Items & Things レコード& CD

Review: Former M_nus cohorts Marc Houle and Click Box join forces to deliver this four-tracker on Houle's Items & Things label, and the results are naughty, synth rich jams that follow on neatly from Houle's career to date in bringing a little touch of Italo to modern dance music. There is a palpable amount of fun being had within these tracks, from the tongue-in-cheek vocals to the on-the-fly tweaks and wobbles, but the tracks that emerge from the melee are sturdy enough for any floor. "Freaky Baby" holds down a deadly, bass-laden groove, while "Cable Line" calls to mind the work of mid-00's Soma tech-funk.

Review: Magda, Troy Pierce and Marc Houle's occasional label Items & 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 & Lies" fits the bill perfectly, containing music that will stimulate, overwhelm and confound in equal measures.

Review: At last the 1/3rds of Run Stop Restore have finally gotten it together and founded a new label. Simply put, Items & Things. The first release "Spaceships & Pings" contains four summer hits all wrapped up nicely in one convenient EP. With tracks from Magda, Marc Houle, Troy Pierce and their good friend Konrad Black. Items & Things 01 is poised to leave a big impression. Konrad starts things off with "Coma Couch Surfing" a spacey disco number full of dreamy melodies and a sick bassline that will keep sunny terraces screaming for more. Magda's "Black Leather Wonder" is a stuttered electro-ish number full of spooky atmosphere and an ominous acid line that skips through the shadows of this sexy track in a way only Magda could come up with. On the flip, "Kicker" from Marc Houle is a steady bleeping good time in true Houle fashion, building and building until the bass drops and presents a crazy melody sends the track over the edge, in a very good way. And finally, "The Day After Yesterday" a trippy vocal excursion into the mind of an obsessed stalker courtesy of Troy Pierce and minimal crooner Gibby Miller. Hinting at old-school Chicago house but with a very new school twist.