The Answer Is In The Beat

Floorplan: Paradise (M-Plant, 2013)

July 14, 2013 at 9:33 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Floorplan is an alias of Detroit techno veteran Robert Hood, who started the alias in 1996. This is the project’s first full length LP. It’s definitely stripped down and dancefloor-friendly (as the name suggests). Even though Hood is credited with inventing “minimal techno”, some of his work (particularly last year’s phenomenal Motor: Nighttime World 3) builds and progresses and is too melodic to just be categorized as minimal. This album is a little closer to what you might call “minimal” for his sound, as most tracks tend to feature a 4/4 beat, a few repeating samples or drum breaks, and a tiny snatch of melody, and they all hover around the 6 or 7 minute mark. And as the name Floorplan also suggests, this music is about getting straight down to the groove and making people dance, and it does that with flying colors. A lot of the tracks feature brief samples from soul and gospel records, used in a really lo-fi way as if they were sampled off cheap keyboards, like old Dance Mania records. “Let’s Ride” sounds like it samples a little girl saying “why do you tell?”, with a bit of choppy drums and minimal organ drone. “Baby Baby” has the titular phrase chopped and looped, along with a soul horn sample that appears throughout the track. “Change” is very typical of Hood’s minimal style, with a dubby chord and 4/4 beats looped and EQ’d without much change (even though the track is called “Change”). “Altered Ego” is another gradually building dubby minimal track, with chopped up Amen snares and a snakelike rattle sound. One of those tracks that just plain works. “Never Grow Old” has an old gospel sample taken off very crackly old vinyl, featuring a singer who basically shouts her lungs out while the crowd cheers and claps along. “Eclipse” stays minimal with only a few light synth washes over the beat. “Higher!” is also pretty minimal, with some echoing claps and gradual appearances from cymbal and drum sounds. “Confess” features a joyful piano sample and tough, pumping beats. “Chord Principle” has a spare sample of a girl laughing, and some classic Hood minimal organ chords. “Above The Clouds” ends the album with another dubby minimal groove.