Inside The Credits 037: Spencer Ludwig & Alexander Ridha aka Boys Noize

Spencer Ludwig and Alexander Ridha aka Boys Noize’s Merging Avenues of Stank Face Dance Music

This is an exciting post to pen because it’s the first ITC that was inspired by a recommendation by another author on Substack! Shanté, of the Things I Collected Substack, has impeccable taste and a distinct musical purview I have noticed since we followed each other on the app. On September 7th, she posted a note recommending that those of us who are new release junkies not miss listening to the new album by Gavin Turek. She claimed one should press play if “you like disco and want to have a good time this weekend!” I’m sure glad I didn’t want to experience “fomo” from this alleged good time. 

I was previously intrigued by Turek’s stylings on her Good Look For You EP in 2017, but hadn’t since been keeping track of her releases. I’m honestly unsure how I missed her debut album MADAME GOLD, but I’ll be sure to go back to that asap. In 2017, I was taken mostly by Turek’s single “The Distance” due to her effervescent hook falsetto backed by a slick fusion of disco, funk, and r&b tones. In shorter words, that song made me make a stank face. Yet, when I pressed play on her new album Diva Of The People, I could tell right away she had thrown that fusion out the window and gone for a pure disco reinvention. The album chronicles processing a romantic voyage with the assistance of a friend group through various vintage backroom dive bar dance floors where every dj has an obsession with classic disco vinyls. Turek takes that aesthetic and, with the help of her producers, filters it through the feeling of a modern club music lounge. 

While the entire record is one I will be returning to whenever I need a bit of a vibrant pick me up, its standout moment lives in what was the album’s second single “IOU.” I missed its initial release in May, but as soon as I heard “IOU” riding in my car around in LA post Shanté’s recent recommendation, my stank face from 2017 came roaring back. There’s a trifecta of sounds in the opening beat that put your right into the groove: popping percussion, dirty synth bass that bounces slyly off the drums, and choppy background vocals that sounds like a glimmering echo. This sequence is then completed by a classic disco piano and gliding vocals by Turek that feel plucked from the mist atop a foggy lake as the sun creeps in. This dynamite combination carries the song all the way to an instrumental bridge that shocks you like a loch ness monster rising from that serene lake. It's filled with a burgeoning grimy synth sequence that feels straight out of a lead up to a drop at a dubstep festival set. It’s unlike any other moment on the album and supports the silky and inventive disco rhythm like a necessary fury filled underbelly. 

This track is curated and produced by the dynamic duo of the album’s main producer Spencer Ludwig and EDM legend Alexander Ridha aka Boys Noize. Naturally, I had to find out how they came together for this essential musical moment. I tracked only their production for others, rather than their own solo projects or remix ventures, to get a taste of how they created worlds with other artists at the center. 

The journey started in 2009 with Ridha producing for Black Eyed Peas on their track “Simple Little Melody” (which is only available on an exclusive Target release of their album THE E.N.D). This is right out the gate a great example of Ridha adding some griminess to something pristine. This was the era where Black Eyed Peas had transitioned into cookie cutter pop radio musicians and this deep cut shows how their EDM adjacent hits could lean a bit dirtier with the right producer. What I found next would, surprisingly, feel like the most clear precursor to “IOU” of the whole search. Ridha executive produced the entirety of pianist Chilly Gonzalez’s 2010 album Ivory Tower, which at times explores key elements present in the eventual futuristic disco masterpiece. On a song like “Knight Moves,” the vibe is subdued Saturday Night Fever; on “Bitter Suite,” classical piano swirlings fuse with grinding synths straight out of a German techno club; and on “You Can Dance,” the arrangement evokes a multi-colored dance floor enhanced by bright soul house vocals. This was all the entrypoint that Ridha would ever need.

More missing elements in Ridha’s arsenal would arrive soon after on two immaculate tracks. He produced “Look At These Hoes” by Santigold in 2012 which helped with his progressive dance music proficiency and “Feel Right” by Mark Ronson and Mystikal in 2015 which would help him learn the science of reinventing essential nostalgia. The latter bled right into the arrival of Ludwig who would pop up in the credits as a horn player on Wale and Stokely Williams’ 2015 track “The Bloom (AG3).” His soul and dazzle-filled horns here would begin Ludwig’s journey into the perfect texture to back up Turek. The horns give Wale an open armed triumphant flow as if he’s entering on a stage in an old theater dressed to the nines rapping into a vintage jazz club microphone. Turek would eventually need this same shimmering liberation.

Ludwig would then get a trumpet assignment in 2017 for Dua Lipa and Gallant’s track “Tears Dry On Their Own (Acoustic)” that would show he could encapsulate the essence of a virtuosic diva. His trumpet lifts Dua Lipa like a gust of wind to take her above the clouds. Then in 2018, Ridha would roar back with a trifecta of tracks with 03 Greedo, RL Grime, and Elax that would add a necessary element of dirty grungy bass to execute the Turek bridge. 2019 would include two more disco grooves for Ridha with Elax as well as him producing “DHL” by Frank Ocean. The latter would be a sleek exercise in a beat transition into a dynamic bridge. 

Fast forward to 2021, where Ludwig’s first solo producer credit arrived on “Unstoppable” by Lüscher and Selma Green. The Latin twinged club music track features his horns dirtied up through filtering as well as winding grimey synths straight out of a London after hours lounge. This pivot is quite telling as it marks a clear crossover between he and Ridha’s ability to create grimey sounds.

After two rage synth infused tracks for ABRA feat. Playboi Carti and Rico Nasty feat. Flo Milli, Ridha went even further into his club disco fusion bag in 2022 on the Club Azur album for French act Kungs. This album feels like the update and progression from his earlier work with Chilly Gonzalez and the exact final touch he’d need to make “IOU.” Then the last addition necessary was for Ludwig to produce for women singers whose style was adjacent to Turek. Thus, when he first linked with her to create the entirety of Diva Of The People, he had more proficiency in her ethos. On “Magic” by Theresa in 2022 he produced a multicolored pop song with disco undertones meant for a flashy night at House of Yes in Bushwick. Then on “Umami” for GALAXARA he fused this pop mastery with more stank face inducing swagger. 

These two electric producers crashed into Turek’s inventive disco aesthetic exactly when they both were meant to. Without each of their instrumental histories it doesn’t feel like what is now “IOU” could’ve been achieved at such a masterful level. One can only wonder what would come of the three of them locking in for an entire project, allowing for the glittering boogie to collide with the angsty turbulence in a continuum. 

Inside The Credits 037: Spencer Ludwig & Alexander Ridha aka Boys Noize- The Playlists

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