Friday in the House
I've found something magical, and it is a furry little creature: The Mole. Well, no, The Mole, aka Colin de la Plante, is probably not a furry little creature, but he is a master of house music hailing from western Canada.
I've had the good fortune of spending about a month with his new (and his first) full-length album, As High As The Sky, which comes out in the next week or so on Vancouver's Wagon Repair. The record is absolutely brilliant. One of the best house albums I've heard in a while, with some really excellent tracks full of bounce, body-rocking beats, and loads of subtlety.
My first exposure to The Mole's work was his track "Conscience Down By The Tracks Near The 80" on last year's Katapult Vol. 3 compilation, and was immediately hooked. The song took a handful of disco riffs, then looped and EQed them to infinity. Similarly, much of As High As The Sky works the same way, with loads of samples, especially lots of live-sounding drums, all packed with variation and EQ tweaks. Many of the album tracks sound great on the dance floor, especially "Hey Girl (I Feel So Good)" - a real feel-good loopy-disco track that I've been playing out whenever I get the chance - and the previous single "Baby You're The One", but the record also sounds great on headphones or at home.
Now this live set, well, I hardly know how to describe it, but it is excellent. There are elements of the album strewn about here and there in it, but it really shows Colin's flair for subtlety and his ability to tweak the hell out of his sounds, extending and modifying songs, making them all flow into one another.
As High As The Sky is available now via Beatport and should be in local dance record shops in the US next week. I can't recommend the album enough.