Enter deadmau5’s techno alias: Testpilot. Early Testpilot performances & mixes were solid, however they didn’t see him doing anything that the techno scene hadn’t seen before. A healthy serving of songs from ultra-popular label Drumcode and rising stars such as Artbat were mixed with some deadmau5 vocals and a small but mighty selection of underground records.

Testpilot’s performance at Seismic Dance Event in Austin, Texas immediately showed the crowd that they weren’t in for a bigroom techno set. Track selection went far deeper than expected, their surprise accentuated even more due to Testpilot following edm-influenced techno act i_o.

Over halfway through a set with no vocals, no track-dominating kicks and no telegraphed drops, the music coasted to a pause and ASEED entered the building. This deadmau5 track took me entirely off guard and I stood with my eyes closed for the entirety of its stay, reveling at the intricate sound design and how the breakbeat drums shook the entire warehouse more than any other track had.

When it was over, I turned to my friends to say something along the lines of “wow, that was a religious experience” to find half of them packing up and leaving - “that one iced us, see you back at the house”.

Many others in the crowd did the same, if they even waited that long. Some wanted more conventional techno and left early in the set. Some didn’t like ASEED and expressed it vocally, halfway through the record somebody a few feet away from me screamed “PLAY TECHNO”. The thought crossed my mind of explaining the similarities between acid breaks and traditional 4x4 techno, but I chose to keep floating through the song instead.

A friend close to mau5trap later told me that “his team dislikes it when he plays that in techno sets”, as they’re working hard to establish Testpilot as a legitimate player in the techno market. I believe the contrary; in the age of business techno, songs like this work to differentiate him further as an act without losing credibility. To be frank, if you sped ASEED up to the high 130s it wouldn’t be out of place in some truly underground European sets.

Testpilot could have played it safe, spun some classics and Beatport top 10 techno to the delight of the fair weather fans, but he chose instead to put his distinctive deadmau5 flair on the set. While people may have left the room as a result, I strongly believe that it made the set far more memorable - it certainly defined day 1 of the festival for me.