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The Juan MacleanLess Than Human DFA/EMI After his contributions to label samplers from the men behind LCD Sound System - DFA's magnificent off beat electro compilations - comes The Juan Maclean's first solo long player 'Less Than Human'. That Maclean is not as immediately infectious as his buddies (and cited saviours) LCD is perhaps not that surprising considering his previous outfit Six Finger Satellite. The disposable pop synth on 'Less Than Human' is worlds away from the glacial, obtuse post-rock of his previous group, and perhaps this is the point. Maclean credits James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy of DFA/LCD with his return to music, but the album doesn't fully deliver on the promise of his contributions to the compilations: in fact, the album is a little light on. The dark warbling of I Robot is hardly followed through on by 'Less Than Human' opener AD 2003. 'Less Than Human' has the slick, clean production necessary to attain the slick 80's sound with which the album is so wantonly imbued. There are hints of both Talk Talk and Duran Duran on the swinging Give Me Every Little Thing, which makes me wonder why he doesn't drop the Juan and just double his surname. But seriously, the deadpan vocal of Nancy Whang adds disaffected cool on a number of tracks. Crush My Liberation in particular features fantastic electronic drum pad rolls punctuating the almost Axel F-style bass folly and Dance With Me is icy and frustrated. Overall I wanted deeper sounds and dancier bass: there is a little too much house and unreconstructed synth disco and faux eighties stylings for me. But the rapidly approaching party season seems set to be brightly clash coloured, so 'Less Than Human' could well be the perfect party warm up/cool down.  |
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