Tag Archives: Planet Core Productions

The Mover: I Told You So.

There are four favorite words of every DJ: I told you so. As in, “I told you so! I had that record last year and I told you to get it, but you wouldn’t listen to me, and nooooowwwwww… now you tell me how great it is like I never heard it before. Dude, I gave you that tape and I bet it’s still in your glove box!” So, it is with great self-congratulatory satisfaction that I can be one of the first people to tell you about the new Mover album, “Undetected Act From the Gloom Chamber.” Any old-school fan of The Mover and Planet Core Productions will have to admit his latest album is the most Mover-ish of any Mover release in his almost 30 years of techno-producing history.

That’s what makes this even better, because I can tell you “I told you so!” going back multiple decades. For you techno-hipsters that think you know some kinda stuff about morose knob-twiddling, guess what? I’ve been playing Mover records since freaking Nineteen Ninety-Two! Count ‘em jack. That’s 26 years ago… punks. Get your lame-o laptop digital filter facsimiles outta my freaking face.

Ok, so now that I got that out of my system, let me tell you what I like about The Mover’s new album. Right off the bat, Dark Comedown will stick in your head for the rest of your life. There is a little Mover trick in this one that he rarely pulls out but it is very effective when he does: It’s like a reverse engine-cycling sound that doesn’t seem to quite quantize 100% (though it probably does) running in the background of the track. It creates a riveting tension that is going to stick to dancefloors for years to come. Maybe until… the end? No wait, that already happened in 2017. The track’s got a cool video too that draws from some of the classic Planet Core Productions mythology.

“Stars Collapse” will sound pretty fresh to young bucks, but I know it’s an ode to an early period that pre-dates techno, kind of. Somewhere around 1987 there were all these techno-sounding records that weren’t really called techno yet. It was sort of an odd period for music though a great one.  “Stealth” comes next. This is another track with a dope backwards synth-wave seemingly driving the track forward. It also showcases some of the things we like best about Mover techno: snappy snares and hi-hats that outclass anything that was ever on Chicago’s Traxx Record label. I could listen to this sound all day, and I have. “Shadow Deception” is another track that hearkens back to a time many forget but is still incredibly relevant. I will sum it up quickly and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, look it up. It’s like a cross between LFO and 808 State.

One of the great things about Mover techno is that he makes his own version of sounds that are kind of hip-hoppy, or sampley, and weaves them into an overall dramatic tapestry. So, you never leave the world The Mover’s created by a sample from the outside world. “Calculations” is a great example of this motif. “Lost” is a noticeable improvement on previous Mover attempts to maintain what can best be described as an upbeat melancholy vibe. Previous releases always had a track like Lost but didn’t quite maintain the feeling all the way through.

The Mover Logo
The Mover Logo

“Doom Computer” has a great name and has laser effect sounds. Those two things are a winner in my book. Besides Dark Comedown, Doom Computer is my favorite on the album. Last track up is “Fire Cloud” which is a perfect rendition of the “I’m in a spacesuit on the moon looking at an alien artifact right before a space octopus attacks me” feeling that we’ve come to know and love from older Mover releases.

The Mover, aka Marc Acardipane, always took techno one step further using his various pseudonyms (he has hundreds of releases under different names). Why do some of you not know him? It is because real creativity is a threat to the system. But, a good person can’t help but be creative. While the usual commercial junk clogs the arteries of society, eventually a real artist with passion and something valuable to give will surface. The Mover is a real artist and his work will not be denied. You can feel it, rather than count it. So now all of you reading, I’ve given you the head’s up, get ready to tell all your friends, “I told you so.”

You can check out The Mover’s “Undetected Act From the Gloom Chamber” here: https://themover.bandcamp.com/album/undetected-act-from-the-gloom-chamber

Bonus! Watch out for the exclusive Mover interview in the next print edition of The Hard Data!

The Mover: Selected Classics (Remastered 2017)

Dance music came into my life in stages. Growing up on the East Coast in the ‘80s, Cybotron, Strafe, and Run DMC were early ballistic missiles which struck me in third grade, when my gym teacher broke out linoleum squares and tried to teach a room of suburban kids how to breakdance. Hip hop and electro became my first loves, first fueled by NYC radio and beginning in ‘88, daily doses of Yo! MTV Raps and Rap City. Also in ‘88, Inner City’s “Good Life” and “Big Fun” entered my world through metromix sessions on Pittsburgh’s urban radio station, which I recorded to cassette. Although I had no idea who The Belleville Three were at the time, those tracks were my first introduction to the sounds of Detroit.

The Mover: Selected Classics (Remastered 2017) at home with various toys.
The Mover: Selected Classics (Remastered 2017) at home with various toys.

As I started listening to and more and more music, my tastes had grown to include electronic pioneers Yello and The Art of Noise, but oddly it was the work of the demoscene that really started to pique my interests towards techno. For those unaware, in the early ‘90s various groups of computer programmers would code “demos”—self-contained programs showcasing original art, motion graphics, and music to showcase their creative talents. Distributed on computer bulletin board systems and (very) slowly downloaded by dial-up modem, these demos became progressively more awe-inspiring with each release as the artists honed their digital tricks, often rivaling or exceeding the work of popular video games of the day. And the music really got me going—soundtracks filled with original music that I soon learned was techno, trance, and ambient. The demoscene inspired me to dig deeper—admittedly only superficially at first, as some of my earliest purchases were cornball compilations picked up at the mall. But everything changed after THD’s own Deadly Buda threw Power Rave ‘92—my first rave—at a roller rink just outside of Pittsburgh. The music that night was harder and darker than anything I had heard before, and by the end of the night, mall compilations were certainly no longer cutting it. I bought my first mixtape the next weekend at Turbo Zen—Buda’s record store—as well as Industrial Strength Records’ first compilation. First cut on the disc? Mescalinium United’s “We Have Arrived”, now widely known as the track that gave birth to hardcore techno. The title couldn’t be any more apt, and I was instantly hooked—a whole new take on the 808s and 909s that fueled my earliest musical interests.

Industrial Strength ISCD1: The compilation that introduced me to The Mover in '92
Industrial Strength ISCD1: The compilation that introduced me to The Mover in ’92

 

 

 

 

 

Through attending as many parties as Pittsburgh could throw at me, I quickly grew to consider Marc Arcadipane (and his countless aliases) one of my favorite musical artists. I blew out speakers to “Nightflight (Non-Stop to Kaos)” over the years—watch your bassbins, I’m tellin’ ya—and I may be doing the same right now, 25 years later, as I write this piece.

The 2×12” of “Selected Classics” was released on Killekill’s sub-label Boidae, licensed by Acardipane’s new Planet Phuture label. Even for a 33 RPM pressing, the hats and snares are crisp, and looming basslines blast thick enough to rattle fillings. A carefully curated, fully remastered track selection runs the gamut from the aforementioned “We Have Arrived” (originally recorded in ‘89 and released in ‘90) to album cuts from 1993’s The Final Sickness (Planet Core Productions) and 2002’s Frontal Frustration (Tresor) and the EPs released throughout. Sorely missing from the 12” release is “Over Land & Sea” from the Signs of ‘96 EP, a slow, brooding track that culminates in a doom chorus of nightmarish, growling bass and crashes. Dystopian 3 a.m. fog and strobe material that to this day desperately needs to be in a movie. (Digital release purchasers of this compilation, however,  will be pleased to find the track included, as well as 2002’s “Spirit Slasher”.) You’ll find the pumping “Waves of Life” with its driving vocal stabs and synths that rounds out in a downright blissful coda, the disorientating, uneasy spiral of “Reflections of 2017”, and the percussive, percolating “Astral Demons” and its absolutely dope stereo acrobatics.

As a fully indoctrinated fan, each of the selections are fully ingrained in my psyche, but for the uninitiated, this collection should be a truly rewarding journey into the unique energy and vivid imagery that The Mover presents. For those trying to decode the mythos of Acardipane’s “See you in 2017” message (for a deeper look into this, be sure to read The Hard Data’s Spring 2017 issue) over the years, well, we have arrived. Today, Aphex Twin and Nina Kraviz are unleashing Mover tracks upon a whole new generation at festival crowds. Acardipane added yet another label under his belt (the surfacing of Planet Phuture), and we’re in store for a new Mover album this fall. And not to ruffle any political feathers, but was “The Emperor Takes Place” prophetic?

To this day, this still sounds like some of the most futuristic music I’ve ever heard, and is eerily on-target. Welcome, at last, to 2017. Lying dormant since 2002 and rising like a dark phoenix, the Mover is back—as it was foretold to faithful listeners. (5/5)

The HARD DATA issue 11 Now Available

The Hard Data has just published issue 11, and it is phenomenal. Exclusive interview with the father of hardcore techno, Marc Acardipane, aka The Mover. In his greatest interview since his 1995 feature in Alien Underground, The Mover reveals more than ever about his connection to 2017 and what it means. His early childhood, influences and thoughts for the future are revealed in greater detail than ever before in this once-in-a-lifetime exclusive.

For this special issue, Mike Hoppe, Planet Core Production’s main artist designed the cover. Additionally, Mindcontroller interviews hardcore techno’s next major star, Thorax! Finally, Deadly Buda Comix part 4 slams into print. In this issue a devastating revelation concerning Video’s past is revealed. Written by LA Weekly writer Joel Bevacqua, and drawn and inked by hardcore junglist M27, this is an issue you will want to save forever.

The Hard Data issue 11 features Marc Acardipane aka The Mover, Thorax, and Deadly Buda Comix part 4.
The Hard Data issue 11 features Marc Acardipane aka The Mover, Thorax, and Deadly Buda Comix part 4.

Copies will be available in the Los Angeles area March 9, 2017, and will roll out to selected shops and raves in the USA the week after. If you would like a copy mailed to you, sign up for a 6 – issue subscription for only $6 in the USA, $12 Worldwide. This way you won’t ever miss an exciting issue.

THD 11 features Marc Acardipane aka The Mover, Thorax, and Deadly Buda Comix
THD 11 features Marc Acardipane aka The Mover, Thorax, and Deadly Buda Comix