Marc Houle grew up in Windsor, Canada with computer games on the brain, New Wave music in his ears, and Detroit as his back yard. Influenced early on by the synthesized sounds of Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk, his love for technology-tinted music was then supplemented in the early 90’s warehouse and clubs of Detroit with a first-class weekly education in Techno from the founders of the genre. In 1997 he began a residency at Richie Hawtin’s club ‘13 Below’ where he hosted a New Wave night accompanied by classic video game consoles for the crowd. It was there that he met Minimal Techno’s first lady, Magda, who then became his lodger and studio companion.
It was during their years living together that she would insist to be given edits of his synth-laden productions to suit her own more minimal Techno tastes. Eventually Hawtin himself heard the stripped-down versions of Marc’s work and asked him to join the legendary Minus label.
Marc, apart from having the most recognizably retro sound on the label, may also be the most prolific of the crew, having produced thousands of songs in his career. This is also what makes Marc’s live sets so truly unique, with approximately half of all the music he plays being his own unreleased repertoire; no two sets could ever be the same, except in their ability to impress the crowd.
Be on the look out for more of Marc’s diverse musical roots showing through in productions from his own label Items & Things, plus more to come on Minus label.