Robert Hood

Detroit native Robert Hood is often regarded as the creator of minimal techno, though his vision of the style is much bolder, more spiritually aware, and more socially conscious than most of its other practitioners. The producer and DJ was an early member, along with Jeff Mills and Mike Banks, of the Underground Resistance collective, whose influential releases throughout the first half of the '90s helped change the face of Detroit techno and sparked a creative renaissance. Initially producing solo material under pseudonyms like the Vision, Hood began using his own name for releases such as 1994's genre-defining Minimal Nation and the more melodic, downtempo Nighttime World, Vol. 1 in 1995. Hood's disco-influenced house tracks appeared under the name Floorplan, while more abstract, minimal material made up his output as Monobox. He continued delivering well-received studio albums including Point Blank (2002) and Motor: Nighttime World, Vol. 3 (2012) in addition to volumes of the Fabric (2008) and DJ-Kicks (2018) mix series. Floorplan's output since the early 2010s has reflected Hood's devout Christian faith, often incorporating gospel samples; in 2016, the project became a duo with the addition of Robert's daughter, Lyric Hood. Concurrently with his activities as half of Floorplan, he's continued issuing inspired and experimental solo material, including 2020's Mirror Man and 2021's Regenerate (as Monobox). He collaborated with Femi Kuti on 2023's Variations and issued the solo EP Alpha Key in 2024.

Initially using the nickname Robert Noise, Hood designed the cover art for the 1987 LP by pre-UR house group Members of the House and co-founded UR with Banks and Mills by the end of the decade. 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's first EP as the Vision, Gyroscopic, was released by UR in 1991; Banks, Mills, and Hood released material as X-101 that year and as X-102 the following one. Additionally, he founded his first label, Hardwax, in 1991.

In 1992, Hood left Detroit (and UR) with Jeff Mills, setting up shop in New York and recording a series of 12" EPs with Mills, both as H&M and X-103. Throughout the mid-'90s, Hood 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 was replaced by an urge to reach a wider audience, Hood remained fiercely critical of artistic and economic movements destructive to inner-city communities and combined his musical enterprises with outreach and social activism ends. Over the course of two decades, Hood built and sustained a reputation for being one of techno's most reliable album artists, beginning with a pair of crucial 1994 releases: Internal Empire (Tresor) and Minimal Nation (Axis). Cheap released Nighttime World the following year, and it was followed by M-Plant's release of Nighttime World, Vol. 2 in 2000. An association with Peacefrog yielded 2002's Point Blank and 2003's Wire to Wire. A Monobox album, Molecule, appeared on Logistic Records in 2003.

Following several Hoodmusic EPs, Hood released mix CD Fabric 39 in 2008. After the 2010 and 2011 M-Plant releases Omega and Omega: Alive, Hood joined Music Man for 2012's Motor: Nighttime World, Vol. 3. He then released two albums under his disco- and gospel-influenced house alias Floorplan, Paradise (2013) and Victorious (2016), the latter marking the recording debut of Hood's daughter, Lyric. In between both Floorplan albums, triple-CD anthology M-Print: 20 Years of M-Plant Music was released. In 2017, Hood's solo album, Paradygm Shift, appeared on Dekmantel. His addition to !K7's long-running DJ-Kicks series was issued in 2018; it was a tough mix of big-room techno that saw him forsake his usual minimal style. That label also released the Floorplan album Supernatural the following year.

In late 2020, Hood signed to Rekids for an EP, Nothing Stops Detroit, and the album Mirror Man, which had a bigger, more powerful sound than many of his earlier releases. Regenerate, his first Monobox album in nearly two decades, arrived in 2021. Earlier EPs Toxin 12 and Technatural were reissued in 2022, and "Hectic" appeared by the end of the year. In late 2023, Hood released Variations, an improvised session with saxophonist Femi Kuti, recorded live on French TV in 2019 as a tribute to James Brown. 2024 saw the release of Floorplan's fourth album, The Master's Plan, as well as Hood's solo EP Alpha Key. ~ Sean Cooper & Paul Simpson, Rovi