Deadmau5 took to the air with Pete Tong on Radio One on Monday the 7th to start promoting the release of his new album titled W:/2016Album (W-Drive 2016 album for those who might struggle to pronounce). It’s a perfectly strange name to fit his well thought out streak of ‘interesting’ album titles.
From the one song that’s been teased out so far, 4Ware, we think this is a true return-to-form for Deadmau5. A lot of what we had been hearing on his stream and through his Soundcloud seemed fairly experimental, so there was some concern regarding the musician’s new musical trajectory. When Snowcone was released a few months back we were curious but pleased. However, the most recent release with Kaskade in October made us very nervous and left an unpleasant taste. That said, we feel like we’re back to a core Deadmau5 feel that we know and love.
One interesting thing that many fans immediately noticed about this album, is that it seems to be the first Deadmau5 album to be released completely on his own Mau5trap records label.
For those of you unfamiliar with Mau5trap, it was a project started by Deadmau5 back in 2007. He had the skill set and the mass reach to make a record label. As one of the biggest electronic music critics on the planet, Deadmau5 figured it made sense to put his money where his mouth is and do something about the decline of his music scene. It made for a great opportunity to further support the kind of sound he appreciates, instead of sitting on the sidelines waiting for the genre to collapse.
All of his previous albums have gone through the likes of Ultra Music and Virgin EMI, so this is particularly interesting. Either Deadmau5 has reached musician critical mass and doesn’t need backing, or more than likely he’s just tired of the system and record executive oversight. Of course, this is just a dash of speculation and a little bit of connecting the dots.
W:/2016Album is due to be released on December 2nd, 2016 – just in time for the holidays!
[H/t] Deadmau5 Facebook , Radio One