Deadmau5
>album title goes here<
(Ultra Records)

It might just be the appeal of those iconic mau5head ears, but that damn Deadmau5 is so hot right now. His new album, playfully titled >album title goes here<, gives a glimpse at why.  While the album has plenty of the signature Mau5 electronic instrumentals, it also has a noticeably larger breadth of tracks with vocals featuring collaborations with artists like My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way, Imogen Heap, and Cypress Hill.

The 13 tracks start off with an intense one-two punch with “Superliminal” and “Channel 42,” which are really the type of dance tracks Deadmau5 does best and leads into an 8-minute edit of the first single, “The Veldt,” which features Chris James on vocals, a singer Deadmau5 found on the internet.  The track is based on a Ray Bradbury short story from 1950 and was produced just before the author’s death, but the lyrics parallel as an anthemic song to electronic dance music with lines about the “happy life with the machines.”

The album continues into more eclectic territory and almost comes off like a compilation at times due to the variations in style. The album goes from songs like “Professional Griefers,” which feels almost militaristic compared to 80’s new wave soundscapes of “October” and the throwback style rap of Cypress Hill in “Failbait,” which blends EDM and hip hop in an interesting and effective way, but also has an antiquated feel. Ultimately the album will help Deadmau5 continue to tear up a plethora of high school house parties and European discotheques. However, the Canadian electronic maven seems to be playing to the audience more than breaking new ground.