- It's been 20 years since Robert Hood founded his seminal M-Plant imprint, so it's understandable he'd want to rifle through its back catalogue. The original Protein Valve EP, the label's first release, helped shape the minimalist sound he'd later come to define—rattling TR-505 percussion, swirling leads looped to hypnosis and little else. These three new edits stick pretty closely to that formula, although it's nice to see that, for a producer who's inspired so many, he's picked up a couple of things from his descendants.
The "Re-Plant" version and "Edit 2" rework the original EP's "A3." Both new versions beef up the taught drum track, although they wisely leave its earworm hook largely untouched. It's as though Hood is remixing in character. For the "Re-Plant" it's DVS1: the kicks thump, ride cymbals hiss out the momentum and muscle trumps variation. On "Edit 2" it's late '90s Hawtin: claps roll over blasts of white noise and the filters force the otherwise unchanging riff into either breakdown or peak-time shape.
The original's "B2" gets the same treatment for "Edit 1," with a boomier kick and a touch more rumble in the low-end, but it's only by A/Bing both versions that you really notice the changes. There's an argument that with source material this seminal, only a new lick of paint's needed. But it would be interesting to hear the approach to the legacy from those who have some of Hood's DNA about them—the likes of Marcel Fengler or even Blawan—rather than the man himself reworking his own material.
TracklistA1 Protein Valve (Re-Plant)
A2 Protein Valve (Edit 1)
B1 Protein Valve (Edit 2)