I know what you’re thinking? At Play again! But don’t get into that Vol. 2 as a ‘flogging a dead horse’ thing as the opener is a big kiss of life flowing through the veins of Billy Newton-Davis ‘Outta My Life’ Awesomely fantastic big room bounce house with the synth heritage of space synth gods.

You’ll recall Billy Newton-Davis vs. Deadmau5 on ‘All You Ever Want’ and Deadmau5 and Melleefresh went head to head on ‘Attention Whore’. Well no surprise to see her back again as the attention seeker she is. Her ‘Afterhours’ ‘Cocktail Queen’ 15 minutes of fame gets extended with as ‘Attention Whore’ is close to a forehand/backhand ping-pong duel.

I must admit, I do like a bit of ping-pong and to keep the innuendo going, as an aside, I wonder if we’d ever see a cat fight between the big gobbed queens of Amanda Blank, Princess Superstar, Roxy Cottontail and Melleefresh; Russ Meyer would have been the man to film it. The cinematic of equivalent of ‘Sex Slave’ for Melleefresh’s XXX rated strip/lick/upside down/pound - you get the idea “was that a good one?” Oh, yes!

The instrumental ‘Mr. G’ is far better and gets bass dirty with dubby synth and more cowbell; who could want for more! And just as good as ‘Reduction’. Now there’s a couple of big tunes that need dancefloor love.

BSOD is back and is a little ‘worn’ with the computer-voiced walk through instructions but it’s quite charming in a 4×4 way if you’ve not heard Stephen Hawking rap before. And ‘Orca’ plays on the submarine radar bounce whilst ‘Tau V2’ is a harder mix with a synth train ride thorough Berlin at night (but definitely not the Gatwick Express) that bangs our customer service charter; all aboard.

The set finishes off with the stunning return of Billy Newton-Davis like Gary Numan does Georgio Moroder in a house (slash boudoir) with Jean-Michel Jarre and New Order looking on like perverts - all metaphorically of course but I’m only having fun in my dreams.

Perhaps optimistic to keep up as high as the first and last tracks, but are all in “full length DJ Friendly unmixed” format and it’s a far better than average release and even though you won’t find this in Tom Stephan’s box (or won’t you?), there’s a Nervous-ness about this that I like and as it’s from Canada, plus it’s a little phreaky which is always a good thing.

It certainly isn’t the Deadmau5 you thought it might be. Still worth checking him out on the forthcoming tour, as below:-

Forthcoming gigs:
Friday, 30 April - Sunday 2nd May - O2 Academy, Brixton, London £26.50+BF (Friday & Sat, Strictly 18+) 9pm-3am £25+BF (Sunday, 7pm-11pm All ages show)
Tuesday, 4th May - Glasgow, Barrowlands £20+BF (14+, 7pm-11pm)
Wednesday, 5th May - Hull, City Hall £20+BF (14+, 7pm-11pm)
Thursday, 6th May - Liverpool, Mountfield Hall £20+BF (14+, 7pm-11pm)

Reviewed: Deadmau5 - At Play Vol. 2 (Play Records) Released: 22nd March 2010
Tracklisting:
1. Billy Newton-Davis vs. Deadmau5 - Outta My Life (Touch Mix) (6:08)
2. Deadmau5 vs. Melleefresh - Attention Whore (6:23)
3. Deadmau5 - Mr. G (5:15)
4. Deadmau5 - Reduction (6:45)
5. BSOD - This Is Also The Hook (6:02)
6. Deadmau5 - Orca (8:32)
7. Deadmau5 - Tau V2 (7:02)
8. Deadmau5 vs. Melleefresh - Sex Slave (6:04)
9. Deadmau5 - This Noise (7:04)
10. Billy Newton-Davis vs. Deadmau5 - R My Dreams (6:01)

Links
www.myspace.com/deadmau5
http://deadmau5.com
www.myspace.com/melleeefresh
www.myspace.com/djjeromerobins
www.myspace.com/zoltankontes
www.myspace.com/djzya
www.playrecords.net
www.myspace.com/deadmau5
www.myspace.com/mau5traprecordings
www.myspace.com/detroitmusicfest
07 January 2010 Deadmau5 - www.youtube.com - thanks again to everyone for a great 2009!!! photos courtesy of Drew Ressler : www.rukes.com