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.

“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!