ROBERT HOOD Vinilo y CD

Review: Robert Hood's 'Alpha Key' EP is a future classic of the techno genre. The title track is a relentless, industrial beast with a pounding beat, rattling percussion, and tribalistic, mechanical overtones. Its energetic counterpart, 'Future Remedy', is a true crowd-mover with a driving beat, hypnotic chord progressions, and a euphoric atmosphere. 'Pathetic' takes on a darker, more introspective tone, featuring heavy chords, throbbing basslines, and a haunting, industrial soundscape. The EP concludes with 'Outsider', a relentless stomper with a crushing beat, layered rhythms, and an almost cinematic intensity. Overall, 'Alpha Key' is a great example of Hood's mastery of the techno genre, showcasing his ability to blend power, experimentation, and raw emotion.

Review: Four years ago, a French TV programme brought Detroit techno hero Robert Hood and Femi Kuti together to pay tribute to one of their shared heroes, the "Godfather of Soul" James Brown. The pair performed together, mostly off the cut, in front of a live audience at the ADP Headquarters building in Paris. Variations showcases the full recording of that performance for the very first time, offering a unique - and, yes, exceptionally good - fusion of Hood's drum machines, synths and samples (including many breaks from JB's records and familiar vocal refrains from the man himself) with energetic, effervescent soloing from Kuti on the saxophone. It's not funk, soul, techno or Afrobeat, but some kind of hybrid of all four - and a breathlessly brilliant one at that.

Review: Detroit techno innovator Robert Hood and Afro beat king Femi Kuti is not a pairing we thought we would see but it is one we are glad we have. They join forces on the former's M Plant label for this superb collision of musical worlds. It is unified by Afro beats and a unique mix of futuristic ideals with Femi's improvised jazz sax leading the way over Hood's cosmic synth sounds. The album was recorded in just one 30 plus minute take which is all the more of a testament to each artists's abilities. Femi's exquisitely free-flowing playing and Hoods signature grooves are perfectly intertwined in this great coming together of two avant art forms.