Attlas

Jeff Hartford, better known by his stage name Attlas (stylized as ATTLAS), is a Canadian DJ, electronic music producer and musician.^[1][2]

Early life and career[]

Hartford grew up surrounded by a variety of musical influences, including New Orleans jazz, Beethoven, hip-hop, and hard rock. After moving to Detroit, he learned to play a piano that was left in the basement on his home and began composing his own music. Later, an interest in electronic music was fostered by listening to productions from Matt Lange, deadmau5, and various artists from Warp Records.^[3]

Eventually, Hartford sent his music to mau5trap who signed him.^[4][3][5] The moniker ATTLAS was a sort of mask that he could put on to assume a new identity and separate his music from his personal self. The name was chosen because the ambiguity would allow him to cover a variety of sounds and was a reference to the influence that physical and emotional geographies, histories, and stories have on his writing.^[3][6]

In 2015, Hartford released the singles "Scarlett",^[7] "Wastaga"^[8] and "Beside".^[9] These tracks were later included in an EP trilogy consisting of Siren,^[10] Scene^[11] and Sin^[12] through mau5trap over the year^[13] and performed his first live shows in June.^[3]

In February 2016, he joined other mau5trap label artists on the MAU5HAX BU5 TOUR across the United States.^[14] Hartford then released the single "Ryat" in June ahead of his full Bloom EP,^[15] a self-described collection of calm, fresh air and vocal collaborations.^[16] He also released the songs "Aspen",^[17][18] "Blood Work"^[19] and "Frost" throughout the year.^[20] At the end of 2016, Hartford embarked on a 7 show tour across Canada and the United States to promote the second installment of his Storyline mix series^[6] and was named in Billboard's "One to watch" for 2016.^[21]

In 2017, Hartford released the singles "Bad at Titles"^[22] with deadmau5, "Further"^[23] and "What You Do To Me".^[24]

In August 2021, Hartford released the single "Into Arms of Lovers" featuring Maylyn.^[25]

Ｉｎdeadmau5 alias rumors[]

After releasing a few of his songs on mau5trap, a rumor circulated that ATTLAS was a side project of Joel Zimmerman aka deadmau5 akin to the Testpilot moniker debuted in 2014.^[26][27] Some even theorized that the name was a reference to the video game Bioshock and was a clue to the secret nature of the project.^[28] Although he mentioned his first name in some interviews,^[6] ATTLAS' identity was not fully known until Pete Tong revealed it on his Evolution broadcast on iHeartRadio.^[29] Tong said "There's been a sneaky suspicion that he's deadmau5 in disguise. However I can now reveal that he's a fellow Canadian producer called Jeff Hartford."^[30][27]

Speaking about the beginning of his career and how fans assumed he was an alias of deadmau5, Hartford told Straight:^[31]

"When I sent my music to deadmau5's label and he chose to release it, people started assuming that my music was actually his side project... That response was such a big compliment to me... because Joel has always been a huge inspiration. But while it was fun for a bit, I suddenly thought about how I had to start being Jeff, so that I wasn't being disrespectful to the brand that deadmau5 has built over the years."

Discography[]

^[32]

Albums[]

Lavender God

• Released: January 31, 2020
• Label: mau5trap
• Format: Digital download

Out Here With You^[33]

• Released: November 6, 2020
• Label: mau5trap
• Format: Digital download

Extended plays[]

Singles and other songs[]

Remixes[]

^[35]

• Tove Lo – Scream My Name (2015)^[36][37]
• XYLO – America (2015)^[38]
• Rihanna – Bitch Better Have My Money (2015)^[39]
• Aphex Twin – Make a Baby (2015)^[40]
• Gallant – Weight in Gold (2015)^[41]
• Led Zeppelin – Ramble On (2015)^[42][43]
• deadmau5 – aural psynapse (2015)^[44]
• Rihanna – Needed Me(2016)^[45]
• deadmau5 – Strobe (2016)^[46]
• Matt Lange - You'll Remember Me (2016)
• OFFAIAH – Trouble (2016)^[47]
• Phantogram – You Don't Get Me High Anymore (2016)^[48]
• Kaskade (feat. KOLAJ) - Whatever (2016)
• deadmau5 - Strobe (2016)
• I Hate Models – Heartbreaker (2017)
• Eekkoo - Elysium (2017)
• ionnalee – SIMMER DOWN (2017)
• Pendulum - Streamline (2018)
• Louis The Child (feat. Wafia) - Better Not (2018)
• deadmau5 (feat. Rob Swire) - Monophobia (2018)
• Jai Wolf (feat. Chelsea Jade) - Lost (2019)
• Kidnap - Ursa Minor (2018)
• Lane 8 - No Captain (2018)
• Noizu - Baby Baby (2019)
• ARTY, Conrad Sewell - Kingdom (2020)
• Hotel Garuda - Rush (2020)
• CloudNone - From Here (2020)
• Joachim Pastor ft. EKE - Be Someone (2021)
• DVRKO - Wasted on You (2021)

References[]