Publication:
Pop
Matters
Article:
Mark Grant-Sound Design V2
Author:
Andy Hermann
Reference:
July 2001
In
Chicago, the birthplace of house music, to establish your joint as
one of the city's best house clubs is no small feat. But to do it
for six years running, and on a Monday night, is downright
unbelievable. That's what Mark Grant has achieved with his Red Dog
club -- it's the place in the Windy City for househeads to
lose themselves in a sweaty dancefloor reverie, and Grant, as
resident, has established himself as Chicago's main man for marathon
sets of booty-shaking, hands-in-the-air groovaliciousness.
How
does all this translate to CD? Well, a double disc probably would
have allowed Grant a little more room to flash his full sonic
palette, but overall, Sound Design Vol. 2, his debut on San
Francisco's excellent Om Records, is a pretty impressive
achievement. Over the course of 16 tracks and 74 minutes, Grant
takes his listeners on a journey through an amazing array of house
styles -- old-school soulful, jazzy, funky, Latin and tribal. The
conflicting styles occasionally clash, and not every track is a
winner, but for most of the way Grant holds it all together with
great energy and some truly kick-ass mixing skills.
Grant starts things off hard with the aggressive four-on-the-floor
beat of Kaskade's "What I Say", a jazzy but classically soulful
piece of Chicago-style house with great vocals courtesy of Rob
Wannamaker. It's a smart opening track, smooth but irresistibly
danceable, but Grant then makes the mistake of layering in too many
intrusive spoken vocals early on -- a soul-shoutin' preacher on top
of Le Grande Boofant's "Bacon Mohican", some identity politics
blather on Mood II Swing's "Do It Your Way". C'mon, Mark, it's only
track two -- we're still getting' into our groove here! Save the
politics for later in the set.
Things start looking up on track four, a combination of Inland
Knight's jazzy "Feel This Way" and the wonderful funky soul
harmonies of Artist formerly known as Technique's "Clear". For the
next few tracks Grant hopscotches around various styles, not really
taking us anywhere but displaying more of his impeccable mixing
skills. Grant habitually spins on three turntables, and it shows on
Sound Design -- sounds that you thought had long since left
the mix creep back in again, beats collide and layer in unexpected
ways, long segues build and build and finally release into sparse
breakdowns, before a new beat kicks in and propels your feet into
another set of dance steps. It's rare in the world of vocal-based
house to hear mixing this creative -- hopefully a lot of fledgling
house DJs will take inspiration from Sound Design and learn
to do more than just match their beats.
Sound Design
really takes off with track seven, a layering of the horn lines from
A Man Called Adam's "Qué Tal America" and the hard-driving congas
and drums of Atmosfear's "Dancing in Outer Space". From this mostly
acoustic launching pad, Grant goes on an inspired tear through one
great track after another, mixing them flawlessly into an
irresistibly ass-shaking segment. Milton Jackson's Latin-tinged
"Can't Give You Up" dissolves into the more full-blown Brazilian
vibe of "Deconstructed House (Phase 1)", a giddy Jerome Sydenham and
Kerri Chandler track carried by the breezy guitar and vocals of
Jania and some goofy monkey/talking drum sounds courtesy of Dennis
Ferrer. Agora's "Jam Beneath the Groove" keeps the vibe alive with
more Latin percussion folded into a juicy deep house groove, and
from there Grant segues seamlessly into the jazzier terrain of M
Trax's "Trip Chick". Together, these five tracks make for a
fantastic ride.
If
Grant's track selection were this strong throughout, Sound Design
would be a masterpiece. Unfortunately, most of the latter part of
Sound Design bogs down in songs that not even Grant's skills can
stitch together in any sensible fashion. "Carajillo" is a typically
interesting experiment in Afro-Caribbean-jazz-house fusion from
Germany's brilliant Truby Trio, but it's out of place here,
especially when it's followed up by the cheesy sax-and-diva R&B of
Eddy and Dus' "Starlite". Chichi Peralta's "Un Día Más" and
Osunlade's "Tree of Life" don't really belong here either -- they're
unremarkable Latin and Afro-pop tunes, respectively, that tack on a
house beat as a substitute for any real energy. Grant's closing
track, the Pasadenas' "Round and Round", is more like it, a
shamelessly disco-tinged, soulful number that ends things on a silly
but grin-inducing note. Ultimately, I can forgive Grant his
occasionally dubious track selection -- any DJ this talented is
inevitably going to push the envelope, and for most of Sound
Design that adventurous spirit pays off. No wonder Red Dog still
packs them in on Monday nights. |