Robert Hood

A key figure in the birth of minimal techno, DJ/producer Robert Hood reacted to techno’s post-rave embellishments by stripping his work back down to sparse analog synths and funky, compressed grooves. Born in Detroit in 1965, Hood co-founded the anti-corporate collective Underground Resistance with fellow minimal pioneer Jeff Mills and ex-Parliament bassist Mad Mike Banks in 1989. Hood exited three years later to pursue solo work, emerging with the genre-defining album Minimal Nation in 1994. Releasing records on his long-running M-Plant imprint and other pivotal labels, he remains one of the most distinctive and focused DJs in all of techno. Yet Hood is by no means limited to skeletal creations, with his project Floorplan integrating robust gospel samples to reflect his Christian faith. And on 2020’s ominous Mirror Man, he brings widescreen depth and scope to his longtime themes of political activism and Detroit pride.