Robert Hood is techno royalty. His language of choice is Detroit techno but under a number of different names – most notably Floorplan and Monobox – he has brought his own slant to proceedings with a minimal approach and doses of soul and even gospel. The latter style informs outright spiritual monsters such as Floorplan’s ‘We Magnify His Name’, while the soulful edges to ‘Never Grow Old’ are beautifully done. The more muscular minimal side operates at quite a lick, but here Hood really cuts loose with early crackers such as ‘Protein Valve 1’’, from 1994, and the energetic ‘Unix’ from the same year, both cuts fizzing with energy. ‘M-Print’ presents three CDs-worth of Robert Hood’s best, and the quality threshold is remarkably high, continuing to a third disc of rarities and new tracks, where the likes of the cutting ‘Minimal Minded’ and ‘Analog Track (Ghost)’, an edgy new contribution, can be enjoyed. It is perhaps only recently that Hood’s star has shone with the brightness it deserves, and this compilation will only further his status, reminding us how M-Plant can now be regarded – alongside Planet E, 430 West, Fragile and more – as one of the very best exponents of Detroit techno. Hood himself, meanwhile, deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Messrs Atkins, May, Craig and Saunderson. More power to his elbow!
5 out of 5
Reviewed by Ben Hogwood
{http://soundcloud.com/roberthood/sets/m-print-20-years-of-m-plant}
