Marc Houle

Marc Houle (2012)

Marc Houle (* 1972 in Windsor , Ontario ) is a Canadian live act and producer of electronic music . He is considered a live act and not a DJ , as he uses elements of his own productions for his sets, as well as remixes he produces . Houle became known through his album "Bay of Figs", released on Minus Records . There he was part of the style-defining core of the minus artists before he founded his own record label "Items & Things" with his friends (and also minus artists) Magda and Troy Pierce .

Houle was largely from the techno scene in Detroit and Chicago house scene influenced, and New Wave and the first generation of video games , the spread of electronic sounds supported. He himself describes his music as a cross between the musical styles of the cities of Chicago and Detroit. But he also counts other artists such as Prince , Depeche Mode , Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden among his formative influences. You could describe his sound as a mix of his Detroit and Chicago influences with a good amount of New Wave synth sounds. Driven by the search for futuristic sounds and the simultaneous love for synth music from the 1980s and video games, Marc Houles productions represent a distinctive style in the electronic music landscape.

biography

Houle was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and grew up in a musical family there. He started practicing instruments such as the piano and guitar at an early age and got his first drums when he was four years old. At fourteen, he started on his first Casio - keyboard the synthesizer to explore and eventually took the results. For ten years, Houle played in a local rock band, with smaller gigs all over Ontario. In 1991 he bought his first Roland JX-3P synthesizer.

Attracted by the new sound of electronic music, Houle drove as often as possible to nearby Detroit to attend the legendary warehouse parties. Selected DJs played a mix of Chicago House and Detroit Techno . In 1997 Marc Houle and his friend Scott Soulliere hosted the computer game night "Atari Adventures" at Richie Hawtin's club "13 Below" in Windsor. There he also met Magda, also a regular DJ at 13 Below. The two became friends and went to the same parties in Windsor and Detroit. At this time Magda began touring as the opening act with Richie Hawtin, where she played stripped-down versions of Houle's tracks. Shortly thereafter, Hawtin invited him to release on his Minus label. While they lived together, Magda Houle helped make Houle's productions more “club-friendly,” while still keeping a separate synth version on his backhand.

Although Houle's first EP was only released in 2004, he was already producing music continuously in his home town of Windsor by then. He began collecting synthesizers and new equipment that he got hold of at Detroit's pawn shops. Houle found pleasure in producing music that was based on a mixture of electro and techno , triggered by his great passion for New Wave Synthlines. At the time, Houle was also producing video game music . His artist name for it, "Run Stop Restore", was inspired by a key combination on the Commodore 64 .

Career

Beginnings

Houle began his career as a graphic designer . In 1992 he quit his studies in order to take care of his own company "Outputs", one of the first web design companies of its time. With his second company "Redchalk" he worked for the automotive industry around Detroit. His offer included graphics, animation and even music productions . To this day he has been producing his own videos and taking a lot of photos. His two brothers also work as graphic designers to this day. Dave Houle worked as a designer at Minus for many years.

During his time as a resident in Richie Hawtin's club "13 Below" in Windsor, Ontario, Houle, in the sense of a radio DJ, played electronic and new wave music; once mentioned in an interview that he was not a "DJ" and could not imagine working as such. Magda was also resident at 13 Below at the time. She and Houle became close friends, and Magda became interested in Houle's music. Finally she played his productions in her sets, whereupon Richie Hawtin found out about the originator of these tracks. Because at this time Hawtin began to work on his second label : Minus . Shortly afterwards, Houles' tracks were released by Minus and he became part of the artists who make the label sound so distinctive and have a decisive influence on it.

minus

After Houle's first record "Restore" was released on Minus in 2004, he began touring as a live act. One of his first appearances took place in Detroit, followed by a performance at the club "Happy Ending" in New York City , together with Mike Servito, on August 28, 2004. In April and May 2006, Houle took part in the 50- gig “min2MAX tour " To celebrate the minus" min2MAX Compilation of Minimal Techno ", on which Houles track" Simpler "was also published. He played on six shows of the 25 European dates , one of which was headlining in Belgrade , Serbia . The second half of the tour took a bus across North America , to a total of 11 cities in the USA and Canada . In the US cities, Houle played with Magda, Troy Pierce and Richie Hawtin on all dates. Two years later, in 2008, Houle decided to move to Berlin to continue working on his music and touring as a live act. For the tenth anniversary of Minus, he took part in the CONTAKT Tour. A total of six Minus artists were on tour with him: Richie Hawtin, Magda, Troy Pierce, Marc Houle, Heartthrob and Gaiser. The tour was considered visionary, as it was the first time that DJs and live acts played simultaneously, connected by a master mixer and linked to a spectacular visuals and light show .

During his time at Minus, Houle was one of the leading designers of the Monome ( midi controller ) LIVID CNTRL: R, which was developed together with Minus artists and the Livid Instruments company. The minus CNTRL: R, which came on the market when Houle had already left the label, was a modification of the original design by Houle.

Items & Things

Items & Things started in 2006 as a sub-label of Minus, with only one release per year, until 2009. In the summer of 2011, Houle, Magda and Troy Pierce decided to part with Minus for good in order to develop their own musical ideas with Items & Things realize. The label's sound is characterized by productions between disco and techno . In addition to regular publications by the label operators, they also support newcomers . With his constant musical creation and a multitude of unreleased tracks on his computer , Marc Houle can now bring out more of his music through the label. In 2012 Houle released his latest album "Undercover", which was also the label's first album release .

A remix EP with the bonus track "Triple E" was also released for the album and he contributed the track "Villains on the Dance Floor" to the first label compilation "Variables" ( vinyl box set). As an independent label, Items & Things also operates its own booking agency as well as the label event series "Down & Out". Those parties are characterized by a slightly gloomy atmosphere that is prescribed to the underground and rely on simple lighting effects and unusual decorations to promote the in-house artists . From April 2013, not only the label founders Houle, Magda and Troy Pierce will be part of the booking agency's artist collective, but also the artists Nyma, Madato, Click Box, Bruno Pronsato and Danny Benedettini.

Marc Houle Remiix App

In addition to his album "Undercover" (2012), Houle released a Remiix app , which was developed by the technology and online company Liine. Liine, based in the Minus headquarters in Berlin, had previously developed Remiix apps for artists such as Dubfire , Joris Voorn , Plastikman and Oliver Huntemann . Houle worked with the developers at Liine, already contributing tracks for the Minus Remiix app and later for his own app. The Marc Houle Remiix app enables the user to rearrange loops or parts of Houles tracks and to add effects such as reverb (reverb) or delay (time delay) to them. The finished “remixes” can then be exported to a social network of your choice. The app contains both old and new Marc Houle productions, including "Bay of Figs", "Edamame", "On It", "Porch", "Triple E", "Mooder", and "Undercover". The Marc Houle Remiix app can be purchased in the iTunes Store . In April 2013 there will be an update with a new look with 28 additional basslines and 32 new drum loops.

production

With great passion for analog synthesizers in the production area, Houle once mentioned these top 5 favorites for his productions: Roland Juno-60 for basslines and pads, Korg Mono / Poly for leads (freely translated: "leading melodies") and the Arp 2600 and the SH-101 for synth pads, as well as the DX 7 . In his own productions, he tends to use as few medium sound frequencies as possible and justifies it with the fact that his musical influences also tended to do so.

other projects

In addition to his solo career, Marc Houle was also involved in several other projects. One of them, “2VM”, was a short collaboration with the artist Veronica Vasicka. Together they produced the EP "Placita" (7 ″). Houle's other project, “Raid Over Moscow”, is actually more of a band, with musical influences from the late 1970s / early 1980s , whose EP “Rush To The Capsule” was released on Turbo Recordings.

Discography

Albums

• 2012: Undercover IT012
• 2010: Drift MINUS98
• 2008: Sixty-Four MINUS64 (2x12 ")
• 2006: Bay of Figs MINUS42
• 2004: Restore MINUS23

EPs

• 2014: Fusion Pop EP IT029
• 2013: Razzamatazz EP IT025
• 2013: Where is Kittin? EP IT022
• 2012: Zorba EP WYS! 015
• 2012: Undercover single IT011
• 2009: Salamandarin MINUS88
• 2009: Licking Skin MINUS78
• 2007: Techno Vocals MINUS50

Remixes

• 2013: Isolation Vosper MEANT017
• 2013: Dream City Tunnel Signs HAKT006
• 2013: Caminho De Dreyfus Red Axes feat. Abrão Correspondent16
• 2013: Cybernetics Nyma IT020
• 2012: Brickwall Alexis Raphael (Jackathon) HPJJ002
• 2012: Computrfnk Vector Lovers Soma355D
• 2012: Erma Remain & Electric Rescue IDEAL22
• 2012: Very Bad Marc Houle IT015
• 2011: All I can Think About App WYS008
• 2011: Michael Jackson Phil Kieran & Green Velvet PKRD009
• 2011: Headcase Plastikman MINUS100
• 2011: The Night Terence Fixmer TURBO105
• 2009: The Butcher Battant, Butcher, Bruise KTDJ016
• 2008: Subtil Midimiliz SONICULTURE009
• 2008: Am Alloy Mental SKINT145D
• 2008: Modern Walk Gesaffelstein GL31
• 2007: Nimrod Matt Tolfrey LEFTCD001
• 2007: Ardorant Tractile MINUSPROMO
• 2006: Asteroid Compound Louderbach AND / 009
• 2006: 150 Reasons To Bite You Jorge Savoretti ESPERANZA003
• 2006: Turbo Dreams Ellen Allien & Apparat BPC124
• 2006: 25 Bitches Troy Pierce MINUS39
• 2005: Strawberry Dream Imiafan 4MG1201
• 2005: Kill The Pain Slam feat. Dot Allison SOMA180
• 2005: Sequential Circus Actual Jakshun MINUS27

Tracks for compilations

• 2012: Villain Of The Dance Floor Variables Compilation IT016
• 2011: Slowpe Down & Out Vol. 1 IT07
• 2009: Helen In The Keller Helen In The Keller EP MINUS80
• 2007: Porch Expansion | Contraction MINUS58
• 2007: A-Sides For Life Contact [3] | Min2MAX Tour MINUS: K3
• 2007: Extreme Spies & Lies IT02
• 2006: Turtle Feet Contact [2] | RTW CONTACT
• 2006: Simpler min2MAX MINUS40
• 2006: Kicker Spaceships And Pings IT01
• 2005: Ranchor Keeper DE9 | Transitions MINUS32
• 2005: East To West Minimize To Maximize MINUS25
• 2004: Geometry Geometry EP MINUS20

Web links

• Marc Houle (own website)