“Music is good for the mind / ain’t nothing healthier than having a good time” Time Zones is the dance music project of Dan Gentile and Jack Murphy. The two began making music together in 2014 while living in Austin, Texas. Their work is rooted in the appreciation of soulful house music and dollar bin disco singles.
Dan is a DJ with fifteen years experience performing as a member of Austin-based DJ crew Flying Turns. He writes about music for outlets like VICE and Wax Poetics. Jack’s musical background is playing bass and piano in a variety of contexts: a jazz ensemble, small groups, free jazz scenarios, funk jam sessions, and a psych rock band. By day he is a designer and writer. The Vibe Shack EP wears its influences on its chipboard, disco single sleeve. Crackling samples loop over an assembly of live (read: non-quantized) tracked instruments, including a Korg PolySix, Roland JX-3P, modular synthesizer, and a broken x0xb0x, giving each cut that lively, human touch. The record features a punchy remix of the title track produced by label head Hiatt Becker under the alias Unknown FM. The tunes have been mastered hot by Benoit D at Perception Mastering for maximum dance floor impact.

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Kumasi, New Orleans’ own 14-piece Afrobeat orchestra, is back with their third LP and first live record. After two private-press releases, Kumasi is presenting Live at Marigny Studios to an international audience for the first time via Hiatt dB’s New Orleans-based Mystery Zone Records. Live at Marigny Studios, features 4 original compositions: jazz-centric interpretations of Fela’s classic form that incorporate rhythms and sentiments from New Orleans and the surrounding Afro-diaspora, namely Cuba, Haiti, and Brazil. It’s a bold effort that perfectly captures the infectious mix of heavy rhythms, spontaneous, improvisatory musicianship, and inclusive, participatory style that characterize Kumasi as a group, as well as Afrobeat as a whole. 180 gram pressing by New Orleans Record Press, full color reverse-board jacket, Ltd. 500

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One day early in the global lockdown, Frédéric Blais scribbled four words on a Post-It note and pinned it up in his studio. When he headed to a studio in the mountains north of Montreal to start work on his fifth album as Fred Everything, those words went with him. They would not only provide inspiration during two weeks of isolated music-making, but ultimately provide the subsequent album with its title: Love, Care, Kindness and Hope.

Those sentiments – a positive mantra during a period of personal and collective vulnerability and isolation – resonate throughout the album, a gorgeously warm and beautiful affair that counts as Blais’s most personal, musically expansive, mature and sonically detailed set to date.

While each of the tracks began as a rough sketch laid down during Blais’ retreat, they evolved considerably over the months that followed. Blais reached out to a handful of carefully selected guest vocalists and collaborators, including Stereo MC’s, Robert Owens, Sapele, James Alexander Bright, Wayne Tennant, string arranger Pete Whitfield and multi-instrumentalist Finn Peters. He also lent his voice to several tracks, a first in a career that stretches back to the 1990s.

The results are magical, with Blais not only offering subtle variations on his own trademark deep house sound, but also nods to complimentary music styles and classic electronic albums from the late ‘90s and early 2000s.

Naturally, much focus will fall on the album’s high-profile guests, whose contributions work perfectly with Blais’ cultured dancefloor electronica and soul-soaked broken house grooves. Robert Owens – “the voice of house” himself – expertly delivers lyrics full of compassion and reassurance on recent single ‘Never’, Sapele infuses ‘A Long Time Coming’ with lashings of soulful spirituality, and UK hip-hop/soul legends Stereo MC’s make their presence felt on the subtly Latin-infused dub house excellence of ‘Soul Love’.

Then there’s ‘Breathe’, where UK singer-songwriter James Alexander Bright and backing vocalist Wayne Tennant rise above punchy broken house beats, Blais’ trademark square-wave bass and Pete Whitfield’s swelling strings on ‘Breathe’. By the time kaleidoscopic, sun-down breakbeat brilliance of ‘A Good Day’ arrives to draw proceedings to a close, you’ll be overflowing with Blais’ “love, care, kindness and hope” – just as he intended.

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Masters At Work dig into the archives and find GEMS. Having their 2 Inchmaster tapes (over 750 tapes) stored for over 25 years, Kenny and Louie pulled the tapes out and had them transferred to digital files. In their findings on each 2 inch there were 2-3 tracks on each tape never heard before. They’ve taken those tracks and mixed them to perfection, but leaving the rawness of the original feel and recordings made over 25 - 30 years ago. These are gold nugget findings for MAW and today they have the new MAWLOST TAPES series, released on Maw Records, which will give you a taste ofthose early findings. MAW Apes Groove, Lost I’m Ready, Virus Ruff Mutes, & KenLou Thump are the first releases on this double pack 12” release. No need to describe them, just pop them on your turntable and thump it loud!

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DJ Support: Jimpster, Terry Farley (FAITH), Bill Brewster, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Laurent Garnier, Black Coffee, Jazzanova

Fred Everything’s latest album, 'Love, Care, Kindness & Hope', came out last May to critical acclaim, gaining support from various players such as Laurent Garnier, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Jimpster and Jazzanova to name but a few.

Not content with having an A-List cast of guests on the album (Stereo MC’s, Robert Owens, James Alexander Bright…) Fred also enlisted top Remixers for the singles. We decided to put 4 of the best ones on a Vinyl sampler for record lovers.

Osunlade leads the pack here with his Yoruba Soul remix of Never feat. Robert Owens, keeping things steady for the dancefloor with his signature sound. Waajeed takes the same track and flips it into a different territorry, both musically and sonically, with his Hi-Tech Jazz feel.

Next, we have the enigmatic Clive From Accounts, re-imagining Soul Love featuring Stereo MC’s, with his precise and soulful beats. And to close the EP, Rocco Rodamaal takes Breathe featuring James Alexander Bright and turns it into a solid floor burner.

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Repress!

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