This is a bit special. Detroit’s Delano Smith learned his craft from one of the Motor City’s unsung masters: the great Ken Collier, who has been credited by Derrick May as getting him into DJing with masterful sets before techno existed in the early 1980s. Delano was persuaded out of a 14-year retirement in 2001 by Mike Clark and Norm Talley, who placed his Metropolis on Third Ear’s Detroit Beatdown Volume One compilation. The EP is something of a landmark for Detroit devotees: four tracks of deep electronic house music straight from the soul. ‘Something For myself’ sets out the EP’s stall with ethereal synth melodies, gentle spoken vocal and underlying magnetic compulsion. ‘Trans’ is simply classic Detroit with nagging keyboard riff which, apart from recalling early Carl Craig, oddly reminds me of that great early 90s Dutch house. ‘Synergy’ harks back to classic NYC deep house with shimmering Nu Groove keys and deadly string drops. ‘Cosmos Revisited’ cooks up a subtle, static-hazed groove which uses space and shifting textures to create a shimmering momentum all of its own. Fabulous stuff. The label deserves an award for finally showing this major talent to the world. He’ll do the rest.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Kris Needs
