Raised in the same fertile music community that spawned his former label boss and mentor Richie Hawtin, Marc Houle’s obsession with electronic sounds goes back to the noise of ’80s video games and vintage synthesizers. A decade-long career of seminal records on Hawtin’s Minus label, as well as his own Items & Things imprint, helped define the beloved minimal sound of the mid-‘00s (“On It”), before transcending the limits of the sub-genre completely by incorporating industrial, disco and new wave influences (“Undercover”).
2018 has already welcomed the arrival of a brand new project, and a key focus for Marc in the form of his Marsian project alongside Octopus Recordings boss Sian. Having released their debut EP on the imprint last month, the duo will combine this May to deliver their debut live show at the Octopus Showcase during Movement 2018, with a second EP and a tour of the Americas also scheduled for the coming months.
Hi Marc, thank you for taking the time out to chat with us! Where in the world are you today?
At home, in Berlin.
This has been a pretty busy year for you and it’s about to get busier, with the lunch of your Marsian project alongside Sian. What sparked that project to begin with?
I’ve been dying to work with someone on stage doing a new project for years but could never find the right person. After we did a few remixes for each other I kinda felt that this could be something really cool so we started with a few tracks back and forth and realized it was what I was kinda hoping for.
You released your first EP together. Did you guys produce it together in a studio or did you work on it remotely?
Him being in LA and myself in Berlin we’re kinda forced to doing it a certain way. We give each other a bunch of rough ideas we had and the other would change it around and add a bunch of stuff to make it into the songs we have now. It’s kinda fun to see an idea turn into something you couldn’t have imagined like that. I like how it’s both of us writing.
Was the idea always for this to be a studio and live collab, or did the Live show idea come later?
I think in my head I always wanted it live, but you can’t really stand up there unless you have some good shit to back it up with. So it was after looking at the first dozen tracks that we knew it would translate well on stage.
Can you talk us through the kind of set-up you guys will have in the booth when playing as Marsian?
Yeah we went through a bunch of different setups before settling on something that would allow us to both work equally on stage. For the first few shows we’re going to be using a few Launch Control XLs along with an Ableton Push and a Maschine along with some effects. We’re keeping it stripped down at the beginning so we can concentrate on the music and a good show instead of worrying about gear the whole time.
How would you compare a Marsian set to a Marc Houle set?
I think the Houle stuff is more house and techno and kind of all over the place while the Marsian has one distinct sound – something meaner and dirtier.
You’re making your Marsian world debut in Detroit during Movement weekend. How special do you expect the night to be?
Right now there’s so much preparation going on that I can’t even picture it. We’ve been working our asses off writing so much music and getting it all ready for a live performance. I’ve been writing loads of effects patches for my vocals and trying to memorize all the new lyrics. If it works like I imagine this will be a fun night.
Do you guys have any other releases scheduled for 2018?
I think after this first tour we can look back at all the music we’ve written and compare it to what’s really stood out in the performances and take it from there. I certainly imagine lots more coming out very soon.
Let’s talk about Detroit a bit more. What does the festival and that overall weekend mean to you as an artist?
Few things make me happier than the festival and its life giving effect on the city and specifically the great music that comes from Detroit. It’s an honor every time I play there and those guys do it right. That city deserves it.
What else are you looking forward to for that weekend?
I won’t have much time other than setting up with Sian for the first time and figuring our shit out. It will be nice to see friends that I have missed and hopefully get some good reactions on what we’ve presented that night.
I’m asking this to a lot of artists I am interviewing before or at Movement: do you have a favorite food spot in Detroit?
Noble Fish on 14 Mile was always a favorite of mine. There are so many new great restaurants popping up around there these days – I need a week to investigate them.
Are you planning to hit up any other after-parties?
Unfortunately we won’t have much time to party since we’re leaving for the rest of the tour right after – Normally I do love to get caught up with all the mayhem but I’ll just do extra partying next year.
Catch Marc Houle as 1/2 of Marsian at the Octopus Recordings Label Showcase in Detroit on May 26th
