Inspired by bands such as Cabaret Voltaire, 23 Skidoo, TG etc in the early 80's, Robert Hampson had previously worked on more experimental music with his 4 track tape machine, but wanted to try the dynamics of a more traditional guitar based music. Forming the band LOOP and loosely influenced by bands such as The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, The MC5, but retaining an avant-garde and experimental edge from Can, Faust, Neu!, Rhys Chatham, Glenn Branca and minimalist systems music. Releasing a series of 12" singles and Three studio albums (Heaven's End, Fade Out, A Gilded Eternity) until the band's demise in 1990.

Along with Scott Dowson (also of LOOP) and with the guitar still as the central sound source, he returned to the more experimental styles of Electroacoustic and Acousmatic music with the project MAIN. A series of CD e.p's and albums were released on the Beggar's Banquet label, all exploring elements of a guitar, but at the same time, deconstructing it's associations as much as possible from it's traditional sound signatures and iconic form.
Gradually, the themes MAIN created became less involved with the guitars, stretching further and further away from them, centralising on the field recordings and concrete sounds that had featured before, but were now pushed to the forefront. With the departure of Dowson, Hampson eventually abandoned the instrument altogether, feeling he had reached a point where he had explored all possibilities of it.

At this time, it was possibly correct to have also abandoned the MAIN project, because of it's strong associations with the guitar - that some, seemed unable to forget - but he carried on until early 2006, where he laid it to rest with the release of cd album 'Surcease'.

Since 2005, his most current works are now based on a multi-speaker concept in the live environment, such as Quad, 5.1 and 7.1 systems. Recent pieces such as 'Parallax' (2005), 'Umbra' (2006) and 'Dans le lointain'(2008), were commissioned by the Group du Recherches Musicales (GRM) and have had their debut performances on the Acousmonium (Speaker Orchestra) developed at Radio France in Paris. His most recent cd release on the TOUCH label ?Vectors? features stereo versions of ?Umbra?, Ahead- Only The Stars and "Dans le lointain".