This is why Robert Hood is such a don.
‘A pinnacle of Detroit techno. Best-known for the lip-biting minimalism of One Circle, with its chant ‘Detroit’ and body-rocking riff-mongery, or maybe for the killer variation Explain The Style… but for us the EP’s shortest and freakiest number Modern And Ancient steals the show; a mad, half-stepping slice of Afro-futurist electro that still blows our mind today.’
‘More direct than recent releases, with textures that accumulate and disintegrate with renewed urgency. A familiar trajectory, though: the irresistible pull towards dissolution, the gradual erasure of memory, the self rendered irretrievable…’
‘Perhaps the first time he has chosen to showcase the full range of his skills. The set is intoxicatingly rich and, with a couple of exceptions, largely downbeat… Sonically there’s much more variation — if not in the pace of the riddims, then certainly the instrumentation and textures — making it St. Hilaire’s most approachable album for non-dub-techno aficionados… A modern master whose importance and influence can now — though long overdue — be fully recognised’ ((Steve Barker, The Wire).
Tikiman running full range, from the spoken-word dread of What’s This to the Rhythm & Sound-style call-to-action of Send Them On.
Nine dazzling collaborations with Mala, Shinichi Atobe, Batu, Azu Tiwaline, Gavsborg, and full crew.
The monumental Chain Reaction classic, remastered by Robert Henke, and presented for the first time as a complete vinyl edition.
It’s a must; hotly recommended.
‘While absolutely rooted in the embryonic sound of European dub techno, Monolake’s early work possesses a back room, headphone-ready demeanour which lends itself to the album listening experience. In the cascade of rhythms created by precision engineered delays and subliminal, expansive spatial world building occurring throughout Hongkong, the stage is set for a full and thorough immersion. Before the Monolake sound progressed into a more pointillist form of computer music as Henke’s solo project, Hongkong presented a gritty, grainy sonic still tied in some way to the traditional methods of techno production, even as the artists’ ideas were sending the sequencing and arranging in exciting new directions.’