THE JUAN MACLEAN – Can You Ever Really Know Somebody

The Juan Maclean return to DFA with a stand-alone single, bursting with deep house elastic bounce and electronic pop flourishes, married to the deadpan earnestness of Nancy Whang’s vocal delivery.

“Can You Ever Really Know Somebody” is the kind of slinky song that is easily absorbed and difficult to forget. It is a taste of things to come, as The Juan Maclean prepares a brand new LP for DFA due out in Fall 2017.

The remix is courtesy of LA-4A, aka Ambivalent and legally known as American born producer Kevin McHugh. Stripping out the house music and replacing it with a grinding electro-acid template, LA-4A creates a lovely buzzing new bed of music for Nancy Whang’s vocals to rest on top of it. This is a remix with wildly successful results and a perfect companion to the original.

The Juan Maclean – A Simple Design (Remixes)

In A Dream by The Juan Maclean is the most critically acclaimed record of the group’s career. Standout track “A Simple Design” has one of the strongest vocal performances ever heard from Nancy Whang (LCD Soundsystem, Classixx) and we are proud to share three new versions certain to shake up dancefloors the world over. Los Angeles producer Magic Touch (100% Silk) adds flourishes of funk guitars and a belching bassline, while the Swiss-based Deetron builds the track from a vocal to a full-blown acid freakout. The package is rounded out by Manchester producer xxxy, who adds extra percussion and bleep-bloops to Juan’s masterful production work.  Available today on iTunes, Spotify, and wherever digital music is sold, via DFA Records.

Tracklist:
A Simple Design (Single Edit)
A Simple Design (Magic Touch Remix)
A Simple Design (Deetron Remix)
A Simple Design (xxxy Remix)

The Juan Maclean – In A Dream LP

‘In A Dream’ is the third album from The Juan Maclean. If anything, this new LP is further evidence of the “undeniable creative chemistry between house music wizard Juan Maclean & vocalist / former LCD Soundsystem member Nancy Whang“. (Pitchfork) The album takes its musical cues from Moroder’s Munich to the Funky Nassau sounds of Compass Point and to anytime in downtown NYC.

An album of high anticipated, brand new material on the heels of The Juan Maclean’s acclaimed club bangers from the last couple of years. Features singles “A Place Called Space” and “A Simple Design“. Everyone that has heard the record loves the hell out of it, and I promise you will too.

Available wherever fine records are sold. Purchase high quality digital music and preorder an autographed vinyl copy at DFA Direct.

Tracklist:
1. A Place Called Space
2. Here I Am
3. Love Stops Here
4. You Were A Runaway
5. Running Back To You
6. I’ve Waited For So Long
7. Charlotte
8. A Simple Design
9. The Sun Will Never Set On Our Love

The Juan MacLean – A Simple Design

After sharing In A Dream’s epic opening number, the progressive, disco-oriented “A Place Called Space,” The Juan MacLean is excited to unveil “A Simple Design,” one of the most sublime and immediate tracks on this cohesive dance record. As described by Juan, “This is a song about being stuck, paralyzed and unable to move forward, the sort of self-imposed distress that causes you to take five years to make a new album.” It shows the duo of extraordinary producer/remixer Juan MacLean and the bold and vivacious Nancy Whang doing what they do best – playing with lyrics, melodies and arrangements in presenting dance- informed, electronic pop songs that cover a great deal of ground, musically. Juan’s distinct production and Juan and Nancy’s unique interplay has lead them to successfully weather electroclash, disco-punk, electro- disco, techno, house, deep house, and whatever you’re calling the sound of today. With In A Dream, their third album and first in five years, The Juan MacLean have surpassed it all and created the best album of their career.

Out on DFA Records on September 30th 2014. Pre-order the album with exclusive merchandise at Pledgemusic.com. You may also preorder on iTunes and receive ‘A Place Called Space’ and ‘ A Simple Design’ immediately.

The Nancy Whang Casablanca Reworks

Gomma are proud to present a collection of fantastic Nancy Whang reworks of classic disco tracks that come in collaboration with a host of top modern day collaborators. The package also includes a new single with Drop Out Orchestra entitled ‘I Was Made For Loving You’, a cover of the famous Kiss record.

Whang has provided her trademark vocals to tracks by Soulwax, The Juan MacLean and Classixx before now, and after years as a vocalist and keyboard player in James Murphy’s super band LCD Soundsystem is now a revered artist in her own right. Each of the originals here were released on Casablanca – the label that made Giorgio Moroder’s Munich Disco Sound a worldwide trademark – and now have new life breathed into them to make them big hitters once more in 2014.

First is a remake of Dennis Parker’s ‘Like An Eagle’ with AudioJack. It’s a dazzling, uplifting track with plenty of cosmic energy and soaring vocals before next comes ‘Working The Midnight Shift’ with Bonar Bradbury of PBR Streetgang. This one, originally by Donna Summer, is a blissed out bomb with killer arps, tough basslines and plenty of retro disco flair.

Then comes the Nancy and Etienne De Crecy version of ‘Comme Un Aigle’, which is slowed to a seductive tempo, finds Nancy singing in French and is hugely sexy as a result. Following that is the inclusion of the new single in Semi Skimmed mix form (the original is also included), which is a rework of a Kiss classic. ‘I Was Made For Loving You’ is a broody bit of deep disco with Nancy’s killer vocal delivery front and centre and classic strings, plucked guitar funk and bold drums making for great listening all around.

Next is ‘Flashlight,’ originally by Parliament, which sees Nancy pair off with modern disco king pin The Revenge. It’s a trippy track with super deep kicks, a patient build up of tension and lots of bubbling synths that come at you from below.

This is a sizzling disco package once again from Gomma – both the new single and the collected previous reworks are essential tunes as we hit the height of summer.

Tracklist:
1. Nancy Whang & Audiojack – Like An Eagle

2. Nancy Whang & Bonar Bradberry – Working The Midnight Shift (Disco Version)
3. Nancy Whang & Etienne de Crecy – Comme Un Aigle
4. Nancy Whang & Drop Out Orchestra – I Was Made For Loving You (Semi Skimmed Version)
5. Nancy Whang & The Revenge – Flashlight
6. Nancy Whang & Bonar Bradberry – Working The Midnight Shift

Video: The Juan MacLean – A Place Called Space

The Juan Maclean, aka the duo of John Maclean and Nancy Whang (of LCD Soundsystem fame), will finally release their third album on September 15th 2014 via DFA. You can pre-order “In A Dream” LP here. Below, you can watch the video for the album’s lead single “A Place Called Space”, by Tyler Brodie. You can also check out the LP’s tracklist and a series of DJ dates.

In A Dream:

01 A Place Called Space
02 Here I Am
03 Love Stops Here
04 You Were A Runaway
05 Running Back To You
06 I’ve Waited For So Long
07 Charlotte
08 A Simple Design
09 The Sun Will Never Set On Our Love

The Juan Maclean dj dates:

06-26 Brooklyn, NY – Verboten
06-28 Philadelphia, PA – Morgan’s Pier
07-11 San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine
08-01 Chicago, IL – Smart Bar
08-02 El Monte, CA – HARD Summer 2014
09-05 Copenhagen, Denmark – Rust
09-06 London, England – The Nest
09-07 Berlin, Germany – Panoramabar
09-12 Helsinki, FI – Kaiku
09-13 Barcelona, Spain – Nitsa
09-20 Glasgow, Scotland – Berkeley Suite
09-21 Edinburgh, Scotland – Sneaky Pete’s
09-26 Bern, Switzerland – Club Bonsoir
09-27 Paris, France – Badaboum

Nancy Whang & Bonar Bradberry – Working the Midnight Shift

Next up on Gomma is a high impact single that sees UK disco don Bonar Bradberry (one half of PBR Streetgang) team up with Nancy Whang, who was formerly part of New York band LCD Soundsystem.

Whang has provided her trademark vocals to tracks by Soulwax, The Juan MacLean and Classixx and now comes good once again with a project that sees her teaming up with different esteemed producers for a series of cover version singles. The production in this case is by Bradberry, no stranger to success thanks to releasing on labels like Futureboogie, Needwant and 2020 Vision.

This new single ‘Working The Midnight Shift’ – originally by Donna Summer – gets a futuristic re-versioning that marries classic 80’s boogie to fresh modern sounds. The radio edit version is awash with elastic and rubbery basslines, twinkles with a cosmic energy and really allows Nancy’s crystal clear vocals to soar above the beats. It manages to be downbeat and melancholic at the same time as being hugely uplifting.

The extended version is quite the trip, elongating the groove and the disco flourishes into something really quite epic, whilst the disco version is even more energetic and intergalactic. In this one the twinkling melodies and arpeggiated synth lines sound synthetic and organic at the same time and really make for something spectacular thanks to Bradberry’s great production work.

Once again Gomma have come up with a disco bomb that nods to the past at the same time as charging headlong into the future.

Out on May 16. Preview it on our weekly OFFradio show.

Shit Robot – We Got a Love [2014]

DFA Records is proud to present "We Got a Love", the sophomore full-length by Shit Robot a.k.a. Dublin native Marcus Lambkin. Recorded in Germany and New York, the nine-track album includes the killer recent singles, “Feels Real” and “We Got a Love.”

Like Lambkin’s 2010 debut From the Cradle to the Rave, We Got a Love sports an array of guests that include DFA veterans Nancy Whang, Museum of Love and Luke Jenner (The Rapture), plus hip-house hero Lidell Townsell and Australian singer Holly Backler. The album’s distinctive artwork was created in collaboration with Irish graffiti artist Maser.

Available for purchase today on iTunes and as high quality digital downloads at DFA Direct. We made really nice mugs and shirts, too! You may check them out at DFA Direct as well.

“Do That Dance” is the newest single to get released from ‘We Got A Love’, which features Nancy Whang on vocals, and the song serves as a great sequel to their collaboration on the first Shit Robot LP, “Take Em Up”.

The remixes for the single come courtesy of Leisure Connection (aka Peaking Lights and Rahdunes) and Konstantin Sibold – resident DJ at Rocker 33 in Stuttgart Germany – who is quietly becoming the name to know in the dance world, with new materials on Innervisions and Objektivity Records. Check out Sibold’s remix below and Leisure Connection’s edit here.

Video: Shit Robot feat. Nancy Whang – Do That Dance

Here’s the video for the new track from Shit Robot, off his sophomore LP ‘We Got A Love’ out on March 18 on DFA records, featuring vocalist Nancy Whang from LCD Soundsystem.

Nancy Whang & Audiojack – Like an Eagle

The always charming Gomma label has put together two fantastic artists in the form of Nancy Whang and Audiojack for a brand new sizzling single, ‘Like An Eagle’, that comes complete with a remix by Black Loops & Maik Yells.

After years as a vocalist and keyboarder in James Murphy’s superband LCD Soundsystem, finally Nancy steps out with her own solo project: 4 cover versions of big songs from the 70ies, each of which is to be produced by a big name of today’s electronic scene.

The first single is a rework of Dennis Parker’s ‘Like An Eagle’ which gets produced by AudioJack. Ibiza based, Leeds pair AudioJack have released on labels like 2020 Vision, Diynamic, Get Physical and countless other imprints and do a fine job here.

The single comes as a shorter radio version and a glorious extended edit. The basis for the track are spritely house drums run through with warbling, disco-fried synths that shine and glow gloriously. The airy vocal refrain up top soars like the Eagle being sung about as withering synths and plenty of 80s arppegiated lines colour the spaces left behind. This is a fantastically floating single that will sweep dancefloors up and shoot them thorugh space all spring long.

Toy Tonics acts Black Loops and Malik Yells also turn out a bomb remix. They decde to slow it down and chop it up, so the drums are more broken and raucous as tons of echo and grubby bassline phrases wobble and warbled underneath. More suited to sweatier clubs, it’s a delicious reworking on a fantastic original.

This is the start of a great new series of EPs from Nancy Whangs that is well worth keeping an eye on.

Out March 28. Preview it on our weekly Offradio show.