during Sonar, Barcelona on Thursday 18 June @ Nitsa Club.
Be part of history. DJ sets from:
ROBERT HOOD, BEN KLOCK, JAMES RUSKIN (who is also celebrating the re-launch of his Blueprint label) & DETROIT GRAND PUBAHS DJ SET (Mr. O)
"MINIMAL NATION SPECIAL EDITION" VINYL, CD, DIGITAL ALL RELEASED 15 JUNE 2009
Triple pack white vinyl / CD version features a 'Minimal Nation mix' (see blog for more info)
LIVE @ SILO, BELGIUM - 5 April 2008
Thanks to Toon & Philippe www.myspace.com/de_fille
The Black Dog "Detroit v's Sheffield" feat Robert Hood remixes (Soma)
BIOGRAPHY “Before I got into this music I wanted to be an originator ; I wanted to be original”.
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. As Birmingham's Surgeon once remarked, 'When Hood released his pivotal 'Minimal Nation' EP in 1993, it was like a bomb went off.'
Robert Hood makes minimal Detroit techno with an emphasis on soul and experimentation over flash and popularity. Having recorded for Metroplex, as well as the Austrian Cheap label and Jeff Mills' Axis label, Hood also owns and operates the M-Plant imprint, through which he's released the bulk of his solo material. As part of the original UR line up whose influential releases throughout the early and mid '90s helped change the face of modern Detroit techno and sparked a creative renaissance. Infusing elements of acid and industrial into a potent blend of Chicago house and Detroit techno, UR's aesthetic project and militant business philosophy were (and remain) singular commitments in underground techno. Hood left Detroit (and UR) with Jeff Mills in 1992, setting up shop in New York and recording a series of 12-inch Eps. He began to concentrate on his own production 'Vision EP', the 'Riot EP' and X-103 were big stepping-stones for him as they were the first releases he worked 100% on his own. The X-101 to X-102, were Waveform Transmission projects with Mills for Tresor. He slowly progressed to work more and more on his own, but collaberated on some of the first Axis releases with label owner Jeff Mills as H&M (Hood & Mills) with ‘Tranquilizer EP’ and ‘Drama’.
He soon decided it was time for him to start his own label to focus on what was in his soul musically.and set up M-Plant in 1994 releasing singles such as "Internal Empire,", “The Protein Valve” "Music Data," and "Moveable Parts. "M-Plant is what I've always wanted to hear: the basic stripped down, raw sound. Just drums, basslines and funky grooves and only what's essential. Only what is essential to make people move. I started to look at it as a science, the art of making people move their butts, speaking to their heart, mind and soul. “It's a heart-felt rhythmic techno sound. M-Plant is just M. minimal"
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.
His debut Peacefrog album 'Point Blank' took Hood's hypnotic minimalism to entirely new depths and territories, whilst his last album 'Wire To Wire' takes his productions onto new levels of musicality and sophistication within the world of electronic music.
Most recently he embarked on a new project with Music Man records (Belgium) titled “HoodMusic”, bringing his unique style of minimal techno back to the forefront of what is going on in the music scenes today. These are a series of singles leading up to an album
At the beginning of 2008 London club Fabric asked him to do one of the mixes in their series. March 2008..........Fabric 039: Robert Hood (Last updated Jan. 08
Big respect for everything you did in the technoscene! You are one of my heroes. Best wishes for the future and it's nice to see M-Plant beeing relaunched!
