As many of you would recollect, last year’s SXSW saw a pairing of two of the worlds finest exponents of electronic music when Deadmau5 linked up with fellow Canadian producer/DJ, Richie Hawtin for an enriching talk about technology and even played a back-to-back set of minimal techno at the SXSW Interactive closing party.

Now, we all know that Deadmau5 aka Joel Zimmerman has always had a deep rooted affinity for techno along with having a solid inclination for consistently being innovative and doing something new. Much to our elation, we’ve now got a whole new track for you by the man himself but, it isn’t a ‘Deadmau5′ production. Instead, the globally renowned producer has taken his flirtation with techno a step further by releasing the first release on Richie Hawtin’s ‘Plus 8‘ imprint since late 2012, under his whole new techno alias, ‘testpilot’.

Although there hasn’t been a lot of hype surrounding the release, interestingly this isn’t the first time the track, ‘Sunspot’ has been made available, as staunch Deadmau5 fans would remember that an early version of the track was uploaded to and quickly deleted from his SoundCloud a couple of years ago; it however still exists on YouTube. If that wasn’t enough, a while back we had also chanced upon a conversation between Joel and a fan where he had spoken about the new alias and more.

In a statement accompanying the release, label boss & a true dance music luminary, Richie Hawtin said that;

“It’s been nearly two years since the last PLUS 8 record, but it seemed fitting that this record in particular, made by another skinny white kid from Canada, became part of the label’s collection and history.”

Speaking about the track, “Sunspot (White Space Conflict)” is a gorgeous minimal techno production in line with Hawtin’s subtractive ethos. Finely crafted tom rhythms pulse against a delicate backdrop of haunting synth swells amidst crackling percussive hits and a dark vocal that brings back warm and fuzzy memories of one of mau5’s classic tracks, “Bot”. A terrific techno tune, it’s dark, minimalistic and a definite step away from Joel’s more melody-driven progressive house productions, even though it still retains an impressive atmosphere and a sliver of that all-too-familiar soul.

Another clear indicator of Zimmerman’s versatility as a producer & technical brilliance, “Sunspot (White Space Conflict)” is now available on Beatport, and comes equipped with a dark techno remix, courtesy of Pig & Dan. Get it now!