Photo JOSH RADIN
Words + Mix JUAN MACLEAN
I have loved ‘deep’ electronic music for a long time. I’m not interested in sparking yet another boring and useless debate about ‘what is deep house?’ so I’ll leave it at ‘deep.’ It may be surprising to hear that dub techno pioneers Basic Channel were a very heavy influence in the couple of years leading up to the formation of DFA Records, as was stuff like Aphex Twin’s Ambient Works records.
Over the years I’ve reserved the front quarter of my record bag for records that are dark, brooding, and don’t really go anywhere. They certainly aren’t going anywhere in a hurry. Many are the types of records that can work either in the early part of the night, as a launching off point to take things in a more energetic direction, or late in the night, deep into the next morning. Everyone once in a while, if the setting is right and the dance floor has the patience and frame of mind for it, I love staying in this place for hours.
Here’s a bit of a sampler, a mini version of one of my recent DJ sets. It peaks for a moment with the Horizontal Ground record, sends you home to face the coming winter with Frank & Tony.
Tracklisting:
Wolski – The Bells (Blank Slate)
Culture Hub – External Space (Invisible Circles)
U-More – The Slope (Cabaret)
Freund der Familie – Monday (Marko Fürstenberg Remix) (FDF ALFA 02)
Ion Ludwig – No Man Can Be One Way you Should See (Lickmydeck)
Guysfromneighbourhood – Speech Less (Hoxton)
Onirik and Pablo Tarno – Hotel Samariter (Dark Dub) (Finest Hour)
Birdsmakingmachine – Iacaros (Birdsmakingmachine)
Covio & Argenis Brito – Want 2 (God Particle)
Horizontal Ground – Horizontal Ground 5, B1 (Horizontal Ground)
Inner – Story Of Franck (Shadow Hide You)
Quadrant – Infinition (Planet E)
Frank And Tony – Bring The Sun (Scissor And Thread)
The Juan MacLean’s latest album, ‘In a Dream’, is available now through DFA Records. Check out tracks from that record and the duo’s (rounded out by singer Nancy Whang) previous releases below, along with MacLean’s upcoming DJ tour dates…
The Juan MacLean DJ tour dates:
11/28 Calgary, AB – The HiFi Club #
11/29 Los Angeles, CA – Avalon Hollywood ^#
12/13 Mexico City, MX – Foro Indie Rocks #
12/26 Miami, FL – Bardot Miami #
12/31 San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine *
# with Nancy Whang
^ with The 2 Bears, Hot Chip DJ Set
* with Cut Copy
