Robert Hood - Eleven

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  • Robert Hood's music has, of course, always been minimal, but in the wake of 2012's stellar Motor: Nighttime World 3 and the debut album from Floorplan, his more soulful and sample-focused project, the A-side of his latest 12-inch seems starker than ever. With almost aggressive forward momentum, "Eleven" piles piston-pumping drums, sharp snares and chord stabs into a driving rhythm. It's typically spartan, but Hood adds a new element every few bars so that the track builds almost imperceptibly into something functional but formidable. The breakdown is particularly satisfying: staccato chords dissolve into a stretch of fizzing pads before the groove reasserts itself. "Alarm" is equally crystalline, with plenty of space between its layers, but it's a good deal funkier. Over nearly nine minutes of subtle tension and release, it blooms from a sleek drum-led groove into a lithe, melodic number. An almost ethereal synth enters about halfway through, a textural counterpoint to the grinding bass and the titular bells.
  • Tracklist
      A Eleven B Alarm
RA