Labels to Love: Items & Things

As of today, Minus mainstays Magda, Troy Pierce, and Marc Houle have announced their joint decision to leave Richie Hatwin’s label in order to more seriously focus on their own recently-resurrected imprint, Items & Things, which the trio launched back in 2006. The decision isn’t too shocking of a surprise, given that the last few years have shown these three artists pushing the boundaries of their individual and combined sounds pretty far out of the norm; the steady hand of Minus versus the flair for weird with which everything Houle, Pierce, and Magda have created is certainly an odd juxtaposition, at best. The shift in focus comes at a time when labels focused on pushing the boundaries of dance music—with a very heavy bent toward the experimental and outlandish—are gaining in demand. Music for the weird at heart is more desired than ever before, so it’s satisfying to have a few veterans at the helm of such an effort. The team says of their label (via their Facebook page):

Items and things are bits and pieces of uniqueness we come across. The label is a platform to launch the music that we love. There are no rules, just sounds we like and artists we believe in.
- Magda, Marc Houle & Troy Pierce

Aside from being a vehicle for the releases of its owners, Items & Things has already carried work from Jimmy Edgar, Konrad Black, and Thrill Cosby (aka Seth Troxler) and if the recent releases from Madato and Danny Benedettini are indicators, things are about to get weirder by the minute. Check out a few samples from the label roster below—expect dissonant sounds, creepy melodies, and odd hooks in all of these. This isn’t your mom’s techno, it’s definitely as experimental as retaining any semblance of dancefloor-friendliness will allow, and everything is meant to challenge the more traditional palette. It’s going to be really interesting to hear more from this team, as this is definitely the very edge of what techno can do, and it’s certainly some drool-worthy material if you like it best when it’s on the far side of strange.

Danny Benedettini - Disco Hook (Original) by itemsandthings

Madato - Surfaces by itemsandthings

Jimmy Edgar Young Thing Original Mix by itemsandthings

Seth Troxler Thrill Cosby Oogity Boogity Original Mix by itemsandthings

Click Box - Stripped by itemsandthings

Troy Pierce - The Day After Yesterday by itemsandthings

P.S. Check out this interview with Magda and Marc Houle, where they discuss their transition and what’s to come for them and their label.

Visionquest Label to Launch with First Release on January 31!

The highly-anticipated Visionquest project, a four-way collaboration between Lee Curtiss, Seth Troxler, Shaun Reeves, and Ryan Crosson will finally be dropping its first release at the end of this month. You can check out clips of VQ001, Where the Freaks Have No Name EP by Benoit & Sergio below.

Where The Freaks Have No Name EP - VQ001 - Clips by GetDownGood

In the meantime, you can read more about these guys here.

RA Poll: Top 20 labels of 2010

This reads like the sexiest label list ever. The catalog for pretty much every one is drool-worthy, and it’s deeply satisfying to have them all compiled in one place at the year-end when the next question is, “what happened in the world of electronic music in 2010?”