The original ‘Protein Valve’ EP ushered in Robert Hood’s M-Plant in 1994, at the beginning of a period that makes many a techno fan misty-eyed with nostalgia, the mid-nineties being in many peoples’ opinion the genre’s proverbial purple patch. Hood was, and continues to be, one of the music’s icons; his reductive compositions being instantly recognizable and, in spite of their economy, having a symphonic slant, being a distillation of the Afro-American musical family tree in the process.
The three edits here of Hood’s twenty year old minimalist standard cover clandestine ground in that it’s impossible to tell which tracks from the original six are being played with. Indeed, they are also reminiscent of so much of Hood’s output that while you feel you’ve heard it all before you probably haven’t, at least not in the way presented here.
The austere beats are given some early twenty-first century polish in parts, but beyond that these pieces could just have easily been made in this form twenty years ago. The fact that they weren’t, and that they still have the power to hypnotise, is testament to Hood’s power over rhythm. The attention to detail is striking, and that to momentum painstaking.
In a recent interview with Resident Advisor, Hood was asked about assimilating his influences into his music, and he mentioned that it was possible to hear everything, “from 50s doo-wop... sounds in early Asteroid games... the rhythm of the city itself...”
This may seem a little too abstract at first, but it perfectly summarises the creative processes of an artist whose Christianity possibly highlights a longing to make his music as all-encompassing as possible. One thing though, what exactly is a “Protein Valve”.
Artist: Robert Hood Tracklist Protein Valve Edits - Re-PlantProtein Valve Edits - Edit 01Protein Valve Edits - Edit 02 www.mplantmusic.com Our rating: 7.5/10 |  |
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