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The Future Will Come

EMAILPRINTby The Juan Maclean

The Juan Maclean reviews
71
8.0 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 1 vote
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Album Info

Label: DFA

Release Date: 14 April 2009

Discs: 1 disc

Genre(s): Rock, Indie, Electronic

Summary

This is the second album for the electronic artist from Rhode Island.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

83

Entertainment Weekly

The Future Will Come is, by and large, a fun ride, all squiggly synth wah-wahs, airy vocal coos, and funked-up drums that beg for--and sometimes, as on the giddy closer 'Happy House,' deliver--more cowbell.

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80

NOW Magazine

Some of the 80s references take a few listens until they stop sounding goofy, and MacLean’s deadpan vocals occasionally grate next to Whang’s light and floating tone, but once your ears adjust, there’s a lot to appreciate.

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80

Dot Music

Maclean is clearly a scholar of electro/disco and each number is exquisitely arranged and executed, every synth sound modulates just so as it fades, every reference point lovingly rendered and the whole thing is buffed with a contemporary polish that eschews none of the off-kilter humanity that keeps disco delightfully distinct from its explicitly mechanised dancefloor cousins.

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80

Prefix Magazine

The frequent presence of full-time collaborator Nancy Whang's voice on many of the songs adds an extra element of melody that largely sees the record's intention true to the end.

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80

Mojo

The Future Will Come's title seems presciently loaded, its content primed for a mainstream meet'n'greet. [May 2009, p.108]

80

musicOMH.com

The Future Will Come is the kind of album you could listen to loudly in a club, or at home with some headphones and it would suit either. Welcome back intelligent dance music, we've missed you.

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80

New Musical Express

It’s Dionysian disco: dynamic, decadent and utterly brilliant.

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80

Observer Music Monthly

A cosmic, contemporary Human League.

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75

cokemachineglow

The Future Will Come is still a mostly solid as just about any full-length release on DFA, and if some of the best ideas die too soon or don’t go far enough, at least they appear at all.

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74

Pitchfork

Every track on The Future Will Come that hasn't already appeared as a single last year is a relatively short and succinct piece of work; think a bunch of radio edits instead of the 12" mixes. The good news is that brevity keeps some of these tracks from getting stretched thin.

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70

Spin

Add the pipes of Nancy Whang on most tracks--giving Future a boy-girl dynamic--and there's a distinct suggestion that the Juan MacLean might just become the Human League after all.

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70

The New York Times

Mr. MacLean’s attempt at naked vulnerability, on a ballad called 'Human Disaster,' may be this album’s biggest misstep. But at least that song dissolves right into a near-perfect closer, 'Happy House,' which was released as a single last year.

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70

Tiny Mix Tapes

The Future Will Come blooms incrementally, driven from the ground by the grittiest keyboard performance heard on a dance album in some time.

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70

Dusted Magazine

While MacLean isn’t a self-conscious wit, he’s never seemed too invested in trying to not sound silly, and it doesn’t cost him. Sometimes, when the darkness gets heavy, his limitations add a much-appreciated levity. As Brody Stevens might say, “Enjoy it.”

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70

Filter

Nothing on this album quite lives up to the previous "Give Me Every Little Thing," but in the end, Maclean does make the case that he should continue hanging around the mixer for many years to come. [Winter 2009, p.100]

60

Q Magazine

Tracks such as the arresting Human League-meets-Georgio-Moroder fusion 'One Day' and the gloriously uninhibited finale 'Happy House' remian an irresistible invitation onto the dancefloor. [May 2009, p.113]

60

Uncut

Neither MacLean nor vocal foil Nancy Whang has a strong enough voice for pop. Instead it's the surging 10-minute disco epics 'Tonight' and 'Happy House; that impress. [May 2009, p.89]

60

Urb

Taken as a whole, the album does have a certain cohesiveness that’s lacking in most dance “albums” but many of the tracks fail to break new or interesting ground, and it leaves one wishing their potential of last summer could’ve been realized.

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60

The Guardian

For much of The Future Will Come, however, Maclean frustratingly boxes himself into the synth-pop format of the Human League.

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60

Rolling Stone

After missing the mark with his robotic, soulless 2005 debut, Juan comes to life on this follow–up, giving us stretched–out, club–wrecking grooves.

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60

Under The Radar

This is just the album to inspire you to turn your bedroom into a disco. [Spring 2009, p.79]

50

PopMatters

The Future Will Come sticks too closely to a familiar middle ground that might be functional for the dance floor but ultimately offers diminishing returns in other settings.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this album is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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