Noise

CD Review: Deadmau5’s ‘Album title goes here’

Image
Annie Zaleski

The Details

Album title goes here
Deadmau5
Three and a half stars

If 2010’s 4x4=12 was a good companion to Deadmau5’s live spectacle, Album title goes here (yes, that’s what his new disc is called) demonstrates that the Canadian superstar producer grasps how to wrangle his progressive house into something resembling an accessible pop album. In some cases, he achieves this with guest vocal appearances: My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way spits cartoonish anarchy on the stomping “Professional Griefers,” Chris James adds sighing nostalgia to watery ambient-house jam “The Veldt” and Imogen Heap contributes breathy vocals over the minimal electro drips of “Telemiscommunications.” But Album title doesn’t use cameos as a crutch, instead applying smart pacing and interesting textures—video game dreaminess, squealing electro-funk, militaristic beats—along with forays into hip-hop (“Failbait”) and trip-hop (“Sleepless”)—to create emotionally resonant music. The resulting combination of melancholy, dread, loneliness and joy conveys much more depth than the average electronic album.

Share

Previous Discussion:

Top of Story