Attn: Rob Warner

Still think Deadmau5 is the mc donalds of danec music?

i think he's showing his ability to be diverse in production line and sound, better than anyone at the moment.

new cirez d remixes are awesome and sound nothing like his usual template.

thoughts?

I haven't really dug anything he's done in a while but his forthcoming release on Play Digital is really good too. He certainly has a lot of talent, just hope he gets out of this rut he has been in and starts to diversify his sound even more.

It's funny how quickly someone gets known - for their own particular style - to the point where the style gets tiresome...more quickly for some than others...

You think? How much stuff do you listen to? You into obscure Easter European or many east coast USA labels? There are guys out there doing way more diverse styles than him (Carl Craig eats him for breakfast sorry).

He sounds largely the same still to me - even the new ones. The latest I've got of his is his remix of Bodyrox and Luciana which isn't even out yet. If he made stuff like his earlier stuff I'd be more on your wavelength.

R

eric pyrdz still has his template action giong on... thats why he has his different production aliases, one for each template/style of music


btw... i'm with rob, i dont really rate deadmau5 that highly yet, know where near the ability of the likes of Mark Knight or Funkagenda in terms of quaility and diversity

Have you not been to Mcdonalds lately? They have new deli rolls and are expanding thier menu and trying to shake off the burger only tag becuase they are much more diverse than that

I was hoping he'd do something cool with the Crystal Method's Cherry Twist, the original off their Vegas album was awesome - rather than improve it he just dumbed it down to being the most generic sounding electro out there.

I agree. Nothing special at all.. maybe he even had the track ready to go and just added their bits.

MattT: I don't rate Mark Knight that highly in terms of diversity. He has his sound, as does everyone, but his stuff hasn't really done it for me often at all. Nice tunes, just ho-hum undecided when I hear them - nothing sticks as out as "WOW, I've gotta have that tune".
Deadmau5 is in that category for me because of the lack of 'wow' factor.

R

is a sound like a brand i wonder

his shit stinks like old people in a rest home waiting to die. Was reading he has had over 100 releases/remixes this year alone..

how many of those will be playable or even remembered in a year’s time.. two maybe three?

i hate producers that go for quantity over quality.

Also some interesting reading over on the GU boards about his ability to interact on a social level. He seems like the new generation of socially deficient nerds who interact better in cyberland than the real world. Bet you he started off with a cracked version of Ableton Live too.

ps- his Cirez D mix is shite, nothing new. The Hunterman mix totally owns it.
Im even proud to say I downloaded it off soulseek and it hit my recyle bin quicker than the tranny porn that I mistakinly downloaded.

Does anything interesting ever get said on those boards? They're the pinnacle of how bad message boards can be culture-wise.



He was an engineer for other people I think.. so maybe was using Protools.

R

His Cirez D mix is ok. Nothing great, but better than most of the gash he's being releasing of late. The original mix is still the one for me though.

This is the case with 99.8% of electronic music anyway, it is by nature rapidly evolving and highly disposable which is also much of it's appeal.

To me a lot of this ranting sounds like tall poppy syndrome.

You can say the The Hunterman mix totally owns but this is entirely subjective as the production quality etc is about on par. I would play any of the new remixes just at different times.

It pays to bare in mind that his music is meant to be simple, it's meant to be clean and that's how he likes it and I respect that about him.

Why do you think his latest release is called 'Everything's complicated'? He's making a statement about his view of the scene and maybe even life in general.

Because his music is so clean and well engineered it's extremely easy to manipulate and effect in the mix hence why you will see the likes of James Zabiela dropping a lot of his work and to devastating effect. A track can take on a whole new life when mixed well by a pro.

He pumps out a lot of tracks but so what? I just pick the few that I like and they are just a small part of the whole show, it's how you put it with everything else that counts.

These are my picks for his best work:

deadmau5 - everything after
deadmau5 - faxing berlin
hybrid - finished symphony (deadmau5 remix)
jorgensen - untitled (deadmau5 remix)
tom neville - slide (deadmau5 remix)

oh tall poppy LOL!!!

the guy makes shit formulated dance music.. and your all buying into it... i guess it is xmas time

i would agree he has used a template for alot of his tunes. i would also say hes far from shit as a producer. his drums, percussion and synth work has been clean and crisp. not sure how that equals shit?

and what.

I don't see how the Hunterman mix is any less formulated than Deadmau5's.

I think dance music has become far too formulated in general but that's a whole other discussion.

This topic is hilarious.

To answer Kurt's original question: "Still think Deadmau5 is the mc donalds of danec music?"

Answer: Yes. Moreso than ever. If he made more tunes like 'Orca' or 'Outta My Life' I'd be less inclined to think so - but he seems to have stopped making that sort of stuff.

Anyway... everytime I hear "a bit sketchy" I crack up. awesome party tune.

R

Dance music is formulaic.

Just got this link: http://www.myspace.com/deadrat6



R

I hear Deadrat6 is a Marcus Schossow & Maor Levi (Maori). Kinda sounds like Deadmau5 with a Trance twist.

Not great work though.

if i could be bothered i would go find something funny about carl craig.

Go listen to Paperclip People "Throw"... and then take a look at what year it was made.

R

simular in ways yes.

Funny how Teaser was pretty much a tribute song to much of the Paperclip People tracks... his best track for sure, but strange how the remixes are both missing the ENTIRE point of the song. Ah well.

Good fodder for the masses tho. Forgettable none the less.

i would like to invite warner, drake, davies and all the other know it alls to put your money where your mouth is...

tunes, mixing and beers sometime????

would they do it though or would they continue to sit behind the computer and talk it up.

The purpose being what? Comradere? Oneupmanship?

R

I missed this bit before...

(not wanting to convince you of anything - just to demonstrate how different our early DJing days were compared to yours)

That 'prog' you like.. I was buying tunes which are now considered as the early beginnings of prog when they were just freaky records which didn't sound like anything else and sat on the shelf untouched for weeks. I thought, "I'll give that a go". That was in 1993-ish. Drake was buying tunes around the same time which sounded 99% the same as modern minimal house - when most others thought it was a miss-pressing with nothing but clicks on it.

(This is the same time that Terminator 2 had amazing FX, cellphones came in brief-cases and the WWW was invented - you needed a PhD to use it. When David Koresh was popular in Waco, you sang along to mum's Whitney Houston CD because she was the best musical artist in the world. Before black people were allowed to vote in South Africa, OJ Simpson (didn't) murder his wife, the TV shows Friends existed or when Sam was still driving an ambulance on Shortland Steet.)

And you think playing a new Pryda tune is showing some sort of musical vision?

R

lol

singing along to whitney houston

well i bought my first tune in 97 so not that much different.

playing a new pryda tune isnt showing musical vision but in new zealand crowds are uneducated. they need to relate to something.

rechon you would get booked more if you played something you obviously liked and people could relate to rather than the third cut tracks?

also production quality plays a massive part imo having a ground breaking sound in a track means nothing unless the other parts sound good.

What a great topic...

keep it comming lads.

I couldn't disagree more. Production quality is a wanky, overrated notion. Making tunes which sound good is important - but production quality isn't the primary source of that quality. Many records by Moodymann, Carl Craig, DJ Sneak, Derrick May etc which were instant classics were made extremely poorly by today's standards - yet when someone plays them people marvel at the rawness and funk. When people try to remake these tunes they usually suck because they can't recreate the vibe which the original had in a perfect digital environment. (so they usually add lots of wooshes and reverbs etc to attempt to fill it all in)

A groundbreaking track which is actually groundbreaking wont be comparable to other tunes (almost by definition) so trying to judge it on it's cleanness or loudness is completely besides the point. If those were important factors then DJ Sneak would never have released any of his early records. His flawed set-up allowed him to create his own distinct sound.



You mean, if I played music I didn't really enjoy but played it because lots of other people obviously did, then I would get booked more. Doh... I agree. But then I would be doing something I don't enjoy, something I strive to avoid ever becoming because DJing is a personal passion - not a way to make money or get as many gigs as I can.

I play the tunes I think are solid, quality tunes - not intentionally 'third cut' tunes which no-one knows. I have no problem playing tunes people know at all - but only the ones I think fit.

As for NZ crowds needing something they relate to.. If you treat them as idiots then that is what you'll end up playing to. There is no need to play any single track (or artist) in any set ever. There are always other options which will bake the cake just as well. That is the best thing about DJing - no single record makes any difference in the scheme of a set - if it does, then you should give up now.

R

first of all some of the best/classic tracks in all genres have been made from a simple melody that works. its all about the hook it always has been.

the producers you have mentioned that made instant classics were poor quality back then. well of course the technology wasnt as good as today.

do you think they made the tracks in poor quality on purpose? or did they do their best?

making the melody/hook sound good and fit is what will seperate the av from the awesome these days anyways.

making music that is good has nothing to do with 'ground breaking' sounds etc.

all the producers you have mentioned are one particular sound/genre. there are other genres rob.

just because carl craig was making stuff that sounds similar to todays stuff in 1994 doesnt mean producers of today arent making good music.

every single dance genre has good music in it.

good on you for only playing what you love and are passionate about. i agree with you there. pity its not what crowds can relate to in nz anyways.

is it about the dj or about the people?

that comment tells me you would rather play a tune for yourself then something for the people. i agree to play what you love but you also need to play for the people.

DJ Sneak - tracky chicago disco
Moodymann - dubby, live element deep house
Derrick May - detroit techno, often with latin influences
Carl Craig - 'Blade Runner' house, avant garde electronica.

I can't see how they are that similar.

As for:

I'm not sure you got the drift of what I meant. IF you think you have to play a particular tune within any set then you're short-sighted. There is no tune you play which couldn't be substituted for another if you put your mind to it. If you (generic 'you') hold onto certain tunes as being the pillars of your set then it showings a lack of one of the most important skills required to be a good DJ - adaptability.

And the cliche of playing for the people is a throwaway line used as a justification for playing the easy tunes. It actually means: "the object of DJing is primarily to entertain the people present, hopefully so they dance". Most people seem to warp this into "I have to play the tunes people know, because they wont dance otherwise."

That is applying retro DJing thinking to modern dance music and will mean in five/ten years time you wont have improved your craft - you'll just have more music in your collection - which means jack unless you're happy to just be playing big tunes to people. More importantly to people who don't care and will move onto the next thing the second it comes along.

Different strokes for different folks.

R

i never said playing stuff people know ie the hits or classics. i said playing a sound your particular audience can relate to. there is a difference.

there are two types of people in the scene...

the ones that actually go to see a dj or djs for their unique sound even if they play well known tracks or not. then there is people that follow the pack which is more so prominent these days.

we could go on and on...

im signing off in this thread now its been healthy chit chat. needs more in this forum

brisbane new years should be a gooden.

Still waiting...

havent bought a deadmau5 release since i dont think and yes 'oh so samey'. not really into his work with cascade either. im sure hes making a fortune though.

and mark knights remix of yet another classic is average at best. the tv rock remix (waits for abuse from the prog police) isnt bad though.

manuel tur is making some seriously good beats at the moment.

Kurt, Didn't you had around copies of Tiny Dancer? ok so that was 4 months ago...

the tv rock remix (waits for abuse from the prog police) isnt bad though.[/quote]

Ha ha.. I hadn't heard it so googled it... The top search result is a bootlegged file download link.
http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&q=TV+rock+lil+mo+ying+yang+reach&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

That basically tells you a lot about TV Rock. I.e. They are the fodder of P2P jockeys.

R

Ok.. traxsource sample sounds like their usual utter tosh, full of white noise, wooshes and siren crap. The bit which sounds good to me is the bassline - which is just the original bassline in any case.

New thread topic. Are TV Rock the new Angello/Ingrosso or the new Thunderpuss?

R

TV Rocks bassline is nothing like the original bassline from 95

Huh? From the clip on traxsource is sounds exactly the same - notes, timing, bounce etc. They just used a different synth.

R

notes and timing ya agree, the synth is more mid range sounding to me.

Altho it's only from listening to the clip I agree that it isn't that bad. Nowhere near like some anything else of their's I can recall.

'Reach' had some other sick mixes done on a European label by Basement Jaxx and Alcatraz which still sound amazing. Pitty they're not available digitally...

R

I'm still working on this. Feels to me like I'm not missing out on anything going by what I hear out there amongst the first cut tunes crew.

And.. also seems to me like Deadmau has maintained the consistency mentioned throughout this thread. Two years and counting.