Review: Following years of extended service on DFA Records, Juan Maclean and regular collaborators Nancy Whang and Nicholas Millhiser have begun popping up on all manner of labels (most recently Aus and, more surprisingly, Going In - the latter with a 52-minute ambient track). Here they debut on Me Me Me, flitting between driving and percussive disco-house (the loopy and hedonistic 'I Can't Explain' and the celebratory release of 'City Life Disco'), sweaty early morning house sleaze ('Leave Me When You Can') and hazy hypnotism ('Ain't No Thing Baby', where echoing flute sounds occasionally rise above a tracky but unusual groove). Alinka provides the EP's only remix, a tooled-up, nu-disco style revision of 'I Can't Explain' that somehow sounds both loose and locked-in at the same time.
Review: New York's disco, noise and electro don The Juan Maclean is back and makes his debut on Aus Music. Pushing a perceivably harder edged or club focused sound for Will Saul's label, Juan Mac turns in three numbers that explore deeper techno, trance and Italo alongside progressive new age disco (and New York soul) that goes all the way in "Outriders Of Planet Shulgin". For the Italo, deeper techno head (with hints of indie sub-pop too) "Here In The Twilight" goes the distance alongside the electrified nu-disco of "Harmine". Wild card alert on this record also o with a remix coming from Whities upstart "Nathan Micay" with a tough, dubbed out and warehouse mix to an epic title track.
What Do You Feel Free About? (Man Power remix) - (7:30) 125 BPM
Review: Strangely, DFA chose not to do much promotion on this latest single from long-serving label stalwart the Juan MacLean. It seems a little odd, because "What Do You Feel Free About?" is one of MacLean's most attractive singles for sometime. Seemingly a thinly veiled commentary on America in 2018 featuring vocals from regular collaborator Nancy Whang, the track is a rip-roaring fusion of whistle-heavy late '80s Chicago house, boisterous organ-heavy New York house and the kind of driving, percussion-rich disco that MacLean has always done so well. Man Power drags the track down a sleazy sex dungeon on his terrific accompanying remix, which re-casts the track as a stomping, arpeggio-driven slab of muscular late night house rich in dark arpeggio lines, reverb-laden organs and all manner of mind-altering electronics.
Review: Over the course of the last decade, Swiss stalwart Deetron has been responsible for a string of impressive remixes. Happily, these - and many others you may have missed - have now been collected together on the decidedly epic Re-Creation: Remixes Compiled. As you'd expect, the 25-track set flits between full-throttle, peak-time friendly techno futurism, bustling deep house goodness and more downbeat explorations that defy his reputation as a maker of killer club cuts. Highlights include the loved-up synth breakdowns and jacking, Chicago-style groove of his Juan MacLean remix, a wonderfully retro-futurist take on George Fitzgerald's "Every Inch", a thrusting, stab-happy revision of Quarion and a lusciously jazzy take on Todd Terje's "Alfonso Muskedender". That said, on another day we could have listed another five or six highlights: it really is that good.
Review: One of Ibiza's biggest tickets, Defected throw parties in the same spirit as they release music. With full force and serious knowhow. Here they've curated 40 perfected positioned tacks that don't just represent their vibe, or the spirit of their parties, but also a fitting snapshot of what's going on in house music right now. From Low Steppa to Damian Lazarus, Skream to Claude VonStroke, Josh Butler to The Shapeshifters, the entire tracklist reads (and sounds) like a who's who in house music 2015. Delivered with two mixes and whole host of exclusives, Defected aren't messing around right now.
Review: House DJs MYNC offer an exhaustive overview of the tracks that rocked the long-running White Island venue this summer. In the soulful corner, there's the Maxi Soundsystem take on Boris Dlugosch's "Look Around You". Featuring Roisin Murphy on vocals, it does a lot to sweep away the rainy autumn blues. Ten Walls deliver the trancey goods in the shape of "Gotham", which revolves around a belching bassline, but the most notable aspect of Ibiza 2013 is the way minimal producers have come into the house fold. Loco Dice borrows a prog house bassline for 'Detox' and Luciano's "Rise Of The Angel" - remixed here by Andrea Oliva - is a piano-led, wide eyed deep anthem.
Review: Confusingly, this is actually the second full-length round up of exclusive tracks from the DJ Kicks mix series (the first, with the same title, was released in 2006). It gathers together notable exclusive tracks from some of the many DJs and producers who've contributed to the series in recent years. It makes for fascinating and enjoyable listening, flitting between sounds and styles at a breakneck pace. Highlights include jazz-flecked deep house from Motor City Drum Ensemble and Henrik Schwarz, dextrous dancefloor jazz from Four Tet, a Hall & Oates impersonation from Chromeo, booming bass music from Scuba and a dash of bleary-eyed New York disco from The Juan MacLean. Oh, and a decidedly bleep-heavy two-step rinse out from Photek & Kru. Check it.
