Point G
Before “Tropical Soundclash”, DJ Gregory made stripped-back club tracks as .g. Shelved in 1998, revived in 2013: the story of Point G and “Underwater”.
- Alias of French DJ and producer Grégory Darsa, better known as DJ Gregory; also written “.g”.
- First used in 1997; “Underwater” (1998) is its best-known track.
- Shelved from 1998 to 2012, then revived with an Apollonia reissue and a Point G label.
Point G is the stripped-down side of DJ Gregory. Under that name, the Paris DJ cut a handful of rough, pared-down house records in the late 1990s, left them behind for fifteen years, and came back once the original records had become collectors’ items.
DJ Gregory before Point G
Grégory Darsa spent several summers in New York in the early 1990s, bringing house records back to Paris shops. In 1992 he met DJ Deep, then Alex From Tokyo, and from 1994 the three shared a show on Radio FG called “A Deep Groove”, a name built from their own. He became a resident at the TGV party at Élysée-Montmartre, then at the Salle Wagram. His first release, in 1996, was a remix of Cheek’s “Venus (Sunshine People)” for Versatile.
.g and “Underwater”
In 1997 he released The Raw EP under the name .g, a leaner outlet for his house productions. On the Raw Again followed in 1998, opening with “Underwater”: a punchy deep house track with a thick bassline, a garage-style bounce and a wobbling melody. The same year he moved to New York, and the alias went quiet.
Back in Paris two years later, he built his own studio and launched the label Faya Combo. As DJ Gregory he scored a crossover hit with “Tropical Soundclash”, licensed to Defected in 2002: No. 59 on the UK singles chart and No. 5 on the UK dance chart.
The 2013 revival
By the 2010s, the original On the Raw Again was selling for more than 100 euros on Discogs. Dan Ghenacia persuaded Darsa to let Apollonia reissue “Underwater”, and the single-sided 12-inch (APO 004) came out in January 2013. The same year Darsa relaunched the alias with his own Point G label, starting with #1 on 1 April 2013.
The numbered series grew quickly. Point G #6, released in January 2015, spread eight tracks over three records, from “The Hunt” to “Willis”; #7, with “Air”, followed that June. Live Season 1: The Unreleased Files (2016) collected tracks and live edits, and Clash called Point G his “sharper, tougher alias”. In 2017 The Point G Experience gathered early and recent material, unmixed and as a DJ mix.
On the floor
Point G tracks are built for the club rather than the living room: raw snares and sturdy basslines up front, melody in the back seat. Clash called them “club-ready tools”, records that hold a groove and leave the DJ room to work.
FAQ
Who is Point G?
The house alias of French DJ and producer Grégory Darsa, better known as DJ Gregory. The name is also written “.g”.
When was Underwater by Point G released?
In 1998, as the first track of the On the Raw Again EP. Apollonia reissued it in January 2013.
Is Point G the same artist as DJ Gregory of Tropical Soundclash?
Yes. As DJ Gregory, Darsa released “Tropical Soundclash” on Defected in 2002; it reached No. 5 on the UK dance chart.
