Marc Houle At Juno Download

Review: The title track on Marc Houle's Undercover EP, coming on the freshly revived Items & Things label features some neat vocal vs instrumentation interplay, with a chuggy bassline and tough drums marking it out as a certified fabric floor filler circa 4am Sunday morning. "Triple E" is bouncier, with cheeky bass stabs and vocal stutters leading into more perfectly tweaked low frequencies. There are two fine remixes of "Undercover" to choose from, with Miro Pajic beefing up his version to paranoia-inducing effect, while the Bruno Electric Blanket dub goes subterranean with deep-as-you-can-get bass bringing the most out of that vocal line. Recommended.

Review: After years of making the most stripped back music imaginable, Undercover sees Houle go back to dance music's roots. Inspired by Detroit electro and Chicago house, the album is the ideal antidote for those tired of hiccupping, stuttering rhythms and white noise FX. "Juno 6660" and "Hearing" offer tripped out takes on classic electro with shufflimg 808s laying the basis for time-stretched basslines, woozy synths and muffled vocals. The title track sees Houle deliver his verison of jack, albeit cloaked in icy synths and brooding robo vocals, while "Mooder" offers an alluring combination, as heavy claps and a nagging rhythm support brooding synth sequenes. As reinventions go, it's up there with Dylan's conversion to the electric guitar.