DELANO SMITH Vinyl & CDs

Review: After having two of his earlier tunes remodelled by Carl Craig and Mike Huckaby thanks to Sushitech, Detroit's Delano Smith re-emerges on the label with a double pack of tunes made with Brawther under the D&B Productions. That moniker has more to do with the pair's name rather than a suddenly conversion to drum & bass, although there's a love of dubby effects and deep bass power here that - at a stretch - could be said to be in common. The six tracks - Symbiosis' 1-6 - are smooth and simple, but executed with an ear (or four) for an irresistible groove, an economic but rhythmic keyboard stab and a knack for squeezing something nicely soulful from the barest ingredients. Nice work indeed.

Review: Don't be misled by the facetious title, there's no handbag house to be found on Hed Kandi Vol. 1. Instead, you'll be treated to some real proper beatdown vibes by some right legends of the Detroit underground, curated by scene stalwart Norm Talley. The ever impressive Delano Smith gets the Mixmode vibe in effect on the hypnotic back room dubs of 'The Lost Synth' parts 1 & 2 respectively which cover the A side. Over on the flip, Sistrum Recordings main man Patrice Scott gets some emotive Motor City soul going on in his inimitable style on 'Better Days' followed by the heads-down basement beats of Deepset's 'Soltek'.