Click here to view the embedded video.

As is the case with many artists and performers today, they tend to sell out once they hit it big and rise to the top. It may be that they have succumbed to the temptations of major mainstream revenue, or perhaps they just feel that there’s no reason to screw up a good thing. Whatever the reason(s) may be, these musicians have opted to settle for their single working formula thereby ceasing to push boundaries and experiment with new forms of artistic expression. Who’s to say that a trance DJ can’t cross over to the dubstep universe? Or why should a drummer from the 80s being ridiculed for entering the electronic/DJ realm?

Life is the constant pursuit of knowledge, experiences and happiness. As such, individuals should strive to quench an insatiable thirst for learning new things, meeting different people, undergoing foreign sensations, and expanding limitless horizons.  One such musician who epitomizes all these aspects is a man by the name of Joel Zimmerman, also known as Deadmau5. We’ve been following him for quite some time now and only recently have we fully come to appreciate his endeavors and true dedication to creative progression. Constantly pushing the envelope, Joel is now making his foray into dubstep production. What’s more is that following a vast array of responses on forums to his new musical endeavor (both good and bad), he simply responds with, ”I’m just fucking around and practicing guys…you gotta switch it up every once and a while to keep sharp.” We rest our case.

Have a listen to Joel’s “Dub5tepthingie” below and check out the most recent works-in-progress on his Suncloud page: fuckmylife.

Dub5tepthingie4 by fuckmylife

Also, during our research-induced insomnia, we discovered a handful of other interesting (and bad-ass) tidbits on the Mau5:

• Deadmau5 performed at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver on February 19, 2010 during the live medal presentations for men’s luge doubles and women’s 15-km individual and men’s 20-km individual biathalon. His track “Moar Ghosts N’ Stuff” was aired on national TV when it was played over loudspeakers during Hannah Kearney’s gold-medal run in women’s moguls.
• Joel also put on a free Olympic performance at LiveCity Yaletown that drew over 20,000 attendees to an 8,000-person venue. People began waiting in line at 11am and even after they reached capacity at 5:30pm (show was at 9:30pm), thousands of fans stayed and turned the entire outside area into a raging dance party. [full story here]
• Currently under design and production is a brand-new, state-of-the-art Mau5head weighing about 10lbs and possibly featuring a shoulder harness. Inside the head, there’s to be a video system installed displaying all of his audio monitors, essentially making the entire thing into a giant set of virtual reality glasses…and also thus preventing him from seeing anything outside of the head in the process.  This should be interesting.
• Unlike many other DJs that only use turntables and software-loaded laptops, Joel performs with a variable cornucopia of music hardware including: 2 MacBook Pros, custom-built shuttle PCs, Pioneer DJM-800,  Xone:4D, Monome 256, JazzMutant Lemur, Percussa AudioCubes and ton of other effect controllers. All these components allow him to perform live and insert unique sequences within each set.
• In December 2007, Marcus Schossow, Maor Levi and Dj Eco created a project named, Deadrat6, to rip on Deadmau5 for having similar sounding tracks. Their spoof song titled, “Very Exactly,” was actually played by Armin Van Buuren on “A State of Trance 330.” Later on, Deadmau5 refused to perform at a club in Oslo if Marcus Schossow was allowed to play afterward. This led to Schossow being denied entry and made the night a solo Deadmau5 event.
• Back in ‘08, Deadmau5 joined forces with Mötley Crüe drummer, Tommy Lee (who now produces electronic music and DJs), DJ Aero, and Steve Duda under the name of, “WTF?” to produce a handful of tracks such as, “Chicken,” “You Can’t Afford This,” “Redic,” and “CEBA55555.”  Oh, and Joel briefly toured with Tommy Lee and DJ Aero for their Electro Mayhem Tour too…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Finally here are a couple of videos from last year–one of Joel gettin’ tatted up with Tommy Lee and model Chanel Benton in London and the other of him dropping “Strobe” at SPACE in Ibiza (wait until 4:15!):

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

That’s all for now…PEA5E!

You know what day it is…so here are our mashup picks of the week:

Coldplay vs. Beyonce – The Scientist Like You

Click here to view the embedded video.

Metallica vs. Bryan Adams – Enter You

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Bloody Beetroots vs Duran Duran – Beetroots on Film

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And here are a couple smooth tracks (since our heads are still pounding from this weekend) featuring Marvin Gaye for your collections

Outkast vs. Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get it So Clean

(Thanks B.Cause for this totally chill reprise)

Jay-Z feat. Lil’ Wayne vs. Marvin Gaye – Hello Brooklyn

Have a Rokin’ week!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s been quite a while since we last covered the French DJ known as, Danger.

Still relatively unknown within the mainstream circuit, it’s easy to see how Danger is considered one of the most underrated DJs when you take into account the league that he is playing amongst which include such legends as Kavinsky, Sebastien, Justice, and even Daft Punk.

Nonetheless, his vast array of talents and videogames-from-the-80s-influenced beats should not be trivialized as Danger is set to take the world by storm in the near future. Along with an incredible 2009 world tour spanning a legion of cities across North America, Australia and of course Europe, Danger also recently released his new “09/17 2009″ EP earlier this month.

9/17 2007 EP Teaser

Click here to view the embedded video.

4h 30

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Also, check out some live performances of Danger’s classics below:

“88h 88″ February 6th, 2009 in NYC

Click here to view the embedded video.

“14h 54″ Pre-Halloween Bash @Avalon in Hollywood

Click here to view the embedded video.

“11h 30″  (SICK mix of our favorite Danger song!) @ Shape-Up in Sweden

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hope you all had incredible weekends…welcome back to reality and also back to Mashup Mondays!

Mashups are extremely fickle works of art. Most of what we come across are usually just a disorganized, cornucopia of songs and tunes that hardly mesh together. Others are simply head-on-collisions of completely disjointed tracks that we only listen to due to our inability to avert our attention away from such tragic trainwrecks and disasters. However, every once in a Blue Moon, we are blessed with seamlessly perfect mashups and for that, we give our thanks.

Here’s a short mix featuring some of those wonderfully dank nuggets for your ears:

“Shaiken Up” [Right Click, Save As...]

Welcome back to reality after a much-needed 3-day break.

To get your week going, we figured we’d start you off with something light, airy and buttery on the ears. You see, we here at Roktronik have a soft and sensitive side too…and what better way to showcase it than through our first ever trancey mix?! Hope you like it.

Relax on “Cloud N9ne” [Right Click, Save As...]

Feedback and comments are always welcome…Let us know what you think!

We know you’ve all been fiending for some mashup goodness and we apologize for keeping you waiting. But like they say, “good things come to those who wait…unless it’s your bacon double cheeseburger cuz you’d want that shit right away.”

Example vs. Daft Punk – Aerodynamic Hooligans (Don Diablo Mashup)

Justice vs. Boys Noize vs. MSTRKRFT – Phantoms Always Party (LBCK Mashup)

Amanda Blank vs. Boys Noize – Might Like Jeffer Better (Drus Mashup)

Wolfmother & MSTRKRFT vs. Journey – Any Way You Want My Woman (DJ Morgoth Mashup)

Enjoy your fix!

Have some “ORANGE POWDER” [Right Click...Save As]

That’s what I thought

It sure has been a long time coming now but we’ve finally put together a ROKTRONIK-worthy mix for you…and this one’s FILTHY. We apologize for the quality of certain songs featured since we couldn’t get our hands on the mastered versions of those tracks in time for our first Filthy Friday. We know that there’s a ton of room for improvement but we’re proud of our first ever foray into music editing. That said, this set is like a mint-condition, Jordan rookie-card so we suggest you save it cuz it’ll probably be worth gazillions one day

We proudly present:

“TANGY FILTH” [right click...save as]

Tell your friends…everybody’s doing it!!

Hey Everybody…after an action-packed 4 weeks, we’re finally back from the ROKTRONIK World Tour!

From BPM Festival, to Sundance, to Gasparilla, we’ve had the honor of meeting some incredible people who have introduced us to many new tastes of music as well as fed our insatiable appetites for what we’ve come to know and love. We want to thank everyone for their hospitality and kindness…and of course all of you for your patience during our month-long “electro-vision quest.”

So without further fluff…here are your BEATS!!

Dada Life – Let’s Get Bleeped Tonight (12inch Edit)

Chelley – Took The Night (Alvaro Mix)

Green Velvet – Shake and Pop (Cold Blank Remix)

Dave Darell & Hardy Hard – Silver Surfer (Dub Mix)

Tocadisco ft. Nadia Ali – Better Run (Afrojack Remix)

Dirtyloud – Trash House Music

We’re extremely pumped to have been invited to attend this year’s BPM Festival in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. For 10, non-stop party-packed days, the Mexican Riviera transforms into a electronic music lover’s paradise. With a healthy dose of amazing artists (and beat junkies) converging in an incredible setting, we’re looking forward to hearing and meeting both major and lesser-known DJs (and people) from all over. What a way to kick off 2010!! We’ll have a full recap for ya once our ears stop ringing on Monday

Click here to view the embedded video.

Jay-Z feat. Rihanna vs. Electro-Bach – Run This Town

(big ups to DJs from Mars)

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Sean Paul vs. Lenny Kravitz – Rock Dance Mashup

(DJs from Mars does it again)

Click here to view the embedded video.

DJ Earworm – United States of Pop 2009

(nice 2009 recap/mashup)

Click here to view the embedded video.

ROK ON!

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Dear ROKTRONIK heads,

We’d like to express our deepest appreciation for all of your support in 2009–It’s definitely been an incredible year full of wonky beats, floaty trance, dirty tracks and grimy electro!

In case you missed them, we’ve decided to feature some of our favorite tunes from this past year:

ME-LIKEY MASHUPS

Led Zeppelin vs Birdman – Whole Lotta Clipse Love

Purple Ribbon All Stars vs David Guetta – Kryptonite is Gone

The Killers vs La Roux – Smile Like Your Bulletproof

Bob Marley vs MGMT – I Wanna Know Now

EXCELLENT ELECTRO

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (Ryan Nexus Remix)

Ke$ha – Tik Tok (L.U.K. Remix)

Steve Aoki – I’m In The House (Gigi Barocco Remix)

Remady PR – No Superstar (James Kayn Remix)

Neelix – Disco Decay (Felguk Remix)

MSTRKRFT – Bounce (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)

Klaas – The Way (DJ Zam 2009 Remix)

Foo Fighters – The Best Of You (L.O.N. Remix Of Doom)

Justice – Phantom II (Boys Noize Unreleased Turbine)

Empire of the Sun – Walking On A Dream (Kolt 13 Remix)

Delusion – Killer (Slipmatt and Rocket Pimp Remix)

Deadmau5 ft Rob Swire – Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff

Dave Darell And Hifi – Flash 2009 (Dave Darell Mix)

Chromeo – Night By Night (Bubblegum Sci Fi Remix)

Boys Noize – Jeffer (MMMatthias Edit)

Bad Boy Bill – Do What U Like (Tony Arzadon Remix)

Silvio Ecomo & Chuckie – Moombah (Afrojack Remix)

TIP-TOP TRANCE

Deadmau5 – Strobe (Original Mix)

Chicane – Poppiholla (Thrillseekers Remix)

First State feat. Sarah Howells – Brave (Myon & Shane 54 Monster Mix)

Paul Van Dyk feat Johnny McDaid – Home (Cosmic Gate Remix)

Pryda – Miami To Atlanta

Gui Boratto – No Turning Back

We couldn’t have done it without all of you, our loyal fans, so muchisimas gracias for everything and much love We promise to outshine ‘09 in the upcoming year and provide you with all new music, giveaways, and other super-dope surprises. Thanks again for for a ROK’in 2009 and cheers to 2010!!!