Canadian electronic music producer and Mau5trap label head Deadmau5 was one of the most prominent fixtures in the dance scene of the 2010s, instantly recognizable with his signature oversized mouse helmet. Born Joel Zimmerman in Niagara Falls, the Toronto-based DJ rose to prominence in 2008 when his track “Faxing Berlin” found its way onto the playlist of legendary DJ/producer Pete Tong’s radio show. Deadmau5 soon became an important figure in the world of progressive house music. He released his work through his own label, Mau5trap Recordings, and scored a number of awards in 2008, including a Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year. He released Random Album Title that same year, along with the first volume of the remix-collecting At Play series.
2009 saw the release of the singles collection It Sounds Like, along with the mix album For Lack of a Better Name, while the studio album 4 X 4 = 12 followed in 2010. The next year, he released the DVD Live @ Earl’s Court and a compilation of Remixes. Two 2012 singles, “Maths” and “The Veldt” with Chris James, landed on that year’s >Album Title Goes Here<. The cleverly titled album also featured appearances from producer Wolfgang Gartner and vocalists Imogen Heap and My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way.
Deadmau5’s next full-length, While(1<2), was released on Mau5trap/Astralwerks in June 2014. Named in reference to the programming language used to loop indefinitely, the double album contained the singles “Avaritia” and “Seeya,” featuring guest vocals from Colleen D’Agostino, as well as remixes of How to Destroy Angels’ “Ice Age” and Nine Inch Nails’ “Survivalism.” 5 Years of Mau5 arrived at the end of 2014 and celebrated the Mau5trap imprint’s fifth anniversary. After a brief period when the future of his Deadmau5 persona remained uncertain due to personal challenges, Zimmerman returned to his music in the spring of 2016 with the single “Snowcone.” That track would appear on his eighth LP, W:/2016ALBUM/, which was released in December. ~ Chris True & Neil Z. Yeung