Review: Robert Hood – Motor: Nighttime World 3

Label: Music Man
Catalog#: MMCD038 / MMLP038

Tracklist:

01. The Exodos
02. Motor City
03. Better Life
04. The Wheel
05. Black Technician
06. Learning
07. Drive (The Age Of Automation)
08. Torque One
09. Hate Transmissions
10. Slow Motion Katrina

11. Assembly
12. A Time To Rebuild

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Recommended!

The third installment to Hood’s Nighttime World (previously released in 1995 on Cheap and in 2000 on M-Plant), clarifies the current condition in his native Detroit. A vivid image of the history from the city that was built on the American dream, Hood’s personality and ability to reduce sounds in a way that he is the undoubted master of trades, this is a soundtrack that is very personal for him.

One general difference from the older releases by him, is that the absence of hardware for the production in his tracks has changed his signature a little bit. While the sparse minimalism that helped to create a very long time ago has come a long way, he uses the same reduction techniques to create “that” sound, a sound that really speaks and invites. Even though a more digital approach might seem to fall short to some listeners, imagining the atmosphere for which ‘Nighttime World 3’ was crated for, this is simply not something that should exclude but should rather be perceived as a development, the same development as Hood wishes to see for Detroit.

Right from the start, ‘Nighttime World 3’ transpires and changes the mood into Hood’s unique atmosphere. Sounding like a constantly shaking abandoned building, a story forms around the anger and frustration hidden deep within the tracks. Following a pattern in the track titles combined with the actual tracks themselves, Hood paints not only a vivid picture of a current situation for Detroit, but signifies the frustration and anger that electronic music in general so well perceives.

The strengths for every tracks can not be pinned down to single elements, but what makes them special is the tracks as a whole. This is almost of the essence to create electronic music that feels timeless and have a life of it’s own, something that Hood has created countless of times.

If there is a soundtrack for our current times, this might very well be it.

My favorite tracks:

The Exodus

Drive (The Age of Automation)

Torque One

Motor City