition of your favorite late '90s, as-seen-on-TV dance mix CD. "Nott" is my favorite track of the album - the truly successful result of all this monotonous experimentation. It's progressive, yet accentuates the Boys Noize sound better than any other track. With just a few stand-out tracks and much fluff to wade through, Power is certainly not Ridha's best work. It's not even his best recent work - that award would go to this summer's Waves/Death Suite collaboration with Erol Alkan. That being said, I will be spinning "Nott" and "Drummer" in my playlists for weeks to come. And certainly Power will spawn remixes from all of electro's usual suspects.

Just don't expect this latest offering from Boys Noize to light up your townhouse like an LCD Soundsystem music video. It might jump your car after a few listens.

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