CD REVIEW: Deadmau5’s 4×4=12

THE DEAL: The year’s hottest DJ, aka Joel Zimmerman, releases his third album.

THE GOOD: For fans of the electronic DJ genre, and Deadmau5 himself, the release of his third album will be the highlight of a holiday season. Sofia Toufa offers up some vocals on “Sofi Needs a Ladder,” Greta Svabo Bech on “Raise your Weapon” to break up some of the usual repetitive techno groove.

THE BAD: I’m not going to beat around the bush — I’m not a fan of music like this. Even Deadmau5 himself says he’s not a musician. His recipe is simple — create a simple 4/4 beat, splash a bit of techno dazzle here and there and then repeat for roughly five minutes per song. It’s mind-numbing, droning and plodding without direction. It’s a mystery how people can tell one techno DJ apart from the next or what makes Deadmau5 different from anyone else. It’s a continual “thump, thump, thump” with little variation. His fans will think I’m crazy or label me an “idiot,” but this is the way most of the non-followers hear it — it’s all one long, continuous, pulsing beat that is closer to nails on a chalkboard than something we’d play in our car. Build it up, take me on a journey, but don’t just go around in the same circle for a few minutes and then move on to the next song.

THE VERDICT: If your favorite nights are spent up in the club, grinding against someone with a furious abandon, listening to monotonous thumping electronic bass while strobes flash and lasers bounce, all the while hoping that someone doesn’t slip you a roofie because it might fuck up the buzz of your X, this could be the disc for you.

This article appears in Dec 21-27, 2010.