The Juan MacLean vs. That Work

THE JUAN MACLEAN: I really like the new Lindstrøm track "Closing Shot." It made me feel better about the reviled category nu disco. To me, nu disco has slightly more credibility than nu metal. I get very upset when my tracks are placed in this category. 

Of course I’m constantly on the road DJing. That’s always a given. I’m working on the next The Juan MacLean album, but in the more immediate future I am finishing a bunch of new Peach Melba tracks and also a lot of stuff with Shit Robot. We have a new project coming up that I’m very excited about. It’s pretty much live machine-based house music—very raw. 
I’m not much of a musician. The only instrument I can really play is guitar, which is not helpful for making electronic music. For me, it’s all about sounds. I tend to make loops first—those are the germs of the songs. I’ll make a loop with a basic groove, maybe some melodic parts, and then I’ll slowly start replacing the programmed drums with live drums and gathering up more keyboard parts from friends who are accomplished players, like Alex Frankel and Morgan Wiley. Then I edited all these parts down into a rough outline of a track and send it to Nancy for vocals. 

The Juan MacLean's "A Place Called Space" (DFA records)

No, not at all. I make a lot of tracks using sequencers. I have a a few things I use that are basically part writers. For example, the Intellijel Metropolis. It’s a sequencer that has provisions for specifying what key and mode you want to be in. But I really don’t know how to play keyboards. I just mess around on them until I find something that sounds good. 
I’ve never used sample pack loops for anything. I basically make my own loops, either with machines or live playing. Even if things are recorded live, like drums, I’ll chop them up, quantize them, and make loops. 

"THUMP: Mixed By The Juan MacLean."

Yes. Black jeans, a black T-shirt, and a black sweatshirt. 
I don’t really believe in it. It makes me uncomfortable. I’d rather spend time with my machines in my studio. 

Yes, back in the '90s. It was scary back then. I'm not sure if they’ve changed things up since then. Maybe they have gluten-free options in the cafeteria now.

All the time! I use the Mono/Poly soft synth quite a bit these days. 
These days it’s my Intellijel Metropolis coupled with an Intellijel Cyclonix Shapeshifter. I’ve been making loads of tracks with that combination. Most of the new Peach Melba stuff is based around that setup. 

In no particular order: The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson, Tropic Of Cancer by Henry Miller,  Crime And Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and The Outsider by Colin Wilson.
Yoga, but I don’t like to talk about it—it leads to too much online eye rolling. 

On Friday, March 25th, Le Bain presents That Work and The Juan MacLean (DFA records).
Doors open at 10pm. The Standard, High Line. 

Header photo by Neil Aline