Biography
Mike Grant resurfaced toward the close of the 1990s as a central presence in Detroit’s expanding house community, having devoted most of the preceding decade and the late 1980s to pursuits outside music. Although his recently launched Moods & Grooves imprint quickly drew notice for issuing material from leading Detroit house producers together with non-local soulful artists including G Flame & Mr. G. and Brian Harden, few realized he had already played a pivotal role in the Motor City’s early- to mid-1980s electronic dance circuit as a skilled selector. His path started young, shaped by Detroit’s emerging sounds and by his uncle, who served as general manager of the local R&B/dance outlet WKWM. In 1980 the teenager entered the Men of Music DJ collective and formed a close bond with schoolmate Blake Baxter; the pair exchanged mixing techniques and tapes, eventually leading Grant to join Baxter’s own Beat Sound Company crew. By 1983 he had secured regular club dates in Detroit alongside figures such as Ken Collier and had performed on the WGPR video program The Scene with other local standouts including Jeff Mills. Throughout the mid-1980s his standing among the city’s elite DJs fostered lasting connections with peers who would later define techno, notably Eddie Fowlkes, Derrick May, and Juan Atkins. In summer 1985 he became part of Street Beat, Detroit’s first radio mix show, where, alongside fellow talents, the groundwork for early Detroit techno took shape. While Atkins, May, Mills, and Kevin Saunderson began issuing the first techno productions and gained worldwide recognition, Grant honored his choice to enlist in the military; he continued spinning both on base and in Seattle, exposing West Coast audiences to Detroit’s emerging electronic style. After his discharge he studied telecommunications in Chicago, launched a career in that field, and made only sporadic returns to Detroit for performances. Planning a comeback in the late 1990s, he first appeared as Black Noise on Metroplex Records with the track “Nature of the Beast.” The stark, intense techno cut attracted renewed attention, notably through placements on Juan Atkins’ Wax Trax! Mastermix and DJ T-1000’s Live Sabotage compilation. Recognition arrived, however, not through techno but via the warmer textures of house music. Rather than limiting himself to DJ sets and productions, Grant founded Moods & Grooves and began releasing work by colleagues such as Alton Miller and Brett Dancer alongside his own material. By mid-2000 the label had earned widespread praise—highlighted by Grant’s performance at the inaugural Detroit Electronic Music Festival—and he had begun laying groundwork for further imprints devoted to techno and urban styles.
Albums