The Mole

Seventies Hungarian funk, Youtube outsider artists, the dustiest of old Bollywood relics—all is fair game when it comes time for The Mole to pull either inspiration or wax for his house-heavy DJ sets and live shows. Decades in, the Vancouver native still gets the jitters before a performance, which speaks a lot to his ethos. For a guy for whom a record bag is so much more than the sum of its parts, every gig is a big deal. And if you've ever had the chance to catch him in action—be it DJing or jumping between his MPC and a sole turntable—, you'd agree.

Low-key and loved by many, the rambling capitán of Maybe Tomorrow possesses a steadfast commitment to keeping it groovy above all. "And weird!" A normally elusive creature, The Mole can be found most at home behind a DJ booth during the wee smoky hours in the midst of long, drawn-out sets. The more time for injecting a bit of Marvin Gaye here, some Mercedes Sosa there, the better. Known for his love of sonic collage and musical noodling, he boasts a long and colourful list of releases—for labels like Perlon, Ostgut Ton, Slices of Life, Haunt, Musique Risquée, New Kanada, Internasjonal and longtime home Wagon Repair.

A relentless digger with an utter disregard for the structural capabilities of his living room floor, Colin is on a constant one-man mission to keep the record store industry afloat. This means, in his case, approaching music with the kind of open-mindedness and humility necessary for not only acquiring, but learning. Which might be what makes him an ideal bandmate to his friends in Modern Deep Left Quartet and Units & Measurements. "That—or the fart jokes."

It's the low profile, the constant smile and a genuine love for music that make The Mole, an artist with a career spanning over 20 years, an easy one to recognise at a party. He's the guy with an ear-to-ear grin on his face, wondering why in the world he's getting paid for having so much fun.