Toronto, Canada · progressive-house · electro-house · techno

Deadmau5

2 upcoming festivals

The mouse head outlasted every trend it was supposed to date with. Joel Zimmerman builds progressive house like architecture — long, patient, cold-edged, and unbothered by the drop.

Deadmau5 is the recording name of Joel Zimmerman, a producer from Niagara Falls, Ontario, who later based himself in Toronto. He came to wide attention in the late 2000s and became one of the most recognisable figures in dance music during that period, performing in an oversized LED mouse helmet and behind a cube-shaped stage rig.

His music is largely instrumental progressive house, characterised by long arrangements, repeating arpeggiated figures and a restrained approach to structure that avoids the compressed build-and-drop format common to the era. He founded the mau5trap label, which has released work by a range of other electronic producers, and he has been an outspoken commentator on production practices within the genre.

progressive-houseelectro-housetechno