Article Contributed by Falcon Publicity
Published on January 10, 2026
Following a strong run of 2025 releases from its label leader deadmau5, BlackGummy, Becking, Screamarts, Skellytn, and Lamorn, mau5trap charges into 2026 with the first of two discs for the twelfth installment of its long-running compilation series, We Are Friends Vol. 12, out today, January 9.
mau5trap continues its dedication to nurturing new and forward-thinking projects, with the collection’s focus track “1 of My Kind” from The XTTC, following singles “Supersonic Electronic (on acid)” from Ciauru and the featured remix on disc one, “Strobe” (&friends, Moeaike Retake).
Listen to We Are Friends Vol. 12 (Disc 1):
https://wearefriend5.ffm.to/waf12disk1
Tracklist – We Are Friends Vol. 12 (Disc 1):
Ciauru – “Supersonic Electronic (on acid)”
Avis Vox – “Hide!”
The XTTC – “1 of My Kind”
Meyer, imallryt – “Control”
Hreez – “Turn The Place Down”
Micha Mendel – “Ya Aeny”
Quantaloop – “Fractured Mirror”
ELAC – “Sub Terra”
Me & You – “Acid Love”
Liudicrious – “Restless”
robinrabauke – “BLP”
Penultimate – “Listen”
Sysdemes – “KNAVE”
infinikid – “Refracture”
deadmau5, &friends, Moeaike – “Strobe” (&friends, Moeaike Retake)
The XTTC is an anonymous collaboration between two creatives: an electronic music producer/DJ and a visual artist with roots in comics and large-scale concert visuals. It’s a high-concept music and art project built around the fantasy lives of three characters—X, Ruby Knives, and Lil C—a trio of masked vigilantes who exist to disrupt symbols of power, bend social order, and inject chaos into a system that thrives on obedience.
Soundtracked by driving electro, seductive vocals, and dark-room energy, the project is presented as cinematic storytelling.
This is not a virtual band. It’s a deliberate use of alter-egos. In a time when identity is scraped, tracked, packaged, and fed into algorithms designed to predict and control behavior, The XTTC chooses anonymity as resistance. The characters aren’t hiding a lack of humanity—they’re protecting it.
By stepping outside authorship, ego, and visibility culture, the project creates space for rebellion, contradiction, and freedom to exist without consequence. It’s an invitation to outsiders everywhere to join the unified resistance. Dance and destroy.
The XTTC sits alongside other standout artists on We Are Friends Vol. 12. Hailing from Italy, Ciauru leads the charge with the club-oriented “Supersonic Electronic (on acid),” packed with tribal rhythms and precision-engineered bleeps that hit all the right pressure points.
For the sole remix on disc one, mau5trap tapped emerging artists &friends and Moeaike for a fresh retake on the deadmau5 classic “Strobe.” &friends continues to solidify his place as one of the most intentional voices in global electronic music following breakout singles “Temptation” (feat. Bipolar Sunshine) and “Jackie B.”
Italian duo Moeaike, known for their 2024 breakout hit “Mala Fama,” are rapidly becoming a force in the electronic scene. Exclusively for WAF 12, the pair joins a prestigious lineage of artists—including Layton Giordani, Dimension, and Lane 8—who have officially remixed “Strobe.”
Additional artists to discover across the release include Avis Vox, Hreez, ELAC, Me & You, Penultimate, and more.
Founded by deadmau5, mau5trap continues to look toward the future with forward-thinking releases and live events. Since 2012, the We Are Friends series has served as a launchpad for emerging talent, introducing the world to artists such as REZZ (Vol. 4), i_o (Vol. 7), ATTLAS (Vol. 3), BlackGummy (Vol. 4), and No Mana (Vol. 5).
The artists featured on We Are Friends Vol. 12 are no exception.
About mau5trap:
Over a decade since its formation, mau5trap—the independent record label founded by groundbreaking electronic music producer deadmau5—has become a bastion for trailblazing, genre-defying artists. Mixmag readers voted mau5trap among the “Top 50 Labels of the Decade,” placing it in the Top 10.
The imprint has earned support from Billboard, DJ Mag, Forbes, Insomniac, and The EDM Network, while expanding into live events with curated stage takeovers at Ultra Music Festival, Creamfields, EDC, Electric Forest, and beyond.
The multi-genre platform has supported artists including deadmau5, Kx5, Skrillex, REZZ, Feed Me, Zedd, Noisia, i_o, Dillon Francis, Chris Lake, and Madeon, while fostering rising talent such as Sarah Landry, Lamorn, 1788-L, and LUPA.
Welcome to the horde.
