Scenestar

ARTICLE BY MYCHELLE PETERSON
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE JUAN MACLEAN

SEPT. 5 | CHICAGO—Anyone ready to dance? No, seriously, if you need to get your dance on, seeing The Juan MacLean will do it to you. You may think you’re too cool to dance, you may think you’re too old to dance, or maybe you just don’t know how. But it is of no consequence when the DFA’ers take the stage. You’re gonna dance!

Friday’s show at the Empty Bottle was an interesting albeit slightly uneven experience. First off, the crowd was really diverse, full of frat boys and cool kids mixed with a few nerdy types whose awkward dance moves would have been laughable had they not been having so much fun. The show wasn’t sold out, but the people there more than made up for it, crowding into the front by the stage to form small dance collectives and adding a bit of performance art to the show.

Although it has been four years since the band’s debut album was released, The Juan MacLean is touring in support of their new single, “The Simple Life,” and they’re also selling a limited-edition EP only available on tour. Word is that they’ll be releasing a new album titled The Future Will Come in early 2009, and it seemed a lot of the new songs were being road-tested.

Having never seen the band before, I was surprised to see how much Nancy Whang contributes to the vocals. On record, you hear the female voice of course, but in my mind, she was a guest vocalist or a backup vocalist. Well, my mind was mistaken. Nancy stands front and center and plays the part of a full-time, if occasionally reticent vocalist. The new tracks featured Nancy prominently, and for me, those didn’t hold up to the older tunes.

The tracks that did work best were “Give Me Every Little Thing” and the set closer, “Happy House.” The crowd was clearly enamored of both extended renditions that gradually built layer upon layer, and just when you thought it might be over, there was more! The crowd just kept going, not ready to let go of the moments of careless abandon that the music inspired. A couple of times, I just stopped and wondered if this is what it felt like to be at a rave in Manchester in the ’90s—a sea of sweaty bodies swaying, jumping and pulsing to the music and following the lights into another world of consciousness.

It’s weird. Some tracks were good, some tracks were just OK, and then some were just plain awesome. Perhaps it comes down to personal preference, but the dual vocals on a few of the newer tracks sounded a little too much like The Human League or Animotion (anyone remember “Obsession”?). Both Nancy and Juan have good voices, but sometimes they don’t mesh right together, and I just prefer hearing them sing on separate tracks or in less of a duet kind of way.

Nevertheless, the band put on a good show and a great time. They’re not so much showmen as they are masters of their instruments. At one point, Juan even said he was a master of the theremin, “the hardest instrument in the world to play.” Watching him gesticulate with the theremin was a treat, as you saw his hands undulate back and forth and then heard the corresponding sounds reverberate in the crowd.

The band pops into Los Angeles on Sept. 13 at the El Rey, so be sure to check them out and form your own opinion … but come prepared with your dancing shoes and be ready to move!