Childhood Revisited Pt. 2: deadmau5 (199 - 101)
Welcome back to Childhood Revisited, a personal series where I look back at acts that I fell in love with as a young teenager (mainly the years 2012-2015). As with before, I will be ranking every unique (or semi-unique) song that has an official release according to RYM. For this artist, that unfortunately means some noteworthy songs will otherwise not qualify (“Hit Save”, Where Phantoms Sleep”, “Rio”, etc.) Without further ado, let’s get on with it.
Next on the chopping block: deadmau5 |
| 99 |  | Deadmau5
At Play 2
Sex Slave (feat. Melleefresh) – 1/10: The Melleefresh collaborations produced some of deadmau5’s most god-awful material ever and this was absolutely the worst of the bunch. Joel completely phones in the beat on this one as nothing, and I mean nothing, interesting happens with it. Melleefresh’s vocals and lyrics are more ridiculous and corny than ever. And then there’s the “orgasm drop”. Look, say what you want about “Hey Baby”; at least its version of this was kinda fitting and even a little novel at the time. The drop on here is like ear-bleeding torture. Then Joel and Melleefresh ad-lib their reaction to that and literally said “Yep, that’s good.” Good one, Joel. You did that one, alright. |
| 98 | | Deadmau5
At Play 2
Attention Whore (feat. Melleefresh) – 1/10: As bad as most of the Melleefresh collaborations where, I could at least say they either had an at least average beat or funny lyrical concept. This has neither of those. It’s literally a 7-minute X-rated nursery rhyme for run-down clubs in your local hometown. There’s nothing any sane person would get out of this. Everytime this shows up in my YouTube recommendations, all I can remember is that frightening 7-minute runtime, reminding me to stay far, far away from it. |
| 97 |  | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Peddler of Misery - 1/10: You know, there’s a reason why certain singles fall into the abyss of obscurity as quickly as they’re released, and that’s because some of them sound like this. “Peddler of Misery” is an unfinished, ahem, “miserable” void of nothing that drains your soul for 7 and a half minutes of runtime. The synths and drum machine come together so disgustingly awful on here that even as a seemingly harmless house instrumental, I’m just totally rubbed the wrong way from it. There’s no reason to ever come back to this. Ever. |
| 96 |  | Deadmau5
At Play 4
Point Vanishes - 1/10: An awful and tormentous “reimagination”, if you could call it that, of the perfectly good “Vanishing Point”. All you need to know about this song is that it takes out any of the color that the synths had in the original track and replaces it with this horrid “quacking” sound loop with nothing more than the original drum machine and a bass synth. Just terrible, stay far away, don’t go near it, all of that. |
| 95 |  | Deadmau5
While(1
Survivalism (feat. Nine Inch Nails) – 1/10: An abomination of a remix from an NIN song that wasn’t all that great to begin with. At least the edginess of the lyrics in the original were complimented decently with its industrial roots and the mid-2000’s style of bleak post-punk production. This remix sounds like it’s putting in extra effort to highlight said edginess in the most awkward way possible with the unnecessary ambience on the verses and the cheap-sounding guitars on the chorus. Deadmau5 would thankfully go on to make much better odes to Trent Reznor and his work in later cuts on While, but this was, nonetheless, a pretty ugly reincarnation. |
| 94 |  | Deadmau5
Mau5ville: Level 2
Drama Free (feat. Lights) - 2/10: I’m just dumbfounded trying to figure out what anyone was thinking on this dumpster fire. The warble on Lights’ vocals makes it difficult to understand anything she’s saying, not helped by the fact that she’s drunkenly slurring her lines and that her flow is completely off. That’s not to mention the 5-dollar beat and laughable lyrics. This is easily the worst single deadmau5 ever came out with, but thankfully stuff that went down a similar avenue after this travesty were much better planned and well thought out. |
| 93 |  | Deadmau5
4x4=12
One Trick Pony – 2/10: One of those “so bad, it’s good” types of bangers that you stick in the middle of a high school prom playlist to prank the attendants. It’s a totally abysmal track, don’t get me wrong, but I just can’t give this a 1 for how charmingly awful Sofi’s performance is on this track. In fact, I would say this song’s title is kinda misleading as it’s far from a one-trick pony emotionally. I’ve laughed, cried, and died inside to this song in the past, sometimes all at the same time. It’s a gem for all of the wrong reasons. |
| 92 | | Deadmau5
At Play 2
Reduction – 2/10: deadmau5’s most forgettable song. Even if you’ve only heard Random Album Title, you’ve heard all of the ideas on here done much more memorably and performed miles better. This doesn’t even have the “luxury” of sounding unfinished, it’s deep in mediocrity to the point of madness. |
| 91 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Make Me Make That Sound (ft. Melleefresh) – 2/10: Otherwise known as the “Sex Slave (Make Me Make That Sound Remix)”, you know you’re in for a treat when the topic of discussion is a remix of deadmau5’s worst song ever. While this is ever so slightly more bearable, the amount of times the title is repeated will make you wish you never want to hear that line in the bedroom again. Thanks, guys. |
| 90 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Bitches – 2/10: An underproduced and drab EDM snoozefest that could perfectly accompany one of those cheaply made exercise DVD’s from the mid-2000’s. This is the type of song that pops into someone’s head who hasn’t experienced much electronic music would assume all electronic music sounds like. |
| 89 |  | Deadmau5
Vexillology
Bounce – 3/10: If I wanted to listen to a retro video game soundtrack, I would’ve just searched for the real deal, not the most mediocre house version of it as one could possibly find. Skip, go next. |
| 88 |  | Deadmau5
At Play
Cocktail Queen (ft. Melleefresh) – 3/10: Here we go! The fourth matchup of Melleefresh and deadmau5 to see who can have the worst contribution on their track. After three straight wins, Melleefresh decides to put some actual effort in the vocal performance on this track. This causes her to lose to deadmau5 in the “worst contribution” category for the first time on this list, a feat helped by deadmau5’s wonderful decision to choose a recycle bin-level beat. I hope you’re liking this series so far because more is coming soon! |
| 87 | | Deadmau5
4x4=12
Bad Selection – 3/10: This is the exact song that I used to love deadmau5 for not making at a time where this sound was popular. The annoying, tinny synth leads, the bad vocal sampling, and the “drops” that feel painfully weak and go nowhere else often made by peers that were way under deadmau5’s caliber. This time around, he dabbled in that exact sound only to result in something just as generic and bad as most of his peers in that style. |
| 86 | | Deadmau5
4x4=12
Sofi Needs a Ladder – 3/10: Bro, Sofi’s gonna need more than a ladder to get through on this one. Truly a performance for the ages. |
| 85 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Beautiful, Rich, and Horny (Deadmau5 Remix) – 3/10: Round Five-oh, you know what, what’s the point. This was doomed from the terrible vocal melody and the painfully boring club anthem production. No one was gonna lose this “worst competition” round. Be sure to tune into round Six soon. |
| 84 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Cat on a Leash - 3/10: For being named after a mouse, deadmau5 has made a couple of fantastic songs referring to cats in their titles. This, however, is definitely not one of them. It’s tendency to be void of anything interesting at all times brings a traumatic reminder of the soul-sucking “Peddler of Misery”. If I will give this any credit, it’s that this song at least sounds finished despite some bottom-tier, lackadaisical production. Just like “Peddler of Misery”, however, it was also one of those songs that was rightfully forgotten by many as a dull, throwaway single. |
| 83 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Hurricane - 3/10: In all of my years listening to deadmau5, a pop soul cut was not something that ever crossed my mind as an experiment Joel would legitimately play around with. It sucks to see, though, that Joel played it completely safe with this attempt. When your first dabble into pop soul sounds like a Sam Smith B-side, you know you have some serious rough draft issues that need to be fixed. “Hurricane” actually makes me kind of angry, because I think this crossover had a ton of potential similar to his collaboration with Imogen Heap on the much, much better “Telemiscommunications”. Better luck next time, my guy. |
| 82 | | Deadmau5
While(1
Phantoms Can’t Hang – 3/10: Arriving early is arguably my most controversial ranking on the whole list. Yep, “Phantoms Can’t Hang”, a favorite for many from the While (1>2), is a bottom-tier deadmau5 song, mainly due to the fact that it sounds so effortless. It’s got a painfully mediocre synth lead and the most predictable build-drop-build-drop song structure imaginable. The vocal sample in the second half feels tacked on as well. It sounds like the song was made in an hour with little time to think about how it would progress or stand out. I suppose I can see the clubby appeal in this, but it just comes off as incredibly boring to me as it always had been in the past. |
| 81 |  | Deadmau5
>album title goes here
Channel 42 – 3/10: I get where other deadmau5 fans would find this track fun, but it comes off so derivative and even irritating at some points. This song, like much of Wolfgang Gartner’s solo material, has aged really poorly and I unfortunately think that Wolfgang’s contribution to how this song sounds only accelerated the aging process. The synth lead on the drop gets close to tinnitus-inducing despite being devoid of any actual excitement. This collaboration worked well with a different stylistic focus (I’ll get to that later), but this came out pretty horribly. |
| 80 | | Deadmau5
>album title goes here
Superliminal – 3/10: It’s literally a worse version of “FML”. That’s all this is and that’s all this’ll ever be. That, plus the awful synth lead makes me want to pull my hair out. The haunting atmosphere saves this track from complete failure, I guess. |
| 79 | | Deadmau5
>album title goes here
Failbait – 3/10: I mean, the word “fail” is in the title. Not only does it fit the album it’s on really awkwardly, but it presents very little of deadmau5’s strengths as a producer. While Cypress Hill’s performance isn’t the greatest thing ever, most of my issues lie with deadmau5 himself, who doesn’t do nearly enough to divert himself from a painfully generic boom bap beat on the production end of things. Hearing him add that drum break from “Waking Up from the American Dream” in the middle of the track randomly pissed me off more than it should have. |
| 78 |  | Deadmau5
For Lack of a Better Name
Hi Friend! – 3/10: Too corny to be played at clubs, too corny to jam while gaming, too corny to exist. Skip, go next. |
| 77 | | Deadmau5
At Play 4
Something Inside Me - 3/10: Round Six! We have another winner, but a twist has occurred! This time, the song title wins for the worst contribution to the track as it immediately tells you how bad the song’s going to be before listening to a second to it. Although the end is nearing, we have more rounds of this to come soon! |
| 76 | | Deadmau5
At Play
Afterhours – 3/10: How about as soon as now! For Round Seven of the Melleefresh vs. deadmau5 match to see who can suck (figuratively and literally ;) ) the best. Melleefresh, as per usual, wins with laughably awful lyrics and the same vocal melody heard from the other collaboration outputs a million times before. At least Joel came out with a banger of a club beat on this one, though. “Afterhours” is legitimately one of deadmau5’s few good production jobs on the Melleefresh stuff. |
| 75 |  | Deadmau5
W:/2016ALBUM/
2448 – 3/10: Joel actually managed to go back 5 years, take a perfectly good song (“Aural Psynapse”), drive its mixing into the ground with inconsistency, and make its synth drops painfully mediocre. The spacier build-ups are alright, but this is a very poor attempt to combine an established sound with the new album’s mastering. |
| 74 | | Deadmau5
>album title goes here
Sleepless – 3/10: deadmau5 has all of the resources and experience to make his first great IDM/trip-hop crossover attempt since the Get Scraped days and he still manages to completely screw it up. “Sleepless” is so derivative of its influences that it borders on parodying. Whereas its influences such as Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada could turn this sound into something engaging or abstract, this only seems to display lifelessness. Maybe I’m being too harsh here, but this didn’t sit right with me at all. |
| 73 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Fifths - 3/10: Just like “Cat on a Leash” and “Peddler of Misery”, this was rightly thrown into the abyss of obscure and absolutely boring house singles that even experienced deadmau5 fans can hardly remember the existence of. |
| 72 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
71c - 3/10: A lot of this track’s failure comes from the same problems that “Phantoms Can’t Hang” has: total overreliance on the synth lead with little cohesion or other elements of interest to back it up. Its cohesion is minimally improved from “Phantoms Can’t Hang”, if anything, but that’s not saying much at all. |
| 71 | | Deadmau5
4x4=12
Limit Break - 3/10: Even though 4x4=12 wasn’t one of deadmau5’s finest works, it was still justifiably spared from non-descript house cuts such “Limit Break”, a song with totally forgettable passages that have been done on much better tracks, even from those on the album it missed out on. |
| 70 | | Deadmau5
At Play 2
Mr. G – 4/10: One of many At Play-exclusive house bangers that don’t tend to go very far in the memorability department. Everything about this song is so average that other songs in the series will make you quickly forget this exists. Only good for long hours playlists. |
| 69 | | Deadmau5
Vexillology
Dr. Funkenstein – 4/10: A poorly aged, misleading older cut where there’s hardly any real “funk” here at all unless you include dated synth patterns and vocal sampling. That synth break in the middle of the song, though, is… something, I’ll tell you. |
| 68 |  | Deadmau5
Get Scraped
Edit Your Friends – 4/10: Mii Channel Music! Nostalgia! I mean, it’s not good, but hooray, anyways! |
| 67 |  | Deadmau5
Stuff I Used To Do
Digitol – 4/10: Back in the A Little Oblique/Get Scraped days, deadmau5 made several of these breakbeat jams, most of which didn’t really pass above the “average” benchmark. Digitol is simply the most forgettable of the bunch. But, hey, it got a revival of popularity in the Stuff I Used To Do compilation, so that’s something. |
| 66 |  | Deadmau5
At Play 3
Stereo Fidelity – 4/10: One of many At Play-exclusive house bangers that don’t tend to go very far in the memorability department. Everything about this song is so average that other songs in the series will make you quickly forget this exists. Only good for long hours playlists. [2] |
| 65 | | Deadmau5
W:/2016ALBUM/
Three Pound Chicken Wing – 4/10: Much like “Superliminal”, this just sounds like a worse version of “FML” except the isolated atmosphere attempted here is done at least somewhat well. It’s far from his most interesting or ear-grabbing track, though. |
| 64 |  | Deadmau5
At Play 5
Assorted - 4/10: One of many At Play-exclusive house bangers that don’t tend to go very far in the memorability department. Everything about this song is so average that other songs in the series will make you quickly forget this exists. Only good for long hours playlists. [3] The DJ work in this one is pretty smooth, though, even if it’s way overused. |
| 63 | | Deadmau5
Vexillology
TL7 – 4/10: This featured on 2 full-length albums?! Back then, Joel was probably like, “Yo, I love how plain and forgettable this track is! Let’s release it again! That’ll make the fans happy!” Still to this day, no one actually cares about this song. Sorry, Joel. It is what it is. |
| 62 | | Deadmau5
At Play
Hey Baby (ft. Melleefresh) – 4/10: Guys, I’m not gonna lie… this grew on me a lot from previous years. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still absolutely terrible on a technical level, which is why it’s rated as it is. However, deadmau5’s beat bops pretty damn hard and the lyrics, while hilariously awful, can be enjoyable in the right mood?! I’m afraid I’m gonna dig this harder than I already do, so I’ll just leave this here. |
| 61 | | Deadmau5
Get Scraped
8bit – 4/10: Sounds like the background music for an unfunny late night comedy sketch. It sounds about as tacky and dated, too. |
| 60 | | Deadmau5
While(1
My Pet Coelacanth – 4/10: Funny man Joel, the track. Not pleasant in the slightest, but I suppose it could’ve been worse. |
| 59 | | Deadmau5
At Play 4
Tau V1 - 4/10: One of those awkward moments where the original is worse than its sequel. Whereas V2 at least carried a lot of consistent energy in its synth passages, this stops being interesting when looking past the offbeat little “beep” loop that leads the track. |
| 58 | | Deadmau5
Get Scraped
Support - 4/10: Dated and uninteresting breakbeat that’s been done much better by his influences. The only thing this really has going for it is that cool background synth in the second half of the track, but it pretty much makes the first half not worth listening to. Why he featured this on the Stuff I Used to Do compilation, I’ll never know. |
| 57 | | Deadmau5
W:/2016ALBUM/
Glish – 4/10: This is more of an interlude than anything as it barely reaches over the 2-minute mark. However, it adds very little substance to the album it’s on and it sounds like a cobbled mess, so I think the best place for this one was the drafting stage if you ask me. |
| 56 | | Deadmau5
>album title goes here
Maths – 4/10: One of deadmau5’s more annoying well-known cuts. I’m not sure why so many people dig the song’s lead melody and how long it lasts. There’s admittedly a charming quirkiness to the vibe here, but its ability to make me irritated unfortunately outdoes that quirkiness factor. |
| 55 | | Deadmau5
At Play 2
Outta My Life (feat. Billy Newton-Davis) – 4/10: The vocal performance isn’t bad, but there’s literally no reason to listen to this when these two have noticeably better collaborations with an almost exact vibe and atmosphere. This song’s relevance just isn’t up to snuff with their other stuff. |
| 54 | | Deadmau5
Vexillology
Lai – 4/10: A big, fat meh. That’s all. |
| 53 |  | Deadmau5
It Sounds Like
Secondary Complications - 4/10: The melody’s nice and I dig that off-beat congo pattern pretty heavily. However, it’s just not the material you can easily spread across ten minutes, and that’s where I think Joel got a little ahead of himself. I’m not even the biggest fan of how the progression is played out in the RAT version and the progression issues are twice as bad here due to its sheer length. |
| 52 | | Deadmau5
It Sounds Like
We Fail – 4/10: This has a fun and quirky lead melody, but everything surrounding it is really mediocre. I can totally understand why this didn’t get featured on a full-length LP, but I kinda wish the melody was put to better use at some point in deadmau5’s career. |
| 51 | | Deadmau5
Get Scraped
The Oshawa Connection – 4/10: Another one of those older breakbeat bangers deadmau5 used to pull out. This is energetic enough, but the production and sampling are corny, dated, and bad. It makes for a good GameCube racing game soundtrack though. |
| 50 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Beneath With Me - 4/10: Kaskade and deadmau5 coming back for an EDM pop track was something I was looking forward to quite a bit considering the success of their earlier collaboration outputs. With that in mind, it sucks to say that I was pretty disappointed by how this turned out. Not only is it more generic than anything the two have come out with as a duo, but the instrumental breakdowns feel kinda clunky and too loose in structure. Skylar Grey does a decent job on vocals, though. |
| 49 | | Deadmau5
>album title goes here
October – 4/10: I mean, the synth lead is pretty nice, but it’s just not something you can simply build around with a basic-as-hell beat and midi strings for seven-and-a-half minutes. It’s like a shorter version of “Secondary Complications” if I’m being honest. |
| 48 | | Deadmau5
For Lack of a Better Name
Moar Ghosts N’ Stuff – 4/10: Even a near decade ago when I fell in love with “Ghosts N’ Stuff”, this one always seemed like the weaker sequel and that relationship hasn’t changed at all. The issues “Moar Ghosts N’ Stuff” runs into resemble those of “Maths” where its quirkiness goes so far to the point of annoyance and the tendency to skip them when they come up. Just give me the original any day of the week. |
| 47 | | Deadmau5
Vexillology
Trepid – 4/10: This was probably one of the least hype ways you can close off an album lol (Trepid is the closer to Vexillology). The movie soundtrack vibe bumps up its relevance over some of the more complete snoozefests on Vexillology, but that compliment doesn’t go very far, unfortunately. |
| 46 | | Deadmau5
While(1
Pets – 4/10: It’s got a nice urban vibe and all, but there’s not much here to pick apart besides the heavy synth layering. The more low-key parts of the song aren’t really worth sitting through to get to the song’s builds either. This is just one of those cuts I always thought was mediocre since it came out and that hasn’t changed, which is weird considering it’s pretty similar to another song from While that I grew to love. Eh, you win some, you lose some, I guess. |
| 45 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Desynchronized - 4/10: One of a handful of house bangers whose entire identity was built upon how much they could louden the synths for a drop anticipation. As fun as that can be at times, it’s just as lazy as the other 90% times it’s done. |
| 44 | | Deadmau5
>album title goes here
Closer – 4/10: Cool reference, great opening, but the rest of it is so derivative of much better previous material. There’s not much point in listening to this outside of the context of a playlist. |
| 43 | | Deadmau5
At Play 4
Subvert - 4/10: See, guys? The song is called “Subvert” because it... glitches up the beat two to three times the whole song. Sigh, here we go again: One of many At Play-exclusive house bangers that don’t tend to go very far in the memorability department. Everything about this song is so average that other songs in the series will make you quickly forget this exists. Only good for long hours playlists. [4] |
| 42 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
I Thought Inside Out - 4/10: If I’ll give this song anything, it’s got a top 20 deadmau5 song title. Regarding the actual song, it does sound like an actual back and forth between deadmau5 and Chris Lake, like a sort of “DJ communication method”. I wish it was more interesting than it turned out to be, but it was a nice idea. |
| 41 | | Deadmau5
Vexillology
Plus – 4/10: It’s an atmospheric house playlist song, but that’s really all it’s got going for it if I’m being honest. |
| 40 | | Deadmau5
At Play 2
This is (Also) the Hook – 5/10: The unnecessary sequel to the, ahem, “deadmau5’s songwriting tutorial” that no one actually remembers. I am glad that Joel’s quirky side comes out decently on this track, but composition itself has hardly any high ground in the deadmau5 discography. |
| 39 | | Deadmau5
Get Scraped
I Forget – 5/10: It starts out as a nice little ambient piece, but the second half drowns out the “audience talking” sample a little too much for how prevalent it was previously. Not the best song mixing wise, but it’s an alright transitional piece for Get Scraped. |
| 38 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
FALL - 5/10: This is definitely not one of deadmau5’s finest singles of the past couple of years. I’m not sure why the songwriting direction on this one went the way of the more boring Vexillology/At Play stuff, but I guess he wanted to do exactly that with better production value. It’s his choice, I suppose. |
| 37 |  | Kaskade
Strobelite Seduction
Move for Me - 5/10: One of a few songs that rocks what I call the “Arguru” melody. This thankfully isn’t a complete rip-off of the aforementioned song as lyrics and synth layering imply a completely different context and atmosphere. Unfortunately, this particular song just comes off as an ordinary late 2000’s EDM number without much in the way of being unique or outstanding besides that “Arguru” melody usage. |
| 36 | | Deadmau5
While(1
Superbia – 5/10: Most of these classical While pieces share the same quality. “Superbia”’s nothing more than average album filler. |
| 35 | | Deadmau5
For Lack of a Better Name
Word Problems – 5/10: One of the least popular LP-featured tracks from the RAT/FtLoaBN days, and I can see why. Not much really happens in the song other than a high bass synth volume increase in the builds. I personally find the percussion pretty cool on here, but I otherwise see where people are coming from when claiming this track’s irrelevance. |
| 34 |  | Deadmau5
Random Album Title
Faxing Berlin (Piano Acoustic Version) – 5/10: Hey, Joel, just a thought: chopping up one of your best and most beloved songs ever into a radio edit and a While-style ambient piece for its only chance at an LP appearance is not a very good look. This version is placed here on the account of those factors. |
| 33 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
The Reward is More Cheese - 5/10: The sequel to a decent house jam is a bit of a quality downturn. Well, I guess not a downturn in quality necessarily, but we really didn’t need a different version of the original, and this version’s current irrelevance is a great example as to why that’s the case. |
| 32 | | Deadmau5
At Play 5
Fallen - 5/10: One of many At Play-exclusive house bangers that don’t tend to go very far in the memorability department. Everything about this song is so average that other songs in the series will make you quickly forget this exists. Only good for long hours playlists. [4] He kinda nailed the percussion production on this one, though. |
| 31 | | Deadmau5
Stuff I Used To Do
Squid – 5/10: Probably one of deadmau5’s glitchiest cuts ever, this is a full minute of instrumental chaos whose production was at least a little ahead of its time. I’m pretty indifferent toward it, but it’s not terrible. |
| 30 | | Deadmau5
Mau5ville: Level 2
10.8 - 5/10: This rather recent effort off of the Mau5ville series is probably one of the most unpredictable and non-linear tracks Joel’s ever been involved with. However, I feel like that unpredictability comes at a cost of cohesion and atmospheric transitions that have any sort of rhyme or reason. Individually, these sections are great, but they’re all awkwardly crammed together in this one track. This really should’ve been two different tracks with two different general ideas. |
| 29 | | Deadmau5
At Play 4
I Like Your Music - 5/10: It’s alright. Everything comes together pretty nicely, but the track's main theme is dragged on for far too long to be consistently enjoyable. |
| 28 | | Deadmau5
W:/2016ALBUM/
Let Go (Original Mix) – 5/10: It’s okay enough for a low-key clubby EDM banger. Nothing really wows me about anyone’s performance here, though, as it’s an average deadmau5 beat with overly sentimental vocals. Again, it’s decent for a lovey dovey festival setting, but not in many other areas. |
| 27 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Channel 43 (Extended Mix) - 5/10: A massive improvement over “Channel 42” as its bro-step synth lead fits much better in a more progressive setting than the radio friendly “drop” angle that “Channel 42” attended. While I think deadmau5 has pulled this sound off much better on certain songs in the ATGH/While era, I still appreciated the revision for a song that I believed to fall short in many aspects uncharacteristic of deadmau5’s caliber. |
| 26 | | Deadmau5
W:/2016ALBUM/
No Problem – 5/10: I hated this song quite a bit when doing an initial runthrough of deadmau5’s newer material, but a few more listens warmed me up to this quite a bit. It’s a spacey fun banger, but there’s not a ton of substance past that description as much of the production here pulls from better previous material. The synth solo, while pretty nasty, ran a little long for my liking as well. It’s alright, nonetheless. |
| 25 |  | Deadmau5
Polar (Music From the Netflix Film)
Nosedive - 5/10: The first Polar soundtrack appearance. Keep in mind that, for the Polar stuff, I only qualified songs that ran over 3 minute in length, so only 5 songs from the soundtrack will be seen here. Surprisingly enough, I found most of the output to be decent to excellent on the soundtrack. “Nosedive” is definitely the weakest cut of the bunch. Although it is the most quintessential deadmau5 song on the soundtrack, it runs too long for its own good and noticeably borrows production elements and effects from better songs. |
| 24 | | Deadmau5
4x4=12
Right This Second – 5/10: Another one of the more controversial placements on the list, “Right This Second”, for the near decade I’ve been listening to it, never sat right with me. And, over the years, I think I’ve figured out why: I just don’t care for the song structure at all. I appreciate deadmau5 throwing some spice in his songwriting here considering a good chunk of stuff on 4x4=12 felt pretty formulaic in structure. However, this risk made everything after the 2 and a half minute mark feel like a complete snoozefest. Yes, the intro is awesome, but that just adds to my point that the song blew its load way too early. |
| 23 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Satrn - 5/10: It’s basically a slightly better version of “Closer” both in pacing and production. Not much in terms of originality, but it’s an alright house jam if you’re craving that sort of thing. |
| 22 | | Deadmau5
At Play 3
Cyclic Redunancy – 5/10: One of many At Play-exclusive house bangers that don’t tend to go very far in the memorability department. Everything about this song is so average that other songs in the series will make you quickly forget this exists. Only good for long hours playlists. [5] The spacey synth chords on this one are pretty great, if nothing else. |
| 21 | | Deadmau5
Stuff I Used To Do
Long Walk Off a Short Pier - 5/10: Another one of those dated early-deadmau5 breakbeat songs that has decent pacing on it and a cool guitar appearance in the second half. There’s not too much going for it outside of that. |
| 20 | | Deadmau5
Random Album Title
Brazil (2nd Edit) – 5/10: This, believe it or not, was an instant skip for me when I was younger because I remember it boring me to tears. Nowadays, it’s grown on me a little bit (funnily enough, this isn’t the only song that’s happened to on RAT). The song runs at a solid length, the textures walk the line between raw and polished extremely well, and the high-pitched keyboard in the middle of the track is pretty endearing. Although I still find the track’s main passages to be irritatingly dull, I can’t understate the growth it’s had on me over the years. |
| 19 | | Deadmau5
At Play 3
Full Bloom – 5/10: The bits of tribal percussion on here are really neat, especially at a time where deadmau5 was writing some pretty mediocre material. However, that doesn’t really save the track from being confined to long hours playlist duty like most of its friends in the At Play circles. |
| 18 | | Deadmau5
Random Album Title
Complications (Album Version) – 5/10: To be clear, the transition between “Sometimes, Things Get Whatever” and this on RAT is probably the most iconic 1-2 punch moment of Joel’s career, and it’s genuinely pretty awesome. Unfortunately, I can’t say that for the majority of the album’s second track. Despite its relatively short runtime, “Complications” tends to meander and struggle to go anywhere for 5 and a half minutes except for some added percussion and a “heart monitor” drop. |
| 17 | | Deadmau5
Stuff I Used To Do
Superlover - 5/10: This honestly deserves to be a lot lower due to its unbearable cheesiness, but this track is a little unique in that it has one of the best saving graces in deadmau5’s career. I’m referring to that muted offbeat crash cymbal that appears at certain portions of the track. I don’t know if it's a drummer’s bias in me or if it’s an authentically quality addition, but that alone makes the track so much more of a personal jam to listen to. |
| 16 | | Deadmau5
While(1
Avaritia – 5/10: “Avaritia” is pretty much the exact song one would think of any time While is mentioned with its minimal dubstep passages and anthemic builds. While it's a memorable trademark to have especially as an album opener, it doesn’t give the track nearly enough room to create any sort of identity. It’s like the song title should’ve been renamed as “General While Theme” because that’s essentially all this is. |
| 15 | | Deadmau5
At Play
Turning Point – 5/10: While it is far from the abomination that is “Point Vanishes”, this other remake of “Vanishing Point” at least brings a nice groove during its runtime with a Middle Eastern-inspired synth melody in the track’s back half. While it’s not nearly as intriguing or iconic to the At Play series as cloth it’s cut from, this isn’t a bad job at attempting a different take on the track. |
| 14 | | Deadmau5
At Play 3
Whispers - 5/10: Ah, won’t you look at that! The best Melleefresh collaboration tracks are the ones where she’s essentially used an instrument for a club banger. I find the production on this a little weaker than a remixed version of the song I’ll go over later, but the spaciousness and lack of polish in the mix makes for some captivating moments on here at the very least. |
| 13 | | Deadmau5
Stuff I Used To Do
My Opinion - 5/10: My opinion towards your opinion is indifferent. It’s an average opinion. |
| 12 | | Deadmau5
While(1
Acedia – 5/10: This used to be one of my absolute favorites from While with its haunting intro piano sequence and its contrast with the following bass synth sequence. However, I now find the gargled robotic lead in the back half of the track to be distractingly dated and contrasting in a more negative light then what I remembered it as. This is probably one of my more unfortunate opinion changes towards a deadmau5 track over the years, but it’s not any worse than your average atmospheric house number. |
| 11 | | Deadmau5
>album title goes here
Professional Griefers ft. Gerard Way – 5/10: In all technicality, “Professional Griefers” is probably one of deadmau5’s most boneheaded and corny production jobs ever. With that being said, this is undoubtedly a load of fun and you can tell Joel and Gerard had a blast making this mess in the studio. Between the guitar chugs at the beginning and Gerard Way’s incomprehensible vocal effects, this is one of those “so bad, it’s good” tracks where its goofiness actually becomes a benefactor to its enjoyability. |
| 10 | | Deadmau5
W:/2016ALBUM/
4ware – 5/10: This is your typical deadmau5 house material. The melodies are all pretty decent and they compliment each other really well, but I think it’s progression is too predictable and safe for much emotional resonance. If only there was a different version of this melody to maximize that to its potential… even as a single... |
| 9 | | Deadmau5
Vexillology
1981 – 5/10: “1981” is what I’d consider to be the gold standard of deadmau5’s Vexillogy/At Play house collections. It’s not necessarily a gold standard in terms of quality, but in how well it represents the vast majority of songs that were made on these releases. In a practical sense, bop this on a vibe playlist and call it a day. |
| 8 | | Deadmau5
Stuff I Used To Do
Charlie Can’t Dance - 5/10: This is basically “Long Walk Off a Short Pier” but with a more intriguing song structure and experimental thematic direction. They even use some of the same sampling. However, the lesson still remains that both are cookie-cutter, yet somewhat enjoyable breakbeat tunes to fire up an old PC game to. |
| 7 | | Deadmau5
4x4=12
Everything Before – 5/10: One of deadmau5’s strangest album closers as this hardly fits the general theme of 4x4=12. If anything, this sounds closer to what one would assume was a FLoaBN B-side. It’s not Joel’s most underrated cut by any means, but the general atmosphere is quite good even if I think some of the individual elements come together a little awkwardly. |
| 6 | | Deadmau5
At Play 2
Tau V2 – 5/10: A glitchy and kind of strange At Play track that’s more bouncy than it has any right to be. It’s not completely enjoyable, but I’d consider it a solid output for At Play standards. |
| 5 | | Deadmau5
At Play 5
Bitter Kitten – 5/10: Maybe it’s just me being crazy, but I actually think this song’s biggest strength is actually in how amateur its mixing is. I genuinely feel this would be much more boring without it, but it’s weird mixing issues actually allow more focus toward certain elements of the song at surprisingly fitting times. That phenomenon alone makes it one of the more enjoyable tracks off of anything from A Little Oblique. |
| 4 | | Deadmau5
Get Scraped
Bored of Canada – 5/10: If you want a fat, and I mean FAT, filling of nostalgia, “Bored of Canada” is absolutely the short and sweet track for you. It doesn’t do much outside of that, but I’d say it serves its purpose very respectfully. |
| 3 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Legendary (feat. Shotty Horroh) - 5/10: After “Failbait”, I was really hoping deadmau5 could redeem himself with the batch of hip hop production jobs he took on recently. And I’m proud to say that I’m really happy with the way they’ve been turning out. This particular track is probably the weakest of the bunch, though most of its issues lie with Shotty rather with deadmau5 as some of the bars on this thing are painfully corny. Nonetheless, Joel’s beat is pretty dead-on which I think balances out the lackluster lyrics. |
| 2 | | Deadmau5
At Play in the USA Vol. 1
Nextra - 5/10: This is like the house remix to the World’s Hardest Game theme, which is pretty dope in its own right. It’s nothing special and the break is a little underwhelming, but it’s decent for a gaming playlist or something of the like. |
| 1 | | Deadmau5
Vexillology
Apply Overnight – 5/10: “Apply Overnight” is essentially an antithesis of “1981” where its main melody is more solid and its overall progression is weaker. I think what gives this a slight edge over that track is the lower length, but it’s still a pretty average house banger. |
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