Robert Hood - Soma Sessions - Proton Radio - Nov 2008

Biography of Robert Hood

Robert Hood is without any question one of the most important founding fathers of minimalism within techno. In the early nineties he helped launch a couple of the most influential techno labels ever: Underground Resistance, Axis and M-Plant. He learned the ropes from nobody less than Mike Banks and Jeff Mills. It didn't take long for Hood to set out on his own course and he made independence his strength. With his own label M-Plant and sublabels Drama, Duet and Hardwax he left an ineradicable stamp on the evolution of the techno sound. After carrying out his operations mainly from the shadows for many years Robert Hood has been on a head-on assault in the last couple of months. The Detroit legend has intensified his schedule of appearances all over the world, especially in Europe.

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. Hood was a founding member, along with Jeff Mills and Mike Banks, of the Underground Resistance label, 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 . Through the mid '90s, Hood has focused on his solo work, setting up M-Plant in 1994 and releasing singles such as 'Internal Empire,' 'Music Data,' and 'Moveable Parts.' Although his desire to remain underground has been replaced by an urge to reach a wider audience, Hood remains fiercely critical of artistic and economic movements destructive to inner-city communities and has combined his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. His debut Peacefrog album 'Point Blank' took Hood's hypnotic minimalism to entirely new depths and territories, whilst his latest album 'Wire To Wire' takes his productions onto new levels of musicality and sophistication within the world of electronic music.

http://www.myspace.com/hoodro