- For a while there it seemed as though Scott Grooves was yet another lost Detroit producer, toiling away on music but unable to find decent distribution and lacking the marketing savvy to position himself as either the militant recluse or the young new hope that journalists so often love. (Although former Inner City keyboardist does have a ring to it.) But these things have a way of working themselves out: Grooves has gotten extraordinarily lucky with the much talked-about deep house resurgence coinciding with the consistent quality of his relatively new Natural Midi imprint.
"Coco Brown," which kicks off Grooves' debut release on Clone, doesn't sound much different from what you might hear on Natural Midi. The groove is a solid one, setting the table for instrumental snippets that establish its melodic credentials, while four minutes in—watch out!—we've got ourselves an honest-to-god bongo solo. There's even an uncredited woman moaning over top—Coco Brown perhaps?—wordlessly offering even more feeling to a track that's overflowing with it.
"La Riddum" is the pick of the two, though, as Grooves is able to keep the bongos in check enough to only allow them accompaniment status. I'm not against bongo solos by any means, but what that means here is that the rhythm is laser-focused, making the most of the potential of repetition. There's no fucking around on "La Riddum," just pure deep house from one of the originals.
Tracklist A Coco Brown
B La Riddum