DeadMau5 keeps evolving at TLA

In the modern dance-music world, you'd be hard-pressed to find a DJ more prolific than Deadmau5 (pronounced "Dead Mouse," pseudonym for Joel Zimmerman). Since debuting in 2006, the Grammy-nominated Canadian has found time to fit in eight albums, scores of singles and scads of remixes, constant world touring, and an iPhone application that allows users to remix exclusive Deadmau5 tracks on the go. Releases like

Random Album Title

and

For Lack of a Better Name

suggest he's been too focused on creating content to think much about labeling it.

Random - his third LP this year alone - brought him to the Theatre of Living Arts on Sunday night. And although it was his second appearance at the venue this year, many in the sold-out audience might not have known what to expect. Since Get Scraped in 2006, Deadmau5's brand of electronica has leaned most heavily on the mesmerizing thump and strophic grooves of the house subgenre. But it has continually evolved through touches of Jamaican dub and British dubstep, contemporary French electro and neoclassical minimalism, '70s funk riffs and Nintendo scores circa 1989.

The temptation to keep it simple is obvious for an artist who earns his pay by democratizing a dance floor. But Zimmerman struck a masterly balance. The chest-rattling bass of "Sometimes Things Get, Whatever" and the seductive synth caresses of his U.K. hit single "I Remember" proved potent crowd-pleasers, but Zimmerman was duly rewarded for his more adventurous turns - most memorably including a brilliant tease of the Legend of Zelda theme song, a gorgeously spectral and soul-haunting encore, as well as a fresh take on what might by now be dance music's own "Free Bird," Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger." Even a closing snatch of dialogue from a profane Bill O'Reilly blooper reel was warmly received.

For those who remained in an unaltered state, the massive two-hour set did suffer from a few musical lulls. Zimmerman's impressively synchronized and multifaceted light show occasionally took center stage, the bludgeoning beats becoming mere sound track for his forest of L.E.D. trees and their strobe-light constellations.

But even then, it was only a matter of one form of entertainment beating the other. The pulsating mass of sweat-drenched bodies and neon glowsticks on the floor was just as fascinating as the sounds and sights onstage.