Deadmau5 announces release of upcoming album ‘W:/2016ALBUM/’
In November 2016, Deadmau5 confirmed the release date and title for his highly anticipated new album, W:/2016ALBUM/ — pronounced “W drive 2016 album” — in characteristically understated fashion: by changing the Mau5trap Facebook cover photo to an image bearing the title and a December 2nd release date.
A New Chapter for Deadmau5 and Mau5trap
The album marked a significant milestone in Joel Zimmerman’s career. W:/2016ALBUM/ was his eighth studio album overall and the first to be released entirely through his own Mau5trap label, rather than through a major label partnership. His previous full-length, while(1<2), had been released through Astralwerks/Virgin in 2014, making this self-release a statement about artistic independence and the viability of artist-owned infrastructure in electronic music.
The title itself was a nod to Zimmerman’s well-documented obsession with technology — styled as a file path on a Windows drive, it fit alongside his history of computer-referencing album names. Where while(1<2) took its name from a programming loop, W:/2016ALBUM/ read like a folder on a hard drive, reflecting the producer’s identity as someone who lives as much in the digital world as the physical one.
What the Album Contained
W:/2016ALBUM/ collected a mix of previously unreleased tracks and productions that had been developed during Zimmerman’s live Twitch production sessions — a format that had become central to his creative process and fan engagement. Zimmerman regularly streamed studio sessions on Twitch, allowing fans to watch tracks evolve in real time, vote on creative decisions, and interact with the production process in a way that was unprecedented for an artist of his stature.
Lead singles and previews hinted at the album’s sonic range. Bad at Titles,” a collaboration with ATTLAS, delivered a tech-house progressive journey that leaned into the atmospheric, slow-build production style Zimmerman had been gravitating toward. Snowcone” took a different direction entirely, incorporating 90s-influenced hip-hop instrumentals with light, airy vocals — a departure from the heavy progressive house that had defined his earlier albums.
His collaboration with Kaskade, “Beneath with Me” featuring Skylar Grey, was another standout that preceded the album’s release, blending both producers’ melodic sensibilities with Grey’s vocals.
Context in Deadmau5’s Career
The two-and-a-half-year gap between while(1<2) and W:/2016ALBUM/ was Deadmau5’s longest stretch between albums at that point. During that period, Zimmerman had dealt publicly with personal challenges, engaged in his usual provocative social media presence, and continued to push the boundaries of live production technology — most notably with his custom-built “Cube” stage design, which debuted in various iterations during this era.
W:/2016ALBUM/ was received as a mature, introspective record that prioritized atmosphere and sonic experimentation over dancefloor impact. It reinforced Deadmau5’s position as one of electronic music’s most idiosyncratic artists — someone who had never been interested in chasing trends and was increasingly comfortable making music on his own terms, released through his own label, developed live in front of his own audience.
