The Mysterious Masked Men of EDM

In Mexican lucha libre circles, the wearing of a mask is sacred. Many legends, like Mil Mascaras, may not wrestle, but will walk the streets wearing t

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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In Mexican lucha libre circles, the wearing of a mask is sacred. Many legends, like Mil Mascaras, may not wrestle, but will walk the streets wearing their masks. It can signify a certain trait they want to express in their character, and the loss of a mask is seen as a huge blow to both their ego and reputation as a performer. Do masked DJs approach the wearing of their masks the same way?

With Daft Punk mania at an all-time high, we're seeing a resurgence in Daft love manifesting itself in the imitation of their iconic helmets; even fan-made replicas (with LEDs!) could run you $500 on Etsy. The sheer volume of people who hadn't previously seen Daft Punk without their masks lead us to consider: Where do dance acts that wear masks draw their inspiration? Why are some more guarded with their identity than others? Or, are all masked dance music DJs and producers in the same boat as the androids?

Daft Punk

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Daft Punk might be the quintessential masked dance music artists out there. Their use of the helmets is bigger than "these are fucking cool." As they told Rolling Stone:

Bang­alter describes the robot look as both a high-concept philosophical gambit – "We're interested in the line between fiction and reality, creating these fictional personas that exist in real life" – and a way to enfold Daft Punk's music within a tradition of flamboyant pop theatricality that includes "Kraftwerk and Ziggy Stardust and Kiss; people thought the helmets were marketing or something, but for us it was sci-fi glam."

The robots also let Bang­alter and de Homem-Christo, both receding gearhead types, exert a gravitational pull on audiences that their bare faces – handsome in rough-hewn but unremarkable ways – could never equal. "We're not performers, we're not models – it would not be enjoyable for humanity to see our features," de Homem-Christo says wryly, "but the robots are exciting to people."

Part mystique, part wanting to make it about the music (although it turns into being more than just the music), Daft Punk have certainly turned dance music's use of costume and wonder in the live environment into a huge, new vehicle.

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UZ

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The masked entity behind UZ has been a mystery since he hit the scene last year. Word is that those who book UZ aren't at liberty to know who the person is behind the mask. UZ has also played a part in hyping the mystery, RTing and calling into question just who is behind the curtain. Is the mask hyping UZ's live show? Not at all - most of UZ's performance is focused on the trap storm that's emitting from the speakers. And to be fair, DAD thinks it is better that UZ stays masked, for the simple face that mystery is usually better than reality.

Funtcase

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Funtcase's story isn't really that interesting. Well, it is, but not in the "oh, here's a wild story about this guy NEEDING to wear a mask." Similar to how he got his switch-lettered name, Funtcase got the idea to wear his now-infamous mask from a friend: "The mask was also an accident, I had gathered a lot of dubstep dubs and decided to offer the local promoter a free dubstep set at his night called 'The Partizan Project'. I was in room 2 and was playing to 6 people, 4 of which I already knew (2 of them were from southbound hangers). Just before I go on, my mate spots a mask I wore in my bag from a fancy dress event the night before and says I should wear it! I laughed and said "don't be silly" but he got persistent about it so I wore it! Eventually it became a thing to do, which I’m now also lumbered with! I love it though to be honest, it’s a great image...plus my face is weird."

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deadmau5

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For as much as deadmau5 rejects the "Event Driven Marketing" aspect of today's EDM scene, he made a decision early on to have the "deadmau5" be iconic. He's not necessarily hiding from anything, as he's regularly seen sans-mau5head, but there is a certain "oomph" in seeing deadmau5 performing live, rocking a new themed-mau5head.

32 VARIATIONS ON DEADMAU5' "MAU4HEAD" LOGO

Bloody Beetroots

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During performances, Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo rocks a black, "Venom"-style mask. When not on stage, the majority of the pictures we find of Rifo online involve a "1977" tatoo on his chest and either a hand or full arm covering his face. DAD gets the idea that he does not WANT people to know what he looks like. We're not mad at it, but that can be a pretty hard thing to keep up. We imagine that there's some kind of wildly interesting backstory of a hideous scar or some form of power that only emits when the entire face is caught on camera, but we figure it's just "why do we need to show you what we look like?!"

SBTRKT

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SBTRKT's entire approach to making music is about being anonymous, and letting the music really speak. In an interview with Clash Music, SBTRKT said “I’d rather not talk about myself as a person, and let the music speak for itself. The name SBTRKT is me taking myself away from that whole process. I’m not the most social person, so having to talk to DJs to make them play a record is not something I want to do. It’s more about giving them a record as an anonymous person and seeing whether they like it or not. If they play it, they play it.

His masks, which are designed by A Hidden Space to be “modern version of ceremonial masks from native societies," are another extension of that idea.

Sibot

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South African producer/DJ Sibot popped up on DAD's radar via his Jeffree's single from early this year, and the one thing we noticed was that his upper torso, face, and hat (at times) are not only covered in all black, but have a bunch of eyes pasted on them. It's a pretty wild image, but this isn't the first time he's performed with some kind of mask or costume on: "I’ve been wearing outfits since Max Normal. I had a similar mask in The Real Estate Agents when Markus returned from a costume shop and gave me all these eyes and said “I’ve taken what I need you have them!”. The mask doesn’t change the sound, it just means I mean business." We kind of hoped for this to be some kind of insane commentary on watching all of the people in the crowd that are watching him, but mad eyes on your person "meaning business" works for us as well.

Dr. Lektroluv

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Belgian producer/DJ Dr. Lektroluv rocks a mask that feels like Don Draper mixed with the Incredible Hulk. You get the feeling that Lektroluv's brand of electro, as well as the wild life of a DJ, is not representative of his every day life, more like it's an alternate world that he likes to immerse himself in when playing music: "Compared to Deadmau5 and Bloody Beetroots I don’t just put my mask on ten minutes before the show, I’m trying to experience Dr. Lektroluv, not just wearing his mask and suit. I can’t deny that you stand out of many other peers but I’m more happy if I get praised for my music instead of the mystery around my act."

Redshape

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Techno producer/DJ Redshape was looking for a way to express himself, free of any noticeable trappings or anecdotes, allowing listeners to experience whatever he was projecting without any preconceived notions. This adds a great element, free of prejudice or anything that would make some approach new material from a skewed place: "It kinda symbolises the "unknown" space around or behind the music and the scene. A red static shape gives a basic grounding to all of the tracks that I do. It gives a special deep atmosphere to my shows, which are as honest possible."

DJ BL3ND

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From the video below, BL3ND's use of an altered Seed of Chucky mask during his live performances speaks volumes to the mania that is caused at a BL3ND show, it was his parents that planted the seed of wearing a mask in BL3ND's mind: "There was no specific inspiration behind the mask, my parents made me not expose my face when I revealed myself to the internet. So I just put on a mask and it’s stuck with me ever since. At first it was hard getting used to, but now after two or three years I have gotten used to it. It doesn’t make me suffocate or anything, and it doesn’t make me hot anymore."

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