The Juan Maclean - Tito's Way

I like smart dance music, something more than just a pounding beat and a catchy hook. A lot of the indie-hipster-dance-whatever coming out now if fun on a Saturday night but doesn’t do much for me on a Tuesday afternoon. It doesn’t really know the history. The Juan Maclean does. This “band” is comprised of, you guessed it, Mr. Juan Maclean as really the only full time member – although he does get help from the DFA’s Tim Goldsworthy and James Murphy. It was James Murphy (perhaps known to you as quite similar LCD Soundsystem) who encouraged Juan to stop teaching English in New Hampshire and start making music again. James had been the touring engineer for Juan’s former band, Six Finger Satellite. So, given the storied history between The Juan Maclean and the DFA, it seems only reasonable that the two might influence each other, and like your grandparents who have been married since the war, maybe even start to look a little alike. Which might be why I had assumed that lead single, “Tito’s Way,” was actually by some DFA variation - James Murphy does love to use timbales. But I guess the real issue is that maybe this album has become a little too smart for my dance floor endeavors. It’s such a fine line between admiration and imitation. I can listen to every track and know that this guy loves some early European techno. And the use of live drums instead cheap drum machines gives the songs a warmth and humanity lacking from much of electronic music. But again, the DFA has already been doing that for years now. Even Coldplay is ripping off Kraftwork. I suppose if you are going to attempt to revive older music, you need to do it first, or you need to do it better than anyone else. While the Juan Maclean is good, he is certainly isn’t the best or the first. [www.thejuanmaclean.com]