The Mole

Born in Canada, the Mole (Colin de la Plante) spent time in both British Columbia and Quebec, which might explain something about the origins of his sound. From the west coast, he gets the jazzy, soulful exuberance of Cobblestone Jazz's Mathew Jonson and the B.C.-based Wagon Repair label; from the east, the polished restraint associated with Montreal's MUTEK festival. (De la Plante has collaborated extensively with both crews.) While the Mole's 2005 EP One Foot on Either Side of the Ladder is split between punchy minimal techno and a disco vibe, on subsequent releases -- the EPs Conversations With My Past, In My Song and Baby, You're the One and the 2008 album As High As the Sky, all for Wagon Repair -- his sound just gets deeper and deeper. Relying heavily on looped disco samples, the Mole follows in the footsteps of Theo Parrish and Moodymann, but his proximity to the techno scene in Berlin, where he lives, lends his music a crisper sound.