- It's literally called "Hectic."
- Those who follow Robert Hood's output will know there's a few modes he inhabits these days, from the old-school to the unabashedly big room. His latest, which follows a number of 12-inch reissues, falls in the latter camp, but poses a new question: are the biggest rooms big enough for Robert Hood in 2022? Calling the track "Hectic" might seem a little jokey, but it's actually on-the-nose. If the dense, heavy kick drum wasn't enough to get the point across, the blocky yet sharpened snare—like a bowling pin shaved down to a knife-edged point—and belligerent rave stabs complete the picture. "Hectic" repeatedly turns into a frothing cacophony that should be exciting or irritating depending on your taste for punishment. This isn't twilit Detroit techno, but Ibiza in the darkest hours of the night.
The thing about "Hectic," though, is that it's big-room but it's not dumb. Even at its noisiest all the elements carefully interlock, and every individual sound feels sculpted for maximum impact. (It reminds me of the heaving techno of his DJ-Kicks.) On the flip, "Amazon Dust" is similarly pitched for main stage DJs but a little more subtle, with some satisfyingly clacky snares and an economy of arrangement that calls back to masterpieces like Minimal Nation. Brilliant and confrontational in equal measure, "Hectic" is the sound of a one-of-a-kind producer adapting to the times. Some will love it, some will hate it, but the thing with Robert Hood is that there'll always be another record to make you fall in love with his genius all over again, whatever camp you're in.
Tracklist01. Hectic
02. Amazon Dust