The sixth album from Canadian dance guru Joel Zimmerman, aka Deadmau5, finds him spreading his creative wings and incorporating new influences into his basic palette of slamming house. Opening track ‘Superliminal’ is thumping electro workout that is darker and grittier than one might have expected, a description that also applies to the single ‘Professional Griefers’, featuring vocals from Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance.
Perhaps even more surprisingly, the cunningly titled >Album Titles Goes Here< also features a few detours into ambient territory. Both ‘Fn Pig’ and ‘There Might Be Coffee’ have low-key, atmospheric beginnings, although Zimmerman soon grows bored with the subtlety and each track eventually gives way to pounding dance rhythms. On the album’s best number, ‘Take Care Of The Proper Paperwork’, Zimmerman manages to restrain himself from piling on the dancefloor mentalism, opting instead for a winning mix of jagged, unsettling soundscapes and ambient washes, underpinned by a hissing, distressed rhythm.
Deadmau5 won’t be winning awards for innovation just yet, but on >Album Titles Goes Here< he is exploring new directions with some success. Highly commended.