Mau5trap/Parlophone will release deadmau5’s ‘The Veldt’ EP’ on 22 June 2012. The electronic dance music titan is an artist that is constantly looking for innovative ways to push his craft forward. With this release he’s set another yardstick of what it is to be an artist in this socially networked age.

The mau5 recently overhauled his studio in his home town of Toronto. Since the end of his gruelling North American tour he’s locked himself in and gone on a creative spree. Ever committed to his fan base, he has invested in a high tech setup so that he can Live Stream his writing / recording sessions and give fans a window into that process.

"Unlike the ancient, deadmau5 created the track live. The fans were ringside watching the creative process. This is a 180 from the bands a decade ago who claimed Napster was negligent in allowing their unfinished work to be exposed. Once again, Deadmau5 is using the tools to his advantage instead of being a Luddite resistance to change." Bob Lefsetz

Over the weekend of 17th / 18th March during a 22 hour Live Streaming session, deadmau5 created a new track titled ‘The Veldt’ inspired by a short Sci-Fi story written by Ray Bradbury (check back page for Joel’s full blog post). He then uploaded it to his FML Soundcloud page for his fans to enjoy. At this time it was just an instrumental.

“Im keen on short stories, since i lack the time to dip into a massive novel. And well, as some of you know, other peoples art, poetry, writting or otherwise can very easily juxtapose to your own craft, inspirring you to create your own personal extension or compliment to the work… hence the track itself…anyway, after being inspired, i felt… man, i’d really like to create a soundtrack to this.. a somewhat melancholic yet uplifting audio image of kids bestowed with insane technology which enables them to conjure up any setting or any thing they desire… which in this case, as children sometimes wish their parents were dead by an unfounded retaliation to being disciplined. what a great story, i figured.” deadmau5

The next day he found that his fans were tweeting him about a vocal version on Soundcloud. He didn’t react to their tweets initially as he gets so many submissions, but the volume of messages was such that he gave in and decided to check out what all the fuss was about. The fan had taken his comments on board and based his lyrics on the short story. When deadmau5 heard the fan’s version he was totally blown away. This has all been caught on video during the Live Stream.

“he righteously did his homework, and came up with just a few bang on verses that completely compliment the story and the mood, which is all i ever want from a song that contained lyrical content. Can’t give him props enough.” deadmau5

deadmau5 then messaged the vocalist, Chris James, that he was going to officially release it with his vocals (again all on his Live Stream). A short while later he got his manager and Chris on the phone to work out the details and asked him to add another verse. Again all captured on the live stream for his fans to see as it unfolded.

‘The Veldt’ will be the lead track on ‘The Veldt EP’, the first in a series of EPs from deadmau5 to be released throughout the year. These will be compiled into an album later this year.

‘The Veldt EP’ will include another new track ‘Failbait’ featuring hip hop legends Cypress Hill. It will also include a number of remixes of ‘The Veldt’ . Details T.B.C. shortly.









source: data archive