Review of Mike Grant in Brighton UK

“Fluid Groove” @ Pressure Point, Brighton presents Mike Grant (Friday 25th July 2003)

Though the week down here in Brighton began with sunshine, by Friday evening it was looking pretty dismal outside, certainly enough to keep party-goers indoors. Further to this, Big Boring Brother was finally drawing to a close tonight. Given the choice between being entertained by a fat Scottish virgin or the enigmatic Detroit house DJ, I immediately opted for the latter.

Mike Grant is now primarily known for his highly acclaimed label Moods & Grooves, but he has been involved with electronic music since its early days, hitting the turntables at high school in the 1980’s with classmate Blake Baxter. However, while the new sounds of Motor City caught on in Europe and the rest of the world in the late 80’s, Mr Grant was to pursue a career in the military amongst other things, only returning to music full time around 1996. While he may be playing catch up, he certainly hasn’t lost his edge. In true Detroit fashion, he generally mixes various styles up and can drop electro or even jazz when the mood takes him.

However, at Fluid Groove, deep house is the order of the day, and as we arrived at around 11pm, Matt Pond from Hedonizm Records was laying down some serious chunky-but-funky. The venue was slowly starting to fill up with the arrival of closing time downstairs, and a nice vibe was building up. This was certainly helped by a decent soundsystem in Pressure Point, and when the Chicken Lips remix of Headman’s “It Rough” found its way onto the decks, the deep bass and crispy hi hats sent people into convulsions of spasmodic delight.

Just after midnight, Mr Grant himself graced us with his presence and the music suddenly acquired a more soulful edge. In fact, ‘moods and grooves’ is quite an apt description of his sound tonight - melodic and ethereal, yet not at all wishy washy. Though he brought out a more mellowed sound, the soothing tones of Jill Scott even making an appearance, Mike Grant still had the beats to move asses. It’s hard to pick out any particular moments, but DJ Gregory’s “Elle” had to be a highlight. Perhaps the venue wasn’t as crowded as it could have been, but this is a minor point. In any case, it allowed some people to go absolutely mad on the dancefloor - the jumpy turntables in all likelihood due to a few ill fated attempts at stagediving/dancing like Jamiroquai. All in all, a wicked night - a good mood and some good grooves.

Truong Mellor

Boo Williams at Fluid Groove @ The Escape Club, August 8th 2003