The Mole - Extended Hugs

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  • That photograph of The Mole from his 2008 RA podcast really fits the bill: shaggy-haired, five-o'-clock-shadowed, and rubbing his eyes like he either just woke up, or really, really needs to hit the hay. If you have even a passing acquaintance with the Canadian-bred, Berlin-based producer (AKA Colin de la Plante), you'll know that he often sports just as fuzzy an appearance. And it's tempting to imagine that the inside of his head is just as fuzzy, at least judging from the sound of his productions. There are no clean lines in a Mole record, no up or down; like a lot of deep house, it's swirly stuff, but it's not always elegant, exactly. There's a lot of shuffling and bumping in the dark, a lot of barked shins and stars whizzing around foreheads. That's true of both "QueQue" and "Beaver Club," each one a tangle of scraps that don't entirely feel like they belong together but are nonetheless impossible to tease apart—dozens of disparate (and faintly detuned) vocal strands, flashes of Rhodes and guitar, loping breaks, sleek machine rhythms, funky bass loops coiled so tight they feel like knots. The way he tamps down his filters gives everything a muted, faraway quality. The overall effect is silken and lumpy all at once. Nevertheless, both tracks go hard. The closing "Jonny McHockey" isn't as impressive; its deep house bounce feels more rote, and its sense of space and proportion is more conventional, certainly compared to the inscrutable dimensions and druggy nether regions of the other two cuts.
  • Tracklist
      A Queque B1 Beaver Club B2 Johny Mc Hockey
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