- When the Suck my Deck series originally came out a few years ago on Resist, with selection and mixing by Ivan Smagghe and Damian Lazarus, there was a rather cool underground aura about it. You felt it gave you privileged access to the DJ’s private world even, a feeling enhanced by the caught-in-the-moment artwork of both albums. Then, following arcane record label decisions, the series disappeared for a while…only to be resurrected last year by New State Music with Simian Mobile Disco at the nü-rave helm. Simian’s mix might have been absolutely in synch with current electro trends, but while totally effective and convivial, it perhaps lacked the luster and character of the two aforementioned previous releases. Now it is maximalist Berliner Alex Ridha’s time to shine, and if you’re familiar with the sound and persona of his Boys Noize alias, then you really know what you’re getting into here. Nothing less, but nothing more either.
In recent months, Boys Noize’s take on producing and remixing has started to move away from its usual abrasiveness into more subtle realms, most notably on his Feist and Apparat remixes. Ridha’s Suck My Deck artwork might even suggest that he is about to pursue this softer and more personal approach by taking off his mask and showing you what his inner self is made of, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The mix is dizzyingly kaleidoscopic and noisily banging, both in essence and execution, and all about affirming Boys Noize’s take on the very sound and scene he actually helped create. The album opener sets the tone and quickly reveals Ridha’s aims: he passes Justice’s much-loved yet overplayed ‘D.A.N.C.E.’ through MacTalk and turns the song’s childish and innocent chorus into a sinister, vocoder-enhanced declaration of intent. In other words, Ridha is doing it his way. Sure, the entire nü-rave scene might revolve entirely around the Justice/Digitalism/Boys Noize triadic axis, but he is definitely the more techno and less guitar-inclined/pop/disco-tinged of the three, and it shows all over this mix.
A few oldies are thrown in here and there (Laurie Anderson’s seminal ‘O Superman’, Reel 2 Real’s surprisingly pertinent—and still fun—‘I Like To Move It’, Outlander’s rave classic ‘The Vamp’) to show you where Ridha might be coming from musically, but overall, this 34-tracks-in-over-an-hour mix is all about overlapping virtuosity, contemporary aural corrosion, and overall techno relentlessness. What it lacks in originality (you’ll find all your usual blog-house suspects like Surkin, SebastiAn, Siriusmo, D.I.M., or Brodinski on here, as well as the mandatory Boys Noize tracks and remixes), it gains in sheer velocity and intensity. That said, what it gains in vigor, it loses in subtlety. At this point in Boys Noize’s career, especially after his glorious takes on ‘Arcadia’ and ‘My Moon My Man’, you’re left wondering if this is really how he should renew a sub-genre he obviously holds close to his automated heart. But either way, though, this mix doesn’t care what you think of it and is not asking you to suck its deck: it’s dangling it all in front of your face without asking permission. Smagghe and Lazarus would disapprove, obviously, but this is how the kids are b.e.a.t.i.n.g. it these days, apparently.
Tracklist01 Justice - DANCE (Boys Noize's Teaching How To Dance Accapella)
02 Surkin - Next Of Kin
03 Jackson & His Computer Band - Apeggio
04 Sebastian - Dolomi
05 Modeselektor - Suckerpin
06 Apparat - Cheap Thrills
07 Alter Ego - Beat The Bush
08 Das Glow - Sunburnt
09 DJ Blaqstar – Shake It To the Ground (Claude von Stroke Remix)
10 Shadow Dancer - Poke
11 Shadow Dancer - Cowbois
12 Siriusmo - Mein Neues Fahrrad (Boys Noize Rework)
13 Boys Noize - Lava Lava
14 High Powered Boys – Hoes Get Down
15 Feadz – New Humanoid
16 DIM - Is You (Brodinski Remix)
17 Dj Koze - Don’t Feed The Cat
18 Lil Louis/Marshall Jefferson - Video Crash
19 Laurie Anderson - Oh Superman
20 MMM - Donna
21 Smith n Hack - b2
22 Thomas Bangalter - Spinal Beats / Smith n Hack - b2
23 Boys Noize - DeDeDepella / Thomas Bangalter - Spinal Beats
24 Das Glow - Weiss Gaz
25 Reel 2 Reel - I Like To Move It (Instrumental)
26 Auto Repeat You Can’t Stop (Paul Johnson Remix)
27 housemeister - Inodertodance/ Surkin- Ghetto Obsession (Accapella)
28 Puzique - Thomas
29 Justice - Phantom (Boys Noize's Unreleased Turbine)
30 Boys Noize - Arcade Robot
31 Outlander - The HVamp
32 Ost & Kjex - Hasta Luego Manchego (Martin Horntveth Mix) (Sisi Edit)
33 The Faint - The Passives
34 Romanthony - Wanderer