From "Frontal Sickness" to "(Maria) I Like It Loud" - Marc Acardipane, the 'Forgotten Man' of Techno

There is an essay by "raver anthropologist" Simon Reynolds that has become a kind of cult thing amongst Hardcore Techno aficionados. It got published in The Wire in 1998; it turned into a cult object not only because it was one of the rare cases where Hardcore music was mentioned in a bigger zine during the late 90s (as opposed to the many badly xeroxed Hardcore-fanzines, with a run of ~50 copies, of which most were destined to end up on soaked squat party toilet room floors), but because it also focused on a very specific person: Marc Acardipane, his releases, and his label family. [1]

In it, he called Marc "the forgotten man of Techno", and followed up with the reasons for that: even though he was right there at the proper beginning of "Techno", was hugely influential, and good friends with many people that are now considered to be true pioneers and legends by vox populi, he fell out of favor when Hardcore itself fell out of favor amongst the Techno folk; because he stayed true to his "core roots" and didn't disown them, like so many other producers did on their way up to the place amongst the stars (and on their way down to the sewers again).

But let's move on from Simon, The Wire, and the year 1998. What happened after that date?
First, Marc itself was pulled out from the "shadow zones"; because at least the Hardcore and Gabber scene finally remembered its Techno roots, and kept worshiping those roots again; although under different monikers, such as "oldschool", "oldstyle", "early rave", and so on - I guess "the names have been changed to protect the innocent".
This meant that "Technoid Hardcore" could be enjoyed at Hardcore parties and festivals once more (often on separate floors), which led to a lot of gigs and exposure for Marc and his Planet Core Productions sound. [Note: PCP aka Planet Core Productions was a label family run by Marc Acardipane and Thorsten Lambart in the 90s.]
It also influenced the Hardcore scene as a whole. A succession of genres such as "newstyle", "millennium" and "mainstyle" came into existence; genres that to 98% were built upon PCP and PCP-adjacent tracks: "Stereo Murder" (produced by Acardipane), "Atmos-Fear" (produced by Acardipane), "Poltergeist" (released on his label), "Flesh is the Fever" (released on Things To Come Records, a label with personal ties to PCP and that was inspired by PCP), plus various others.

This was already a good thing. But then, slowly but steadily, the Techno folk re-gained their interest in Hardcore and harder sounds, too; and now that the "millennial dominance" of the Techno scene, together with their favoring of minimalist and dandy-esque sounds, is slowly fading away, a younger generation is taking over the scene, and that new generation is very, very hardcore.

This led to a renewed interest in the works of Marc Acardipane, his crew, and his output again, coming straight from the heart of the Techno world. Marc himself acknowledged this development in some of his interviews, and added that the Techno people are sometimes even more zealous and knowledgeable about this music than the die-hard old-school gabbers!

A very fine evolution indeed; and we hope Marc gets into the spotlight again because of this, and that he finally reaps the respect that he deserves!

But why is the Techno folk favoring him and his sound specifically - in fact, more than a lot of other "Hardcore" players?
I think this is because - and now we cycle back to 1998's "The Wire" essay - his sound is *indeed* heavily connected to Techno. It's not just some ultra-aggressive, ultra-noisy Gabber outing. It's real, true, bona fide Techno music.
More than that, it represents a "road not taken" in the history of Techno music. Because, when you go back to the advent of Techno, to Detroit, Chicago, Berlin, London, Frankfurt, there was always a Hardcore contingent. Hardcore was always part of the Techno spirit, it helped to shape and mold the Techno sound. Alas, as mentioned above, it got disowned, and it became almost "forbidden" to speak of this type of music within Techno circles.

A liminal space that always lingered next to the scene as time moved on; a place that people did not dare to enter.

All this is changing now again. And while "every boy and his dog" (i.e. zines, webcasts, music academies) had their own Marc Acardipane feature by now, focusing on his more Hardcore and Gabber output, we decided to do the very opposite here, and showcase the Techno tracks from the past days of the PCP oeuvre, released using a cornucopia of aliases.


Bon appetit!

Oh, and by the way: we very dearly love "I like it loud", too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVjeheaFfsM

(This list is in no particular order)

1. The Mover - Over Land and Sea

how can one not love this track? great techno beats, rhythms, groove... and then this cosmic, celestial arrangement in the middle... the beats come back in, and the dancefloor erupts into madness.
the flip side ("underwater operations") is also very well worth a listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuYMsR1Cae8

2. Cyborg Unknown - The Year 2001 (Deep in Detroit mix)

this is going deep into the history of detroit techno indeed. it's not enough to be friends of the jaguar here, this track channels cybotron just as much as it does metroplex. funky!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2q4v8_YxbE

3. Trip Commando - Cross The White Line

a techno behemoth of the most epic proportions. has probably one of the most elongated build ups in dance history, until the epic cinematic breakdown unfolds. highly recommended!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGWv1e2hBZk

4. Turbulence - Whurlstorm

this was on the second release by Industrial Strength Records - a label that shaped Hardcore history, too.
it starts as a nice little nasty techno track, until everything breaks apart in the mid-riff, and turns into a hurricane of bass frequncies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sngue8baqPs

5. The Mover - Nightflight (Nonstop 2 Kaos)

and this was on Industrial Strengh Records number one! As Lenny Dee licensed "We Have Arrived" (a fantastic hardcore track, to say the least) for his label, and put that number on the back side.
a cold groove, percussion that almost feels like a breakbeat... lots of bass, cyber-synth.... this is just dancefloor heaven.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snnHspK1QYI

6. Countdown Part V - Untitled (A1)

Countdown FFM is another sub-label to go for if one is looking for some technoid gems.
stellar electronic intro, then we get into dance grooves, and things become more deviant as acid sounds sneak in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfIL6OCtN3o

7. Alien Christ - Of Suns and Moons (Phase II)

inspired by "Suburban Knights - The Art of Stalking" (a true classic, originally released on Transmat).
Marc made this influence his own, and delivered a very detroit-ish underground rave anthem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGmmDrQTyyY

8. The Mover & Lunatic Asylum – Frequency Surfers

Lunatic Asylum aka "Dr. Macabre" is another person that was entwined with electronic music history while turning into a global player in the hardcore sector at a later date.
this is a joint-venture of these two titans of techno, and the result is a very trippy, very twisted and surreal track.

(Cannot be found on youtube, but here are audio previews: https://www.toolboxrecords.com/en/product/17643/techno-hardtechno/dance-ecstasy-2025/ )

9. The Mover - Astral Demons (Original Mix)

you should have realized by now: the mover is a synonym for high quality productions.
this is one of my favorite pics from the legendary "frontal sickness" releases; and indeed adds a very demonic vibe to the whole dance thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSMT2KdQt5Q

10. Rave Creator - A New Mind (Thai Acid Mix)

"Thai" was a pcp sub that focused specifically on techno, acid, even a bit of trance-ish tracks. despite the alias, this was put out on DE 2001 instead.
It's a remix of the famous "A New Mind" track.

starting with pure bass drones. it builds up very slowly, until thunderous, reverberated bass drums come in, and then it goes into full-on acid feeding.
similar to "cross the white line", this track could be given the title "cinematic techno soundtrack".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGpuMbLicZU

Honorable Mentions:

T-Bone Castro - Return 2 Planet E
Reincarnated Regulator - Italian Stallion
Craig Tayaffo - Reduction (Back For Acid-The Expanded 0,25 Hrs Mix)
Barracuda - Braineaters
Two Tonys - Organ Bitch
Nasty Django - Ey Loco
Cold Rush Records
Frontal Sickness 1+2
Reincarnated Regulator - Mindeater
Climax - Relax
Nasty Django - 3 P Rules!
SexDrive Entertainment - No.2
T-Bone Castro / Ace The Space - Ace In The Hole
Project Æ - Whales Alive
Ultra Spaceman - Ultra-Style

Footnotes:
1: The original Wire essay - 
http://reynoldsretro.blogspot.com/2015/03/marc-acardipane-mover-pcp-dance-ecstasy.html