Deadmau5 best 5 videos & biggest ever tour
- Nov 25, 2010
The mau5 is back!
The world’s biggest electronic artist, Joel Zimmerman, returns to the UK in December to embark on his biggest tour to date, which includes a headline slot at London’s legendary Earls Court.
Better known by his alias deadmau5, the Canadian rodent has assembled an impressive array of support for the tour including BBC Radio 1’s Zane Lowe, one of the hottest dubstep acts on the circuit in Magnetic Man, self proclaimed re-inventor of disco Calvin Harris, electro duo Stanton Warriors and dancefloor favourite Kim Fai.
Virgin Music’s resident mau5 fanatic Jordan Halford has already seen DJmag.com’s 4th best DJ on three occasions and guest blogs on his top 5 tracks.
5. Faxing Berlin
Widely considered by many hardcore mau5 fans as one of his signature tracks from breakthrough album, ‘Random Album Title’, alongside ‘Not Exactly’, this melodic, progressive house tune dominated almost every thinkable dance chart and sold over 30,000 units on Beatport alone.
A broody, piano-fuelled acoustic intro accompanies the original mix in both his live shows and the album, courtesy of Chris Lake, and shifts smoothly into a warm, synthetic wave complete with a stomping, energetic house beat.
4. Raise Your Weapon
Sampled throughout many of his live shows in 2010 and causing UStream, Twitter and Facebook to explode with over 9,000 viewers tuning in to a live feed from his studio in New York, ‘Raise Your Weapon’ appears to be the cornerstone of his third artist album, ‘4x4=12’ and is a blossoming indication of the mau5’s evolution as an electronic artist.
This hybrid features the hypnoising lyrics of Picture Book singer Greta Svabo Bech and drops into a filthy dubstep beat. But whilst signaling a potentially new direction for the mau5 and also attracting a new fanbase, it might leave his traditional supporters, myself included, slightly disillusioned.
3. Not Exactly 2010 (Ghosts In The Shell Remix)
Similar to ‘Faxing Berlin’, the original mix was one of 2008’s biggest tunes, proving a massive hit with the likes of Tiesto and Armin van Buuren.
However, the mau5 recently pioneered an updated remix at Coachella in 2010, featuring another piano-influenced introduction and vocals from the Japanese multimedia franchise ‘Ghost in the Shell.’
2. Arguru
Widely regarded as Zimmerman’s most beautiful piano concerto, 'Arguru' was written in memory of Juan Antonio Arguelles Rius, who was a well-known audio software developer and was selected by Tiesto for his ‘In Search of Sunrise 6’ compilation.
Considered an avid favourite amongst fans, the eight-minute epic begins with more harmonic piano genius, before dropping in to a bass-driven trance anthem and is usually a poignant finish to deadmau5’s breathtaking live shows.
1. Strobe (Live @ Space Ibiza 2009)
Officially released in January 2010 after becoming the International Dance Music Award’s Best Progressive Track, ‘Strobe’, received critical acclaim and became an instant highlight of his live shows.
Starting with another of his lush instrumental openings, with deep and meandering piano chords, before building up to an intense, layered and melodic break, ‘Strobe’ is simply another exquisite production.
Check out the video at 3.04am and 100 decibels live from Space, Ibiza!
Here are the Deadmau5 tour dates, including that all-important show - Deadmau5 at Earls Court...
Bournemouth – O2 Academy - Wednesday 8th December
Leeds – O2 Academy - Thursday 9th December
Manchester – Manchester Central - Friday 10th December
Coventry – Ricoh Arena - Saturday 11th December
Glasgow – Braehead - Friday 17th December
London – Earls Court - Saturday 18th December
Jordan Halford
