Carte blanche to Arthur Jafa: Robert Hood + Crystallmess

Born and raised in 1970s Detroit, Robert Hood grew up surrounded by the sounds of Motown, Philadelphia soul, Marvin Gaye, and Curtis Mayfield. His father was a jazz musician who played trumpet, piano, and drums; his mother sang in an R’n’B group. Hood began working as a record store clerk while producing his first tracks on cassette. A pivotal encounter with Jeff Mills and Mike Banks led to the creation of Underground Resistance – a Detroit techno collective and label known for its radical aesthetic.In 1994, he founded his own label, M-Plant, and released Minimal Nation, a record infused with the soul of his native city and a defining moment in the birth of minimal techno. This sound – which Hood refers to as the “gray area” – mirrors the essence of the Motor City: “Even when the sun shines, there’s something in the atmosphere. I don’t know if it’s the pollution or something else, but the sky always has this gray veil. M-Plant is the sound I always wanted to hear: stripped down, raw. Just drums, bass, funky grooves, and only what’s essential. Only what’s needed to make people move. I started to see it as a science – the art of moving bodies, speaking to the heart, the mind, and the soul.”

Crystallmess is a French artist and producer whose DJ sets glide between hardcore rap, footwork, ambient techno, and afro-trance. In 2018, she presented Collective Amnesia: In Memory of Logobi, a project paying tribute to Logobi – a forgotten Afro-French dance movement from the mid-2000s – by blending hardcore techno and coupé-décalé. That same year, she released the EP Mere Noises, oscillating between dark dancehall and raw rave textures. In 2019, she collaborated with producer Toxe on the Split release on the PAN label. In 2025, she developed the video project Hauntology of an OG, presented at the Bourse de Commerce’s Auditorium on May 22, which honors Memphis’s 1990s underground rap scene, known for its lo-fi production and dark themes.