It has been two years since we have seen an album from Joel Zimmerman, AKA Deadmau5, but he is back again with his sixth studio album >Album Title Goes Here< .
Hannah Crompton
Although his previous album peaked at only number 48 in the official UK album charts, Deadmau5 has been ranked the fourth best DJ on DJmag.com’s Top 100 DJs poll for the last two years.
Best-known for the singles I Remember (featuring Kaskade) and Ghosts’N’ Stuff (featuring the lead singer of the amazing Pendulum, Rob Swire), >Album Title Goes Here< has only four tracks that feature vocal performances. This may be normal to avid house listeners, but it was a disappointment for me. I assumed that with Deadmau5’s best selling UK singles having feature artists, he would have introduced more in this album, but that is not the case.
The best track on the album is Failbait, despite being the least house-like. It features the Californian hip-hop group Cypress Hill, who have been around since 1988. What is good about this track is that Deadmau5 has not tried to drown the hip-hop band in house beats and turn it into a club-like song; he lets the rapping of Cypress Hill speak for itself. By producing this track Deadmau5 has proved he is not afraid to enter the hip-hop territory. But I do not think this is something he should make a habit of, as his DJing is too good to put aside.
Another stand-out track is The Veldt (featuring Chris James). Although it sounds similar to I Remember, Chris James’s voice is nice to listen to; it is smooth, a bit like Joel Edwards from Deepest Blue (if you remember who they are).
Overall the album is pretty deep; there are some powerful drops in there, but it is not an album to just flick through on your iPod or play when you are getting ready for a night out. This album is best to listen to when you’ve got a few hours to spare, or even better, when you are on a long journey – it is simply too intense to rush.
For someone who famously called DJs “f****** c****”, I expected a lot more from this album, and a more imaginative album title would not have gone amiss either.
>Album Title Goes Here< is out now.