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DJ Mag Top100 DJs
64
Deadmau5
7

Deadmau5’s appearance in this year’s Top 100 DJs poll is not all that surprising – after all, Joel Zimmerman has been at the forefront of the EDM scene for over 15 years. With his distinctive masked look and grandiose shows, he’s done more than almost anyone else within dance music to blur the boundaries between DJing and live performance.

Like many top-tier DJs, he’s kept himself busy in 2020 despite lockdowns the world over curtailing touring. To satisfy the demand for performances, Zimmerman played a trio of intimate drive-in shows in his native Canada before committing to similar but more sizable headline appearances across the United States.

Before returning to live performance, the EDM pioneer launched a brand-new streaming service – Mau5trap.tv – via a rare show from his TESTPILOT techno alter-ego and released a fully functioning version of his OSC/PILOT performance software, an interactive “control surface” that was first developed for his live shows. To round off another action-packed year, he recently released his first single of 2020, a disco and electrofunk-influenced collaboration with The Neptunes entitled ‘Pomegranate’.