Rating: NNNN
Juan MacLean’s albums all display an obvious love for dance music, but you wouldn’t really call most of what he makes house. Even when he’s riding a four-on-the-floor disco beat, he gives just as many nods to new wave as to DJ culture. It’s a bit surprising, then, that he’s used the opportunity of his DJ-Kicks mix to throw together a straight-up DJ set of mostly contemporary house music, but we’re not complaining.
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With a few exceptions, the songs are fairly new and in some cases unreleased, but the vibe is definitely classic. While avoiding the retro route, MacLean does favour a style and mood that would make as much sense in 1988 as it does today. And unlike the vast majority of DJ mixes in recent memory, this one was actually created live with vinyl. That shouldn’t really matter much, but we’ve got a feeling it’s one of the reasons DJ-Kicks feels so much more alive than the clinically perfect mixes we’ve come to expect from commercial releases.
Top track: Take Me by A+O
Juan MacLean plays Wrongbar June 11.
