Here's a music truism: by the time you discover a fresh sound, the guy who started it has moved on to something else. Such is the case of German electro-tech producer Boys Noize, who says he's already over the indie dance sound that he helped pioneer.
'The kids love those kinds of sounds,' sighs the artist also known as Alexander Ridha. 'It's really annoying - everyone tends to use the same distorted bass sounds. In general, I think it's great to mix electronic music with indie, but to be honest, it's nothing new or exciting to me.'
For the record, Ridha might use the word 'kids' with all the readiness of a man about to chase you off his lawn with his cane, but he turned 26 only last month.
Berlin-based Ridha describes his Boys Noize work simply as 'club music', and those with a nose for it will associate him with the more abrasive, distortion-heavy electro scene. He's cleaned up his basslines a bit though - witness recent remixes of artists such as indie folk star Feist on My Moon My Man and his 2007 debut album Oi Oi Oi, a techno-tinged piece of electro.
Ridha is compared to everyone from French electro outfit Justice, to bastard pop act Soulwax and even those grandaddies of cross-bred house music, Daft Punk. Not that Ridha cites any of them as influences, though he concedes the solo work of Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter was a bit of an inspiration. 'More from the production point of view though, I think it's great,' he says.
It's hard not to hear all of the above in his music, but Boys Noize is definitely ahead of the pack. 'To be honest, neither my hometown Hamburg nor Berlin affected my sound much. My music was always totally outside whatever was big, and there were only a few guys who liked it,' he says.