The tracklist for Deadmau5’s upcoming album ‘While (1<2)’ has been released and the hype continues to build. It’s been 2 years since his last album release, so saying we’re ecstatic to hear what mau5 has been up to in the studio for all this time is a bit of an understatement. While we may be excited, it seems that others are a bit miffed about a supposed “…’lack’ of new music…”. The lead up to an album release of this magnitude (let’s be honest here, a two-disc/25 track album is pretty huge) should be filled with anticipation and positivity, so its understandable for him to be a little disheartened; luckily Deadmau5 is one of the most transparent producers out there, and he’s provided some food-for-thought on reddit via a post entitled ‘Album thoughts’. He tackles two issues with this blurb: the struggle between satisfying “die-hard” fans and the rest of the horde, and the double-edged blade that comes with being so transparent (which directly influences the fan satisfaction ordeal).
On the whole, fans love how connected he is online and how much he shares his experimental content. This gives us a chance to provide early feedback and makes us feel more connected to the process, dare I say it make us feel like there’s a little bit of us IN his music. Yes, he is going to produce whatever style he likes and wants to dabble in, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t unheard. His soundcloud was a source of random demo’s and sound blips that let us track the progress of forthcoming songs; his streamed studio videos let us actually watch him produce and toy around, and this has continued with the live.deadmau5.com website where he posts archived work and new soundcloud-esque experiments. So those of us who follow him day to day (or…hour to hour) may think they’ve heard all there is to hear on this new album, and as he put it: “that’s just the nature of “oversharing”.” This portion of the fan base is small but has a strong sense of entitlement, but what needs to be kept in mind is that Deadmau5 is not here for “you”. He’s here for himself, and for the whole horde. It’s a matter of perspective, and he’s asking for us to broaden it.
“the idea i like to keep in mind, is that it might be hard for you to see it, but i think the larger portion of the mau5 world hasnt heard any of this. at all. think about new fans?”
We were all new once. It’s a fair request to ask us to step in the shoes of the newbies, or the casual fan. Otherwise, the connectivity deadmau5 provides won’t be productive, if anything it would become stressful. This reddit post really serves as a helpful explanation as to why he shares his process, and it’s simple: he enjoys it. This is somebody who takes great pride in their work, and great pride in real fans. It’s a privilege have this big of window into his life. Perhaps all that’s needed is to simply put some trust in him. He’s a music lover like the rest of us, and there’s no way he’d want to ruin the experience by putting out old stuff we’ve all heard before; if anything it’d be a waste of time, and 2 years is an awful lot of time to waste. Give his post a read for sure, it’s well worth the quick read. Develop some thoughts and let us know below.
Regardless of how “new” the content will be for some people, we’re pumped for June 17th. It really can’t come soon enough. Luckily the pre-order on iTunes gets ya a copy of ‘Avaritia’ to jam to in the meantime.
