Album: Deadmau5, 4x4=12 (Mau5trap/Virgin)

Daft Punk may be dipping their toes in more exalted waters, but the appetite for stompy synth-based dance riffs played by men in face-concealing helmets shows no sign of diminishing, if the forthcoming Earls Court headline gig by Joel Thomas Zimmerman, aka Deadmau5, is anything to go by.

One of the most prolific DJ/producers working today, Zimmerman specialises in striding synth grooves of muscular determination and unrelenting fizz, punctuated with the standard house repertoire of pitch-shifts, EQ changes, etc. The eight-minute-long "Some Chords", for instance, takes a few keyboard chords, tortures them into new shapes, then straps the resulting disembodied bleeps and squeaks to a brutal stomp-beat. It's efficient but enervating stuff; the most interesting piece here is "Raise Your Weapon", which takes a fairly standard indie-pop song and assails it with violently careening dubstep musique-concrete flourishes, a punishing tactic which seeks no alliance.

Download this: Raise Your Weapon; Some Chords; Cthulhu Sleeps