robert hood: minimal nation

ltd repress! M-Plant presents a remastered special edition of Robert Hood's classic Minimal Nation, 15 years after it changed the face of techno. This album is justly revered as one of the most important and defining techno records ever made. Hood's iconic masterpiece, originally released on Jeff Mills' Axis label in 1994, stripped dance music back to the barest elements, yet retained a loose and dirty funk that many so-called "minimal" records lack today. Having inspired thousands of producers and DJs across the globe, and starting a genre a decade before it was popularly recognized, nothing before or since has sounded like it. Featuring the unreleased "SH-101" (made during the same sessions) and the very rare "Self-Powered" (which only appeared on the Axis test press), Robert Hood's Minimal Nation gets its first full CD release. When first issued as a vinyl double-pack, Minimal Nation not only sounded unlike any other record but also looked like no other -- with each track finishing in a locked groove that forced the listener to flick the needle to the next track. Each groove was built from harsh angular elements that, when combined, created an alien funk not bereft of warmth or soul -- a sound so unique that its single spark echoed around the world and took electronic music into new, uncharted territory. As Hood himself stated, "In order to maximize the feeling of the music, sometimes we have to subtract." In a world full of generic and similar-sounding records, Robert Hood's music jumps straight out of a DJ's set. While many more have joined the cause or jumped on the bandwagon, for Robert, "minimalism" remains just as much a way of life as a musical artform. To this day, Minimal Nation remains the benchmark, the ground zero of "minimal" -- the first record to conceptually take the Pavlovian principle of less is more straight to the dancefloor with its insistent loops and surging funk patterns. As Hood concludes, "Regardless of its diminutive nature, one should never underestimate the neural potency of minimalism." 3LP version pressed on white vinyl, which includes 2 previously-unreleased tracks; plus a CD of the full version of Minimal Nation.