Matthew Dear and The Juan Maclean

Dear was born on 4 April 1979 in Kingsville, Texas, United States, but later moved to Michigan during his teens. Anyone who is remotely interested in the history of electronic music knows that Detroit is nearly synonymous with techno and as a native of the city Dear was inevitably touched by this widespread pandemic. By the time Dear was a student at the University of Michigan he started a record label of his own Ghostly International alongside fellow electronic music enthusiast, Sam Valenti IV.

Recently after the labels formation Dear started releasing music on his own, though initially he used various monikers such as Daisha, through which he put out his 1st single “Hands Up For Detroit” and Audion, through which he released his chart topping hit “Mouth to Mouth”.

Dear’s critically acclaimed studio debut “Leave Luck to Heaven” entered the market in late 2003 and served as an excellent showcasing of his microhouse/ minimalistic techno style. The album, which is a rough Japanese to English translation of Nintendo contained one of Dear’s most memorable tracks to date, “Dog Days” (also a best seller for the Spectral Sound label). Within less than a year after it’s release Dear issued his sophomore effort “Backstroke”. This album exhibited many of the glitchy hooks prevalent in his earlier work but gained lackluster reviews comparative to his debut. However the album proved to be an impressive accomplishment in terms of the short time it took to record and many publications such as Blender were ecstatic about it.

Dear took three years to release his 3rd studio album “Asa Bread”. Though this record contained much of Dear’s beloved signature sound it is recognized as his transition into indie-electronica. By the time Dear was ready to embark on his US and European tour supporting Hot Chip, he had already acquired a backing band, Big Hands. Dear gradually started to build a reputable presence for himself in both electronic and indie circles and by the time his 4th studio album “Black City” was released he was a cult sensation. The album received overwhelming positive feedback and was listed as one of the top 50 albums of 2010 by Pitchfork. This year also saw Matthew Dear backing Interpol for three highly publicized UK dates as well as touring the globe as a headliner. Dear’s follow up album “Beams” took a detour from the haunting gothic undertones seeping throughout “Black City” and fixated on an eccentric, but strangely uplifting aura. Outside of Dear’s solo efforts he is also a highly sought after remix artist and has done work for the xx, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Spoon, Hot Chip, The Postal Service, and the Chemical Brothers.

Before establishing himself as an individual artist, Maclean played guitar as part of the Sub Pop band Six Finger Satellite, whose synthesiser-addled post-hardcore was influenced by bands such as Big Black, Devo and Suicide, moving to a more post-punk, kraut-inspired noise that utilised electronics more heavily. Along with LCD Soundsytem's James Murphy, the pair became involved with the production duties for the band, which further changed their sound.

The band eventually broke up in the late 90s, with Maclean taking a break from the music business until James Murphy, who had just started his dance-punk label DFA Records, urged his friend to again start making music.

John Maclean began making music under the moniker, The Juan Maclean, beginning to experiment with modern electronic equipment, fusing his post-punk influences with early Detroit Techno and Chicago House. He released a number of singles on DFA and appeared on several compilations for the label, with "You Can't Have it Both Ways" and "Give Me Every Little Thing" becoming minor hits in 2002 and 2003 respectively.

His debut album, "Less Than Human" came out in 2005, a very experimental effort, that established his sound that borrowed from his love of Kraftwerk to Funkadelic, to Talking Heads to Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The album also featured the vocal talents of Nancy Whang, who had previously sung with LCD Soundystem. "The Future Will Come" followed in 2009, which saw Maclean and Whang's work together continue, displayed in the singles "Happy House" and "The SImple Life."

Maclean took his hand to remixing, becoming fairly prolific in creating reinterpretations of contemporary and classic tracks, such as Chromeo's "Me and My Man," Stevie Nicks' "Secret Love" and Roy Davis Jr's "I Have a Vision." His 2013 record, "In a Deam" brought in some 80s synth-pop influences, adding to the band's eclectic mix of inspiration from which they draw their sound, with Nancy Whang's vocals becoming a more prominent feature in Maclean's music.