Boys Noize, the German/Iraqi artist, producer, and DJ, releases a longtime live-favorite, “FVKVRVND,” ahead of his return to HARD Summer Music Festival next weekend, Saturday, August 3rd, in Inglewood, CA.
We are in the midst of a lockdown-incubated “everything revival” where 148 BPM is the new 128, raging is the new raving, and the underground rules once again. This is a welcome change for HARD, who, ahead of HARD Summer 2024, are sending a message through their label’s forthcoming Boys Noize release “FVKVRVND”—namely, that HARD will be serving what their name says, and that they are not, in fact, fvcking arovnd.
With the “FVKVRVND” single, Boys Noize bottles the lightning of the techno zeitgeist into an anthemic Molotov cocktail. Immediately locked in and propelled forward by the inhale-exhale of the 4/4 rhythm, the track slowly increases the voltage of its low and menacing portamento sawtooth—an all-but-forgotten signature of aughts electro that sends prickling waves of electricity across the skin. The buzzing bassline echoing in the distance becomes a looming, existential threat, revealing what those steady, heavy breaths are running from. After the wide expanse of the buildup, the claustrophobic drop squeezes the chest and rattles the gut. Discrete details have outsized effects, like Boys Noize‘s exclusive use of open hi-hats giving the drums a live punk quality, and the low-pass filter coaxing strange, organic harmonics out of the synth. The piercing alarm cry of some synthetic animal warns when danger reappears on the horizon, back for the track’s second round. Don’t mistake this ripper for a retro record, however; “FVKVRVND” doesn’t resurrect a genre, only a vibe. And this summer, the vibe is hard.
