Marc Houle - Compilations

Download here: http://www.beatport.com/release/variables/936761

Release date: 13/07/2012

After fifteen solid releases, breakthrough label Items &amp; Things has a proven record of speed and precision in their ability to charge into the cutting edge electronic music market. This summer Magda, Troy Pierce, Marc Houle and the gang will take a graceful leap into a smorgasbord of original tracks with their first collective compilation out on July 13, 2012.

The four-piece vinyl box set is called VARIABLES, and comes in elaborate design and packaging, featuring a die-cut box from special textured material and 180g cream-colored vinyls. The track listing includes heavy hitting contributions from new friends, familiar faces, and Items &amp; Things artists alike.

For this compilation, Items &amp; Things invites a few new friends to shake things up. The New York hyped Throne of Blood creators Populette and Playhouse’s stylish electro dream team, Rework, whip up a special exceptional batch for their first label appearance.

Label compadres Jimmy Edgar, Miro Pajic and Andy Martin will make their second appearances on the compilation. Detroit phenomenon Jimmy Edgar first released the "Funktion Of Your Love" EP on I&amp;T in 2009, while Andy Martin took part in the "Various Items" release in 2011. Earlier this year, Berlin-based producer talent Miro Pajic also appeared on the B-side of Marc Houle’s "Undercover" single with his remix.

On the home team roster, Tomas More, Click Box, Madato, Danny Benedettini and newcomers Howard Watson and NYMA surprise us with a few new tricks as they unleash their summer sounds.

Each track is fresh, fun and tailored to the summer season, bearing unique and funky musical traits unearthing the producers’ personalities. Naturally, a compilation of such high caliber wouldn’t pass through without a corresponding mix CD and for that, Items &amp; Things has put Magda on the job. The mix CD will come out as a separate release on July 27. Furthermore, all tracks will be made available as individual digital download.

As part of the VARIABLES release, Magda, Marc Houle and other compilation artists will head out to the sandy bar and club spot Ressort on July 29, 2012, overlooking the Spree in Berlin-Mitte to celebrate the release. A barbeque will kick off the festivities on the sundeck in the afternoon, later shifting bodies to the dance floor inside where the artists will play until the next morning. The full line-up and other details of the event will be announced soon.

Tracklist: 
A1: Miro Pajic – Love Love Love 
A2: Click Box - One 
B1: Troy + Reka - Collapsed 
B2: Jimmy Edgar – Black Neon Dance Floor 
C1: Danny Benedettini – Spooky Little Girl 
C2: Populette – Hell’s Pass 
D: Howard Watson – Keep Away 
E1: Nyma – Brain Crunch 
E2: Magda – One Way 
F1: Rework – Tell Me Why 
F2: Marc Houle – Villain Of The Dance Floor 
G1: Troy Pierce – Don’t Stop, Continue 
G2: Andy Martin - Hexahedron 
H1: Tomas More – Ice to Ice 
H2: Madato - Slow

Press contact: press@marchoule.net

Connect with Marc Houle:
www.marchoule.net/
www.facebook.com/marchoule.official 
www.mixcloud.com/marchoule
www.youtube.com/user/MarcRHoule
www.twitter.com/MarcRHoule
www.residentadvisor.net/dj/marchoule 
www.dj.beatport.com/marchoule 
www.juno.co.uk/artists/Marc+Houle/
www.discogs.com/artist/Marc+Houle 
www.itemsandthings.com


Marc Houle - Villain Of The Dance Floor | Items & Things | 2012

Download here: http://www.beatport.com/track/slowpe-original-mix/2668001

Release date: 05/09/2011

Marc Houleʼs ʻSlowpeʼ ends the EP with a slightly slower pace, but in a disconcerting way: taking it down a few notches this one that transports the listener to the strangest dimension yet. Filtered melodies start the trackʼs ascent, sounding like a trumpet thatʼs been bent out of shape and played from the void. With dark textures compactly knit into a condensed wall of sound, a low-slung bassline trades places with eerie chords and sparse percussion.

Press contact: press@marchoule.net

Connect with Marc Houle:
www.marchoule.net/
www.facebook.com/marchoule.official 
www.mixcloud.com/marchoule
www.youtube.com/user/MarcRHoule
www.twitter.com/MarcRHoule
www.residentadvisor.net/dj/marchoule 
www.dj.beatport.com/marchoule 
www.juno.co.uk/artists/Marc+Houle/
www.discogs.com/artist/Marc+Houle 
www.itemsandthings.com

Marc Houle - Slowpe | Items & Things | 2011

Download EP here: http://www.beatport.com/track/helen-in-the-keller-original-mix/967703

Release date: 05/10/2009

As a production team, Run Stop Restore has been a pragmatic group with Marc Houle, Troy Pierce and Magda pursuing their own hectic schedules of production and performance. Recently, the three members have taken the opportunity to meet in the same studio to combine their unique ideas. Their Items and Things imprint - a label set up as an output for new projects, collaborations and ideas with a distinctly left of centre attitude is primarily run by wireless communication. After a pair of compilation EPs, the first act to receive a dedicated release was Click Box - the brainchild of Marco Silva and Pedro Turra whose tough, retro sound, non-conformist arrangements and skilful sound design fitted perfectly to the I&T ethos. The relationship has obviously grown at speed, culminating in this two track Minus release recorded during a five day session in Sao Paulo, Brazil. With all five artists jamming together on a host of analog synths and a low slung bass guitar contribution from Marc Houle.

The collaboration produces two cylindrical grooves that work like a thermos flask - signifying the presence of heat without radiating it. There’s a smouldering intensity contained by a cool outer casing that give the tracks a very particular attitude, with certain key instruments being recorded and used unsequenced, without edits or quantization that raise the curtain on side A. Any track entitled Helen in the Keller needs to be approached with a certain amount of caution and the glassy shards of warping live bass guitar together with Troy’s raw claustrophobic vocal musings create a dark tone as the lunatic fringe takes over. The track is essentially split into two halves, with the second introducing a low, oscillating Juno-60 style bass riff that merges with the hi-hat driven rhythm section to enhance the tracks danceability. From there on, all the elements gel perfectly creating a track that manages to harness the energy of a live performance with some instruments being recorded in one shot.

As collaborations go – it fits like a glove. Anyone who’s been following the trajectories of those involved should have no trouble spotting their individual contributions and how they compliment each other so effectively on these futuristic interpretations of bygone genres.

Press contact: press@marchoule.net

Connect with Marc Houle:
www.marchoule.net/
www.facebook.com/marchoule.official 
www.mixcloud.com/marchoule
www.youtube.com/user/MarcRHoule
www.twitter.com/MarcRHoule
www.residentadvisor.net/dj/marchoule 
www.dj.beatport.com/marchoule 
www.juno.co.uk/artists/Marc+Houle/
www.discogs.com/artist/Marc+Houle 
www.itemsandthings.com


Click Box vs Run Stop Restore - Helen In The Keller | Minus | 2009

Download EP here: http://www.beatport.com/track/porch-original-mix/418719

Release date: 01/11/2007

Of the continuing themes found throughout the music released on MINUS, one constant exploration is the relationship between Sound and Silence. Within the stripped down but dimensional outcome there exists a polarity that is neither controlled nor accidental, where life imitates art in between the notes. The act of finding inspiration from a sonic molecule or the inaudible space around that element is the nature of EXPANSION | contraction. Dubfire (Ali, ex-Deep Dish) enters the EXPANSION with the tremendous “Emissions”. This is his first track to be released on Minus and is the culmination of his gravitation towards the Minus sound cemented by a friendship over the years with label head Richie Hawtin. Gaiser again hits the mark with “Mute”, which captures the excitement of his storming live shows throughout 2007 and is taken from the sessions that spawned his forthcoming double pack release “Eye Contact” (M54). Currently 'on fire' Marc Houle continues his own musical expansion with “Porch”, following up and going beyond his “Extreme” (Items and Things 02) and the monstrous “Techno Vocals/On It” (M50) double-header. Plastikman's “Risk Assessment” begins the contraction with a simmering builder of a track guaranteed to disconcert even the most sonically prepared of listeners. Jesse Siminski aka Heartthrob is right back on form and contributes the growling funk beast that is “Roundabout”. While JPLS's “Isolate” contracts further and establishes him as one of the darker elements on the Minus roster, his soon-come Minus EP “Fuckshuffle” (M57) bears testament to his highly developed sound. Troy Pierce's gargantuan “Oxytocin” (CD only) takes up the gauntlet thrown down by his own twisted “Gone Astray” (M52) release from the summer, and wraps up the CD somewhere exactly in-between the concept where EXPANSION | contraction first started. Evidently, the listener can discern here that all the artists featured on Expansion | contraction are fully experimenting with the balance, interaction and interplay between these two opposing forces. To complement the music on this release, the accompanying artwork maps out the boundless possibilities of in-between potential. Limited edition double pack vinyl format features a specially embossed sleeve and black/white vinyl, reflecting the duality of the EXPANSION | contraction concept. CD format also features embossed artwork and contains an extra track, Troy Pierce's “Oxytocin.”

Press contact: press@marchoule.net

Connect with Marc Houle:
www.marchoule.net/
www.facebook.com/marchoule.official 
www.mixcloud.com/marchoule
www.youtube.com/user/MarcRHoule
www.twitter.com/MarcRHoule
www.residentadvisor.net/dj/marchoule 
www.dj.beatport.com/marchoule 
www.juno.co.uk/artists/Marc+Houle/
www.discogs.com/artist/Marc+Houle 
www.itemsandthings.com


Marc Houle - Porch | Minus | 2007

Download here: http://www.beatport.com/track/extreme-original-mix/382587

Release date: 07/09/2012

Magda, Troy Pierce and Marc Houle’s occasional label Items and Things makes a welcome return featuring four more superlative grooves from Marc Houle, Kasper, Thrill Cosby and Alexi Delano.

The label was created as an outlet for the weird, experimental and beautiful sounds the trio often come across on their travels and Spies and Lies fits the bill perfectly, containing music that will stimulate, overwhelm and confound in equal measures.

Extreme by Marc Houle is a classic piece of atmospheric, sci fi techno. Relying on a bare minimum of sounds, it generates suspense from the fantastic octave jumping, 6/8 retro synth line at its heart, with some additional morphs and tweaks adding further dynamics to the proceedings. Odd, quirky but with an inherent phatness, Extreme is a standout track!

Oogity Boogity is another experimental groove laced with ominous cello stabs, African flavoured percussion and freaky, messed up vocal overdubs. The oscillating bassline bubbles along as Thrill Cosby navigates a tricky path through this murky, efx laden landscape which is as strange as it is enticing.

Kasper’s, whose recent R U OK remix has established him as one to watch, Turn Tricks On The Side is a more typical late night groover with Stockhausen-esque peripheral fx and a deep, dark pumping bassline. Just as it gets going Kasper suddenly breaks it down and an evil wind ushers in the central hookline like you’ve just opened the door to some haunted dancefloor, you want to run and hide but the infectious beats keep you rooted to the spot.

Last but by no means least, Would You? is a flowing, vocal tinged affair from Alexi Delano. The precision groove, twisted synth lines, intense breakdown and subtle edits all add up to make it a really accomplished peak time floor filler.

Press contact: press@marchoule.net

Connect with Marc Houle:
www.marchoule.net/
www.facebook.com/marchoule.official 
www.mixcloud.com/marchoule
www.youtube.com/user/MarcRHoule
www.twitter.com/MarcRHoule
www.residentadvisor.net/dj/marchoule 
www.dj.beatport.com/marchoule 
www.juno.co.uk/artists/Marc+Houle/
www.discogs.com/artist/Marc+Houle 
www.itemsandthings.com