It’s easy to look at music’s superstars, the people on pedestals – regardless of genre – and see them as something beyond human. Yet the reality for most musicians, the lifeblood of what making music is, is people who are vulnerable. It’s wrapped up in the human experience.
The thing is, we don’t always get to see famous artists go off-script, especially when getting personal. But that’s what happens in a moving interview with Robert Hood at RBMA Tokyo last year, posted yesterday to their Twitter feed.
Robert Hood has been a seminal figure in techno across several decades, still carving out a vital place in today’s landscape, a founder of Underground Resistance and inseparable from the genetic code of all modern techno today. But when he sees footage from those early UR days, it gets to him.
Skip to 15:21 as that edit from 1992 appears. He comments after:
“This music saved my life …
And looking back at this young man, this young Robert Hood, I was just unprepared for it. This music to me represents the struggle of black artists from Detroit who came from nothing. To be blessed to be able to share this music with the world, and to create and be everything that God intended me to be creatively is humbling. I see this young, 22-, 23-year-old kid who’s trying to find his way, and trying to say something that means something to the world.”
http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/robert-hood
I think it’s actually vital to know even a little bit of that early person, both as a music maker and as someone listening to his music. And this ability to save lives is something that ought to remind us why we’re in music.
For more:
A French interview (Mr. Hood speaks in English) is also worth watching – this is minimal techno from his neighborhood, as he puts it, a history lesson. It’s structure, but also relevance. Strap in for the music history and theory lesson in the “movement” of Underground Resistance:
Rencontre avec Robert Hood, le preacher du rythme from TV.Jekyllethyde.fr on Vimeo.
Meanwhile, on Mr. Hood’s own M-Plant label, the big news is having someone other than the star on the label. Here’s the story there:
Mark Broom Stunned to appear on M-Plant [Juno Plus]
Find his new neighborhood:
so much respect for that guy, i think he’s created a true legacy with his work.
he’s making some very interesting and somewhat controversial choices these days, however the music speaks for itself.
so much respect for that guy, i think he’s created a true legacy with his work.
he’s making some very interesting and somewhat controversial choices these days, however the music speaks for itself.
so much respect for that guy, i think he’s created a true legacy with his work.
he’s making some very interesting and somewhat controversial choices these days, however the music speaks for itself.
much respect but it gets hard to follow when he starts talking about his spiritual awakening, preaching and all the other bible shit. The interviewer, i´ve seen some talks he hosted, he acts like he rather would be somewhere else 🙂
If you dig the music from the man, then here it is. These are the things that drive and inspire him. I’m an atheist, so while I can’t identify with his life and his personal arc, I still find his willingness to hold true to his beliefs and make them a part of his art admirable. If you are going to watch an interview to find out what drives the artist, then why grumble about it when he tells you?
much respect but it gets hard to follow when he starts talking about his spiritual awakening, preaching and all the other bible shit. The interviewer, i´ve seen some talks he hosted, he acts like he rather would be somewhere else 🙂
If you dig the music from the man, then here it is. These are the things that drive and inspire him. I’m an atheist, so while I can’t identify with his life and his personal arc, I still find his willingness to hold true to his beliefs and make them a part of his art admirable. If you are going to watch an interview to find out what drives the artist, then why grumble about it when he tells you?
much respect but it gets hard to follow when he starts talking about his spiritual awakening, preaching and all the other bible shit. The interviewer, i´ve seen some talks he hosted, he acts like he rather would be somewhere else 🙂
If you dig the music from the man, then here it is. These are the things that drive and inspire him. I’m an atheist, so while I can’t identify with his life and his personal arc, I still find his willingness to hold true to his beliefs and make them a part of his art admirable. If you are going to watch an interview to find out what drives the artist, then why grumble about it when he tells you?