- Robert Hood's Paradygm Shift promised both a return to the Detroit pioneer's minimal roots and a future-facing search for electronic music's "new mindset." So far the project hasn't quite been either. Its slick techno productions lack the DIY dynamism of Hood's classic tracks, but don't offer anything fresh. Instead they slot neatly into a big-room techno space that has already been recycling Hood's sound for two decades. Dance music owes an enormous debt to the man—there's not much in Paradygm Shift that will change the balance sheet one way or the other.
These two tracks, which conclude the Paradygm Shift EP trilogy started in 2016 (there was an album in between), are more of the same. They're not bad—from a technical standpoint they're effortlessly proficient—but they won't satisfy diehard Hood fans looking to rekindle an old flame, nor current club kids seeking a rush of the new. Above all the choice of sounds might grate on ears attuned to modern clichés. "Red Machine"'s white noise swirls, synth pedal drone and minor-key pads, building to a series of Epic™ climaxes, push well-worn buttons. The subtler "Transform" shifts down a couple of gears, building tension over a shoulder-swaying five-odd minutes of chord spume and precision groove.
TracklistA Red Machine
B Transform