Boys Noize - 'The Remixes 2004 - 2011' (BNR) Released: 5/12/11

Come the end of year it's time for the compilations to come rolling in to cash in on the desire to give your loved one's ear drums a good old schooling. We've had Gorillaz and R.E.M with their attempts at defining their careers, now Boys Noize has released his own assortment of tracks compiled from the last seven years. This is much more than a simple blast in the noggin for your granny however, these are rare tracks that you, yes you should have in your collection because they are benchmarks in the career of a figure of music royalty who continuously refuses to be pinned down.

Boys Noize is one of the most prolific producers out there - impossible to define purely by genre he is a long-standing institution that like The Chemical Brothers has unapologetically dominated the last decade of electronic music with a truly unique style. As such each track present on the roster is wholly different to the other in genre, style and sound  from electro, to techno, to house, bass and hip-hop.

The reason for this is that each of the remixes were commissioned by artists as diverse as Snoop Dogg and Marilyn Manson all the way to David Lynch and Editors. This sheer variety of artists alongside novel approaches to each remix leaves the album nothing short of a spectacle of studio work not to mention a testament to his roster of work. Ultimately the flow is tied together perfectly by his infuriatingly innovative process of extracting the essence of a song only to riff on it in a way that never fails to get the crowd moving.

Instead of whacking together a bunch of random singles for the double CD pack, the track list is one hell of a piece of work that to hunt down individually would be a mammoth undertaking. Ultimately this makes the album extremely valuable to fans both of Boys Noize as well as the featured artists.

Often remixes are overshadowed by original works, at least over time that is. But the work on here ranks among the best any dance music figure could feasibly offer, throw in a semi-autobiographical booklet that gives a little insight into each track and you're onto a winner sir.

Here we have a testament to one of the best DJs out there solidified by a remix CV so expansive that it would make even the most knowledgable music meister's head spin. If you claim a stake in dance music, are a DJ, or a fan of modern music in general 'The Remixes 2004-2011' is an addition to your collection that is beyond vital. Get it, but not for a relative, for yourself...