Tag Archive: delano smith

LWE Podcast 121: Delano Smith is archived this week

For LWE’s 121st podcast, Delano Smith blended a slick deep-house mix, starting off mellow and building intensity up to a sleek disco finish. Be sure to add it to your collection before it’s archived this Friday, March 29th.

LWE Podcast 121: Delano Smith

Delano Smith put together LWE’s 121st exclusive podcast, an on-the-fly excursion through some of his past and present favorites that will leave you in no doubt as to the prowess of one of Detroit’s founding fathers.

Delano Smith, Midnite EP

Last time LWE checked in with Delano Smith, he was making probably the only decent record of 2008 that namechecked “Detroit.” Smith’s “Something For Myself,” off the “Sunrise EP,” vocalized what many people might have forgotten about the Motor City: “There’s so many sounds, it’s limitless.” The likes of Reggie Dokes, Theo Parrish, Andrés or “Shake” Shakir have all backed up that claim this year with a bewildering variety of music that has been anything but predictable, and defied any preconceived notions about what the term “Detroit techno” might define. Smith’s own uniformly excellent releases this year, however, have been markedly less avant-garde than say, Theo’s wilder 2009 moments. Smith, having labored under the tutelage of the legendary Ken Collier in his formative years, has a far more classicist bent than some of his peers; nonetheless, “Midnite” may surprise a few people who have more conservative expectations of the D.

Delano Smith, Sunrise EP

Those who insist on being bitter when techno journalism continues to focus on Detroit might as well complain historians of impressionist painting overemphasize Paris, or that fans of martial arts films give too much credit to China. With locally known but globally unsung veteran producers like Patrice Scott, Mike Huckaby, Scott Grooves, and now Delano Smith continuing to release some of the best tracks of recent memory, it’s just an unavoidable subject. So don’t be surprised to hear a voice point out on “Something for Myself,” the lead track from the “Sunrise EP,” that Smith is “from Detroit, from Detroit, from Detroit.” When he adds that “there’s so many sounds; it’s limitless,” it doesn’t just apply to his hometown’s cultural heritage — he might as well be talking about this record.