If you were fortunate enough to catch Detroit techno pioneer Robert Hood’s brief but brilliant set at this year’s Dekmantel Festival, you’d be hard pressed not to have been swept up in the masterful trajectory of his set. As the sun set on an increasingly more urgent Amsterdam Bos, Hood frenzied the spaceship-like main stage by building a sense of tension over the span of an hour, his relentless 4/4 booms echoing over the expanse of the entire venue. Over the past year, Hood has slowly been re-releasing remastered versions of his back catalog, including some never heard before gems. Before these, referred to as the Perpetual Masters series, he was last heard under his Monobox moniker, delivering the futuristic, sci-focussed deep techno of last year’s Regenerate. The Hectic / Amazon Dust EP is his first brand new material in a while, and it’s aptly massive.
Download and stream Hectic / Amazon Dust here
On Amazon Dust, Hood produces something dark and sticky, most alike to his Monobox work, featuring layers of percussion and progressions that make for something seductive and hypnotic. Hectic, as its title suggests, takes no prisoners. Hood begins modestly enough, a throbbing four on the floor swelling as sharp hi-hats and piston like effects join the mix. Siren like stabs appear soon enough, ever slightly off time to create a dynamism to Hectic that’s head spinning at best. Over its six and a half minutes, his tension-building prowess takes the lead, with Hectic constantly teetering on the edge of control. Hood has been around the block long enough to understand how to keep a track like Hectic from going completely off the rails. In the hands of a less experienced producer, you could imagine Hectic’s big room hijinks sounding muddled and incoherent, noisey and anything but cohesive. He’s a master for a reason, and even after all these years, he remains the loudest and brightest in the room.
Listen to Hectic / Amazon Dust below.
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