“The Mandalorian and Grogu” is nearly here.
And our first taste of the movie’s score, composed by Ludwig Göransson, has arrived from a galaxy far, far away, courtesy of a new remix by Iraqi-German artist Boys Noize (née Alexander Ridha). Listen to it below and get Boys Noize’s exclusive comments.
Ridha describes himself as a lifelong “Star Wars” fan, who jumped at the chance to contribute to the soundtrack for “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” the first new “Star Wars” film in seven (!) years.
“It’s surreal,” Ridha said of the experience. “Having the opportunity to be part of this universe (even in a small way) feels so special. I’m thrilled and genuinely honored.”
As for what he wanted to accomplish with the remix, Ridha said that his goal “was to respect the original theme while bringing it into my own world. I didn’t want to lose what makes it iconic, but twist it, reshape it and give it a new kind of energy – something that hits hard and is banging in a different context.”
He definitely accomplishes this; you can hear the familiar strains of the bass recorder in the original version of the theme, but both the movie version and the banging Boys Noize remix feel deeper and fuller. You can imagine the remix easily slipping into Ridha’s recent Coachella DJ set.
The “Mandalorian and Grogu” remix is the most recent cinematic outing for Ridha, who made an entire “Challengers” remix album for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and then collaborated with the duo for Nine Inch Nails’ “Tron: Ares” score. (They continued their team-up with a pair of Coachella shows and album under the moniker Nine Inch Noize.)
We wondered if Ridha would continue to work on movie music. “Absolutely. It’s always a huge pleasure to create music with a visual world or story in mind,” he shared. “There’s something really inspiring about creating to images, characters and narratives. I’ll definitely keep exploring this space more and more, because it feels very natural to me as a way of writing music.”
As for his favorite “Star Wars” character, Ridha picked fussy droid R2-D2, further explaining that the synth partially used to create that iconic voice (an ARP 2600) is one of his all-time favorite machines.
It’s almost like this remix was destined in a galaxy far, far away.
“The Mandalorian and Grogu” hits theaters on May 22.
