A mixture of old and new tracks, For Lack Of A Better Name is the follow-up to Canadian dance producer Deadmau5’s breakthrough record, Random Album Title, which was released last year. It’s not too hard to figure out Deadmau5’s appeal – his music is very atmospheric, whilst also possessing the kind of thumping electro beats guaranteed to go down a storm at festivals and in packed nightclubs.
For Lack Of A Better Name consists of a concise 10 tracks, the majority of which are pulsating electro numbers built around infectious rhythms. The record once again demonstrates that electro-clash has been one of the most bizarrely influential genres of the noughties, with its trashy, beat-heavy aesthetic having filtered down to everyone from Klaxons and Bloc Party to any number of dance producers.
In recent times, a track I’ve been playing to death is Dirk Leyers’ sublime ‘Wellen’ from Kompakt’s Total 6 compilation, but For Lack Of A Better Name is an altogether gaudier proposition. Deadmau5 has a somewhat similar, soundtrack-influenced sensibility for sure, but really, he’s all about the pounding beats – he wants to be out on the dancefloor giving it loads, not shyly tapping his foot in the corner.
The album does suffer somewhat from a lack of breathing space – the hectic pace doesn’t let up until the (rather beautiful) low-key intro to the final track, ‘Strobe’, although even that morphs into an epic dance workout. Still, whilst it may have benefited from a couple more quieter interludes, For Lack Of A Better Name remains a cracking album.