Delano Smith and Rick Wilhite present Parabellum Detroit (Parabellum Detroit 2020) | Spectacular Bandcamp-only collection of all original tracks, compiled and produced by two Detroit veterans, and featuring truly some of the best of the best that the city has to offer. No bad music here, and no wheels get reinvented. Just a handful of beautiful, unquestionably Detroit DNA pieces, where choosing one’s favorite is wholly dependent on your favorite flavor. Marcellus Pittman’s got a wonderfully jazzy, busted beat wobbler. UR mainstays Jon Dixon and Gerald Mitchell (as Soul Saver) each have a scorching contribution, the former’s made of keyboard improvisations + drum machine simplicity, the latter’s a bass-synth-heavy bit of vocal house that’s classic and glorious. Javontte’s got a classic bit of house music too, with a great pause to boot. Rick and Delano have a handful of tunes here, and for me the pick of the litter is the meditative “Ne Solaris,” with its machine hi-hats and dub vibe. Delano’s got a percussive stand-out, as does Omar S, with flange-ing synths. KDJ closes the proceedings with a two-parter, beginning in church, and ending in some cut-up parallel dimension, a soulful jazz-rock guitar line holding a lot of disparate parts together. No kids, no promises, no discoveries — some revolutions are built of a great steady-ness, and this one instantly joins the pantheon of all-Detroit house/techno comps. If there’s been a better one repping classic D over the past few years (outside maybe the Detroit Love mixes), I’ve missed it.
