52 DEADMAU5

52 DEADMAU5
UP 12

Best known for:
Wearing a mouse head
From: Canada

It’s been 16 years since Joel Zimmerman hit the ground running via his debut LP, ‘Get Scraped’— and we’re beginning to think that he might want to trade in his rodent persona for a hard-charging racehorse, as he shows no signs of slowing down. In just the past 12 months, he’s released five singles ranging from the lighter-than-air ‘Bridged By A Lightwave’ to the strutting ‘When The Summer Dies’, and launched a pair of new labels, hau5trap and beathau5, the latter specialising in providing music for film, television, advertising and digital media.

That’s just the start. On the live front, Zimmerman’s been revving back into gear, first via drive-in events and, later, full-scale outdoor gigs, perhaps most notably a massive party at LA’s SoFi Stadium with Kaskade. He’s partnered with Richie Hawtin to launch the direct-to-avatar gaming venture PIXELYNX; he’s teamed with game developer Manticore to create Oberhasli, a virtual world that’s just kicked off with an in-game deadmau5 concert; he’s on the advisory board of the emerging streaming platform Audius; and almost needless to say, he’s dived headfirst into NFTs. We could keep going, but you get the idea — Zimmerman is one busy house mouse.
65 PINK PANDA - DJ Mag Asia DJ Mag Asia 65 PINK PANDA - DJ Mag Asia

65 PINK PANDA

65 PINK PANDA
UP 17

Style:
“House/bigroom/progressive.”
Best known for:
“Ava Max ‘Everytime I Cry (Pink Panda remix)’.”
Tune of the year:
“Kush ‘Ferreck Dawn & GUZ’.”

From: UK

Rising star DJ/producer of 2021: “GUZ, without a doubt, is going to be the breakthrough artist of the year in 2022.”

A new entry in last year’s poll, Pink Panda’s paw prints remain all over the Top 100 as they continue to merge the worlds of pop and dance with a seemingly unstoppable slew of major league collaborations, explorations and high-profile shows. “Like last year, we’ve remained partially based out of China,” the duo tells us. “We’ve been doing even bigger and better shows over there, something we’re really lucky with.”

As the world opened up again, Pink Panda returned to Europe with a series of parties including their own night Wild Thingz at Ministry Of Sound. But that’s not the only brand they’ve launched; this year our furry friends also gave us a new label Bambooty Records, and so far two massive EPs have landed amid a hurricane of megastar remixes. Jordy, Black Eyed Peas and Ava Max have all enjoyed the Pink Panda treatment this year, but the biggest collaboration is yet to come as none other than Mariah Carey has approved their forthcoming single, ‘Obsession’. Something tells us these paw prints might continue to creep up the Top 100 for some time to come.

 

How was your first gig back after lockdown?

“Obviously, we’ve been lucky enough to continue touring in China throughout this pandemic, but our first gig back in Europe was in Croatia where we joined the Golden Horn week and played Club585 in Bol on the beautiful island of Brac.”

How have the last 18 months changed how you view your work/life balance?

“We’ve produced a huge collection of tracks scheduled for release up until mid-2022 and really enjoyed the time with our families, but also found that touring work is an essential part of the balance.”

What further steps should the industry take to combat climate change?

“We must all actively look in the mirror and assess our personal footprint. We must find more sustainable ways of organising events and festivals to become more earth- and life-friendly. Fighting pollution, animal extinction and deforestation, but also expelling racism, homophobia, sexism, and all sorts of discrimination are high on our agenda.”

What’s the best bit of tech you’ve added to your studio or DJ setup this year?

“As long as we’ve got our laptops and a set of music players, we’re in our zone and ready to go anywhere, anytime.”

What’s the best album you’ve heard this year?
‘Only Honest On The Weekend’ Becky Hill!