Melissa Lane

Wanna know what kind of muzak Wal-Mart will be playing in 2030? Check out The Juan Maclean. The former Six Finger Satellite member kept the eighties rocking well into the nineties, but crapped out before breaking through the confines of what never became much more than a cult following. It would be Senor LCD Soundsystem himself--Maclean's former soundman and longstanding friend, James Murphy--who would drag him out of his New Hampshire hobbitdom to play again, and on damn good instinct. While some of the work on "Less Than Human" comes off trite upon first impression, there is no mistaking his genuine crush on early analogue techno. In particular, the dawn of the Belleville Three era (May, Atkins, and Saunderson) with its fascination for all things future paralleled by an adoration of science and technology. That this belies, with such vitriol, the context of inner-city decay that the Motor City was suffering through at the time begets some irresistibly simple conclusions. In listening to how Maclean humanizes his vocoder-vixen dance-punk with warm, sensual funk basslines, you'd have to be blind or simply without soul to not glean at least an inkling of where this guy's been--and how rough the road back inevitably was. Consider "Crush the Liberation," wherein he juxtaposes exasperated, cynical lyrics over a twinkling shiny happy melody. While some artists are born before their time, some miss it by a decade or two--and how this bodes for you personally depends on when you first tuned into techno.

The Juan Maclean plays, with Spank Rock and Coco LeRoc at Empty Bottle, 1035 North Western, (773)276-3600 on December 31 at 9pm for a measly $20. (2005-12-27)

Also by Melissa Lane

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Hed Kandi, the ubiquitous club brand comprising residencies all over the world, compilation CD sales topping 50 million, a multitude of Top 40 hits, and one of the most widely recognized clubbing-lifestyle identities in the world, suffered a major staff walkout--one that included the man who created it
(2005-12-13)

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Quite possibly the most prolific creative entity in house music--a Chicago native credited with birthing the genre--Jesse Saunders lives in Las Vegas and thinks that so should everybody else--especially if they're into club culture
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Spin Control
"We play instruments. We play completely live shows. But we are a dance band. That is the key to Los Amigos Invisibles--we are a band that loves the club scene"
(2005-11-08)

Afro-Everything
Growing up in Nigeria for ten years and then returning to London at 14 had cultivated in Wunmi a kaleidoscope of creative impulses as well as a deep and wild love for anything involving percussion and dancing
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Spin Control
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Smooth
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Killing Time
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Tip of the Week
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Spin Control
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Demonology
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Tip of the Week
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New Pop Idol
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