Rollin’ & Scratchin’

As many of you know by now, The Juan Maclean has released their follow up to ‘Less Than Human’ this year called, ‘The Future Will Come’.  The outcome is a more mature, confident sounding Juan Maclean, but just as fun.  In preview of their show in Toronto this Thursday with The Field, Juan was kind enough to sit down and chat with us about the album, hosting dinner parties, and his thoughts on the advent of robot sex.

1. In your bio, you’re quoted as saying, ““Before going into production of the album, before I wrote anything, I had aesthetic and conceptual guidelines in mind, “I stuck to those, and they panned out.” What types of guidelines and themes were you aiming to follow to get to the final product that you did on ‘The Future Will Come’?

First and foremost, I knew that I wanted to use my live band to record this record.  When I was making my first LP, ‘Less Than Human’, I had done most of the instrumentation and programming myself, in my home studio, and later mixed it at the DFA studio in NYC.  Only after the album was completed did it occur to me to put together a live band and go on tour.  We then went on tour for a year and a half or so, and that had a pronounced effect on the way I went about doing ‘The Future Will Come’.  That is why this album has a much more ‘live’ feel to it.

Also, I decided that I wanted to do a more vocal oriented album.  With Less Than Human, vocals were added to instrumental tracks almost as an afterthought.  For ‘The Future Will Come’, the reverse is true.  The music is meant to support vocals.
Finally, there is something of a narrative arc to this album, loosely based on a romantic relationship.  Nancy and I decided that we wanted to write as sincerely and honestly as possible when conceiving the lyrics for this album.  I think lyrics in dance or electronic music tend to be either throwaway ‘night on the town’ party type lyrics or sentiments so couched in irony that they are meaningless.  We wanted to write as honestly as possible about our real-life experiences, and I think it has resonated with people quite nicely.

2. You had a lot of help in conceptualizing “The Future Will Come”, notably the recording help of Holy Ghost, drummer Jerry Fuchs, and Nancy. Why did you choose the players that you did to help you record this album What do they bring to the table that say, a hired studio musician may not be able to?

These are all people, with the exception of Nancy, who were in The Juan MacLean live band.  They have played with me for years as a live band, so it was very natural to go into the studio with them.  Nancy has sung on my tracks since my second 12″, You Can’t Have It Both Ways, so again, it was a natural thing.  These are all people that have just by default become The Juan MacLean.  They are not guest musicians or guest vocalists by any means.  They are an integral part of what I do, along with James Murphy and some other characters.

3. In your bio, it states that world domination is a lot like hosting a dinner party. Do you host a lot of Dinner parties? What’s your specialty dish?

I host a lot of dinner parties for the DFA clan.  We tend to assemble in a certain restaurant, Marlowe And Sons, on Sunday nights, and then I’ll randomly host dinner parties for either business or pleasure.  My specialty is baked stuffed lobster.  I make my own stuffing from scratch.

4. We caught your show in 2004 at Coachella. What a great set. What can we expect from the live show that differ from back in 2004?

It’s slightly different from then with the addition of Nancy.  Since we play about 75% new material, the set is a bit more vocal oriented, and tends to be centered around Nancy as a front person.  I think we are playing by far the best shows we have ever played in the history of the band. It ends in a climactic version of Happy House, which can be quite epic.

5. What albums, song, or bands are you listening to right now. What would you suggest to our readers?

This is always a tough question for me.  My favorite band from New York right now is this group Chairlift.  I have just done a couple of remixes for them.  I’m sure they will be quite big by the end of the year.  Also, there is a new DFA group called Free Energy.  I’m not sure when their LP will be released, but I have heard it, and it is amazing.  It sort of sounds like T-Rex and Thin Lizzy, produced by James Murphy.

6. Lastly, with a newly designed Nooka Nooka Robot inspired by your music and vision, what does the future look like in the eyes of Juan Maclean? Nooka Nooka world domination?

I love the Nooka watch.  I had to re-learn how to tell time with it, which was very interesting to me.  They look great too.  I’m very happy with them.  I haven’t worn a watch in years, since the advent of cell phones, and now I wear one of my Nooka watches every day.  It does seem like a truly futuristic thing to me, as it is an entirely new way of telling time that actually is an advancement over the old ways.  I would like to see more changes along these lines in the future.  Especially with how we have sex. I’m certain there is a way to do it without having to apologize after.

The Juan Maclean – One Day

The Juan Maclean – One Day (Surkin Remix)

June 16th, 2009 by Craig