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If you haven’t heard it yet: listen to the Juan Maclean’s newest single “Happy House.” It is a disco house MONSTER and has been getting quite a bit of prime speaker time lately. It was the first song dropped by DJ JDH after Simian Mobile Disco’s well-lit and well received live set at Holocene last week. It stood strong as a beacon to the dancefloor for all those who weren’t too tired. I first heard this still-new single around 3 months ago played by DJ Joee Irwin, who asserted, “This is going to be THE BANGER OF THE SUMMER!” All blog-attention aside, it is still on course for bangerdom due to the simple amount of deck-time it gets. It’s not just because the song is LONG; It weighs in at 12+ minutes (and I agree with David Blake’s Failed It/Nailed it 3 that the length works well. It’s effective over its entirety.) but also that it gets played repeatedly repeatedly.

Last night, amid a wonderful set of warm disco and house, DJs Linger and M. Quiet played a song and gave me a history lesson. The lesson worked out for me quite well: I’ve had “Do it Now” by Dubtribe Sound System on near constant repeat all morning and afternoon.

The lesson actually starts with The Juan Maclean’s whole recent poof of disco-house revivalism (see also their great remix of ) and is the backbone for “Happy House”. The song for me to learn about was 1999’s “Do it Now” by Dubtribe Sound System. The piano phrase that carries along “Happy House” is undoubtedly a direct lift from this song. Despite the directness of the musical quote, the trajectories and themes of these respective tracks are still different. While “Happy House” seems like time travel from disco-house towards future-disco, “Do it Now” takes a more sensual, deep house turn when the low-pass filter lays into the piano and the male/female vocal interplay of Dubtribe members Sunshine and Moonbeam (yes, really!) Jones begins. It’s amusing how the older of the tracks, lyrically, is forward thinking. “Keep on pushing.” “Do it now.” The Juan Macclean take a different, more retrospective, course. It’s this reflective that makes me consider that The Juan Maclean have cleverly and intentionally built this history lesson into the lyrics of the song, along with the piano. It seems natural that the “Happy House” that Nancy Whang sings so affectionately about is doubly-coded, not only a physical house, but House music as well. More specifically, Sunshine(!!) and Moonbeam(!!!)’s filter-house from waaay back in 1999.

Give them a listen. Now I’ve got to thank Linger and Quiet (and The Juan Maclean) for being so “excellent” as to turn me on to the wonderfully beautiful “Do it Now”.

The Juan Maclean – Happy House

Dubtribe Sound System – Do It Now (Extended version)

Posted By Sasha