Robert Hood.
Robert Hood needs little introduction. Founding member of the legendary group Underground Resistance as a ‘Minister Of Information’ with ‘Mad’ Mike Banks & Jeff Mills, his seminal works on Jeff Mill’s Axis and his very own M-Plant imprint paved the way for a wave of stripped-down dancefloor minimalism that directed much of techno’s path throughout the late Nineties.
Robert Hood makes minimal Detroit techno with an emphasis on soul and experimentation over flash and popularity.
Having recorded for Metroplex, Jeff Mills’ Axis label, Patrick Pulsingers ‘Cheap’ label, Peacefrog, Music Man and more recently Dekmantel, Hood also owns and operates the M-Plant imprint, through which he’s released the bulk of his solo material.
Although his desire to remain underground has been replaced by an urge to reach a wider audience, Hood remains fiercely critical of artistic and economic movements destructive to inner-city communities and has combined his musical enterprises with outreach and social activist ends. With this in mind the seminal ‘Nighttime World Pt.1’ in 1995 and ‘Nighttime World Pt.2’ in 2000 incorporating Jazz, Soul, Hip Hop as well as Techno and House.
„These days I am focussed purely on minimalism and really embracing minimalism because it’s taken on a life of its own. It’s now a music style separate from techno. I would never have imagined that it would take this direction. I didn’t see that one coming! I saw minimalism in life becoming more and more evident – in furniture, in electronics, in art, in automobiles, appliances – you know I could see that coming. But, as far as the music itself being thought of now as an art form? Back then, I think people looked on at it as a trend but they didn’t realize that minimalism is an art form. I did not realize it would take on this characteristic as it has now. So, where I’m at right now is embracing minimalism and seeing how far I can push it – in my interpretation of what simplicity and music is all about. I am really representing it as an art form and not a trend.
As the future evolves, we’re going to get more and more minimal“