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Such is his reputation now, he played live at Movement 2008 (formerly known as Detriot’s Electronic Music Festival) but, of course, there’s no such thing as an overnight sensation as all artists have a history, mostly of efforts that weren’t quite the ticket in a ‘before they were famous’ type way. In Deadmau5 case, At Play is an exception.

Even better than that, this CD comes in “10 Full Length DJ Friendly Unmixed Tracks” format. That said, even now people with tell you his best tracks are ‘Vanishing Point’ (the opener here) and ‘Faxing Berlin’. ‘Faxing Berlin’ is such a great track as Deadmau5 (aka Joel Zimmerman who was born and raised in Ontario, Canada) was at the time, that Pete Tong got his hand on it, was a humble DJ doing radio shows with Melleefresh.

‘Varnishing Point’ is a happy blend of electro tech house as is ‘Sex Lies Audiotape’ with the repeated hook in a disembowelled electronic voice of “Sex, Lies, Audiotape”. By comparison with ‘Faxing Berlin’, they seem a bit pedestrian; I know that’s a bit harsh but when you have a hit like ‘Faxing Berlin’ but it’s always going to be that way?

In that respect, there’s more ‘main room’ value in the couple of joint productions included on the CD with Melleefresh, ‘Cocktail Queen’ and ‘Afterhours’ plus the Adam K remix of ‘Hey Baby’. On ‘Hey Baby’ Melleefresh sounds suitably ‘Princess Superstar’ (well she is a self confessed Club Bunny, Care Bear and Disco Dance Diva!). It may not be everyone’s cup of tea and there should be a warning on ‘Afterhours’ as it’s only suitable for unreformed sex addicts.

Talking of the things medical, ‘Turning Point’ is on the dirty funk-by 4 end of the heart rate monitor bleeps (if you get my drift) and it’s a bit of a grower as opposed to ‘This Is The Hook’ that’s funny the first time.

Deadmau5 (by the way, pronounced Deadmouse) has been on nearly every dance DJ’s playlist and magazine cover disc for the past two years, started his own Mau5trap Recordings and is working on a new studio album. But depending on where your personal position is in Deadmau5’s career progression, this is either going to be a total revelation, a one-track album or somewhere in-between. Even at the extreme of getting it for ‘Faxing Berlin’, you’re not going to be upset with the 9 bonus tracks so definitely worth the purchase.

Reviewed: Deadmau5 - At Play (Play Records) Cat. No. PLAYCD001Release date: 15th December 2008
1. Vanishing Point (7:04)
2. Sex Lies Audiotape (5:56)
3. Melleefresh & Deadmau5 - Cocktail Queen (5;29)
4. Faxng Berlin (8:49)
5. Melleefresh & Deadmau5 - Hey Baby (Adam K Remix) (6:23)
6. Turning Point (7:02)
7. BSOD - This Is The Hook (6:01)
8. 1981 (6:47)
9. Dr. Funkenstein (7:15)
10. Melleefresh & Deadmau5 - Afterhours (6:09)

Links
www.myspace.com/deadmau5
http://deadmau5.com
www.myspace.com/melleeefresh
www.playrecords.net
www.myspace.com/deadmau5
www.myspace.com/mau5traprecordings
www.myspace.com/detroitmusicfest