The Juan Maclean - Tito's Way

Long time no hear from, eh? Well, I don't know what everyone else's excuse is, but mine is pretty simple: boredom. That and I gave into the devil and got an antenna for my television and have since become a slave to the box, but I digress. The point is: isn't everyone so over reading about the same bands over and over again. I know those bands are good, we all know, but give me something new. If every mp3 blog is going to write about the same 8 bands, then what's the figgin' point?

Luckily for you, I've been dj'ing more lately, so I've gotten turned on to some new tunage. I don't know a lot about any of the bands that I've been listening to, they're really all more up Markonkwo's alley, and he always complains that no one ever comments on anything he writes about, but I'm gonna try to give you guys a little something different. Let me know if you dig it or you think it sucks.

So, this first track is from The Juan Maclean. Here's a copy and paste portion of the bio:

"It's been a bit of a sore spot" laughs Juan Maclean. "Sitting on this album and seeing this robot stuff pop up all over the place. I have serious robot credentials that go back years and years. Like, a decade! But Daft Punk beat me to the punch." He may be joking, but the man's right. If anyone's earned the right to call their debut album 'Less Than Human' and imagine a love triangle consisting of a man, a woman and the man's gay robot friend (as in 'Shining Skinned Friend'), it's Maclean.

He was guitarist and synth player with acclaimed but obscure, gonzo electro-punk band Six Finger Satellite, who began formulating their blend of rigidly mechanised disco beats, oddly sumptuous synth melodies and razor-shredded guitar work in the early 90s. The brutish but groovy result suggested a cross between Devo, Kraftwerk and Big Black. Then, America was mired in grunge, the famous French robots were still in short pants and the 'punk-funk revival' was in the unimaginable future. Six Finger Satellite were just too far ahead of their time and perished accordingly.

As a result, Juan MacLean nearly gave up. Not just on music, but on life itself. Creative disillusionment and personal despair aggravated by years of drug addiction (he started shooting coke at an early age, then moved on to heroin) had, toward the end of last century, brought him to his knees. Then, as the world prepared to party at the millenium's turn, two shifts occurred. First, he quit Six Finger Satellite, got the hell out of New York City and decided to try doing something rather more socially constructive with his life than just playing in a band. Secondly, he found himself being bugged by Six Finger Satellite's former live soundman. But this guy wasn’t after money or the return of borrowed gear or any one of the countless other things that usually prompt such reconnections. MacLean was being hassled by his old friend James Murphy to start making music again.

This record is the result. If you dig this song, buy the record. It's pretty good.