Albums like this result in multi-adjective, verbal expletives that the high judge of grammar would only allow within the unruly prose of music journalism.
Brain-blendering aural eclect-a-thon. Beep/click fusion of lug-buzzing house exuberance. Excuse the previous piffle, but the unidentifiable genre of Joel Zimmerman’s (Deadmau5) masterpiece batters through a confluence of electronic exploration, obeying no rules and taking no prisoners, yet preserving a perfectionist’s consistency throughout.
This Canadian re-work wizard is an assured purveyor of infectious beats, and 2008 has been a year of countless critical confirmation. His Mau5trap label has managed 72,000 unit sales and holds over 100 licences. Add to this a giant mouse head helmet (during live performance) with strobe light eyes, transforming the chemically enhanced euphoria of his sets into a dazzling sentiment of pleasurable confusion within the animated masses. Said mouse was originally a poor cretin that crawled into Zimmerman’s computer in his earlier days, and died.
Individually it would be difficult to separate this album, and would-be mix tapers will struggle to define the piece with one track. The record opens with the cardiac beating of ‘Sometimes Things Get, Whatever’, as adjusted vocals guide the modest rhythm in to hypnotising culmination of beat-skipped, flanger mayhem. ‘Complications’ arrives without warning as the seamless perfection adds a humble continuity. Deadmau5’s prog-house nature is freed, and the sound bite of a heart failing on an ECG machine almost comes to serve as a paradigm of the album’s shifting nature as a whole.
The playful tone of ‘Slip’ earmarks a graceful switch in mood, furthered by consequent tracks. These tracks peak at the soaring acid-trance of ‘Brazil’, as jaunty synths dictate a flickering melody of Tiesto mould. It is the subtle ups and downs of tempo that define Deadmau5’s industrious ability to carve such engrossing 9 minute marathons, without losing the listener’s attention.
The seemless mix of the acoustica and original versions of ‘Faxing Berlin’ blend together to create a certified Deadmau5 hit, full of nostalgic emotion and set closing potential – think Frankie Knuckles and ‘Your Love’, before its lyrical re-birth. ‘Alone With You’ and ‘So There I Was’ accentuate minimalist techno, similar to ‘Not Exactly’ but without that track’s building aggression. A late album salvo is poured through ‘Arguro’, beginning with a trademark innocence that is usurped by dirty bass-line synths and Balearic beats.
Deadmau5 may have been a remixing junkie, of notable success, but it is his original piece, ‘Random Album Title’, that is breathing the real, raw ability of this talented murine master. All hail Deadmau5, and his cute little helmet.
