At a certain point early Wednesday morning, a brilliant display of transcendent light shone forth from the stage of the 9:30 Club, and a DJ wearing a large plaster and felt mouse head began to play progressive house and people jumped, danced and screamed. Surreal and ironic, sure, but also the nature of dance music as we close 2009? Absolutely. Deadmau5, born Joel Zimmerman in Ontario, Canada, was in the house, and it was packed full of people who love him. Deadmau5’s international success is a point of great contention for those in the international EDM community, but with a modicum of talent and a heaping handful of marketing, we can all agree that he’s certainly ascended to ridiculous levels of superstardom.
Touring for his new album For Lack of a Better Name, the man/mouse played a solid set that really sucked in the standing room only, completely sold out 9:30 Club. Relying heavily on material from his previous smash Random Album Title, his progressive stylings really pleased a crowd filled with believers in his talents. As he ventured into newer material much, much further into his two hour set, it was rather clear that his desire to venture into a more truly electro direction was not as successful as maintaining his progressive roots. Favorites like “Faxing Berlin” and the collaboration with Kaskade “I Remember” went over extremely well, as the crowd, very very well acquainted with the catalogue of Deadmau5 came to party, and absolutely succeeded. There’s nothing quite like a Deadmau5 live event, as in the crowd, alongside happily raving kids and adults, you see people outfitted in homemade Deadmau5 mice helmets of their own, just as colorful and glowing eyed as Zimmerman’s. The talent in composition of Deadmau5 in his element is strong, however, at a certain point, the commercial marketability of the nature of what he’s doing definitely assaults you, and you get sucked into the conceptualization and power therein. It’s clear and obvious in how well he’s motivated and captured the minds of his fanbase as to why he’s DJ Magazine’s #6 DJ in the world after a career spanning less than five years. Deadmau5, like the Guettas, van Buurens and van Dyk’s than occupy those top spots alongside him aspires to more than just a night at the club. He becomes a full scale sonic and personal experience.
Deadmau5 was preceded by the UK’s Burns, another wunderkind, the 23 year old DJ having caught the ears and eyes of most everyone in the EDM universe with a style that combines the best of the pulsing breaks and other elements of Chicago house with an avowed love of French disco. Burns’ set started with some UK 2-step, then meandered into and out of the realms of his own compositions, and a take on the year’s best of, including one of the better drops of Sidney Sampson’s “Riverside Motherfucker” I’ve heard all year at a peak time, and ending with some non offensive, not truly face melting dubstep. For a crowd trending progressive, the heavy electro and dubstep influence of the set was appreciated, if not fully grooved to. Burns, who counts the UK’s artist of the year Calvin Harris as a friend and key influencer, definitely did well in his role, if his inclusion seemed more a statement on his rising to prominence stature internationally than any particular fit into the shenanigans of the evening forthcoming. I’d love to see Burns close in a smaller room, as he seemed stunted and not as effective in the role of playing behind Deadmau5. Burns definitely should be checked for, and is a star on the rise in the international electronic dance music universe.
Possibly the biggest eye opener of the evening was opener Kim Fai. Fai, a UK staple, provided the perfect opening set for the evening. Keeping things highly minimal and funky house influenced, built to the crescendo of dropping an edit of Kid Sister’s new hit dance single “Right Hand Hi,” which indeed got a great proportion of the crowd to do just that. At a time in the dance music community where actual quality opening DJs, who get and understand the concept of being an opening DJ are at an all time low, this was a pleasant breath of fresh air.
In final, this was the Deadmau5 show. Lock, stock and barrel. Say what you will, but the man with the mouse head is definitely in control, and the room won’t stop grooving for awhile as he has definitely arrived and is, for the foreseeable future, here to stay.
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