MCKENZIE & GARDINER Vinyl & CDs

Review: Still active on the scene, McKenzie & Gardiner are a UK-based electro, funk and boogie duo. Prior to the turn of the century, they'd only released one single, 'From Time' - an impeccable-quality UK boogie tune meditating on the passage of time and its mediation on an important romantic relationship. Ironically, lots of time has passed since then, and the pair's obsession with time doesn't seem to have stopped them from biding it. Now, after honing their craft for so long, we finally get their first official album, 'Timestamp', unveiling the official and mastered versions of precious songs that otherwise existed as raw demos.

Review: McKenzie & Gardiner are well admired as an original funk pair who have long roots and even better sounds. They are well known by serious crate diggers and rare groove and boogie enthusiasts and now their 1983 tune 'From Time' gets popped back in the spotlight courtesy of this reissue. In its original form, it has superb silky synth bass, floating drums and nice textured claps with male-female vocals that soar with plenty of soul. The Groove version makes more of the funky bass twangs and drum machine fills so is just as good.