TuneLab
Floorplan (Robert Hood)
Boiler Room x Dekmantel Festival: Amsterdam
When Robert Hood takes the Boiler Room stage at Dekmantel Festival in Amsterdam as Floorplan, you know you’re in for a sermon. This is gospel-house delivered with a techno prophet’s conviction, where every piano chord and vocal snippet feels like a benediction. The open-air festival vibe is transformed into a joyous, hands-in-the-air congregation under the Dutch sky. On a technical level, Hood masterfully weaves between 130 and 160 BPM, though the average sits at a groovy 132, with keys oscillating between the uplifting 12A and the soulful 7A. The energy is mid-forward, but it’s the spiritual low-end that provides the set’s heart, a 0.55 avg that feels more like a warm embrace than a physical push.
His mixing is direct and purposeful, using the raw power of timeless tracks to build momentum, with harmonic mixing adding a layer of divine order. The tracklist is a history lesson with a smile. Opening with the Frankie Knuckles mix of 'Sounds of Blackness - The Pressure' is nothing short of iconic. 'Gigi D’Agostino - Bla Bla Bla' is a euphoric, silly, and utterly effective curveball. 'deadmau5 & Kaskade - I Remember' is deployed not as a guilty pleasure but as the genuine article of progressive house emotion.
His own 'Floorplan - Never Grow Old (Mark Broom Dubplate Mix)' is the undeniable peak, a looping organ riff that becomes a mantra. Closing with 'Ben Sims - Dollar Bill Y'All' brings it back to a raw, jacking Chicago fundament. The journey is pure uplift: from the classic house opener 'The Pressure', through the transcendent peak of 'Never Grow Old', to the gritty, functionalist finale of 'Dollar Bill Y'All'. A live set tracklist for the ages.