Since issuing their self-titled four-track EP in 2016,
Blue Lab Beats, the Grammy- and MOBO-nominated jazztronica project of producer
NK-OK and multi-instrumentalist
Mr DM, have documented the sonic evolution of London's jazz, rap, and neo-soul scenes. Over more than 40 singles and EPs and three previous albums (counting 2021's wonderful digital-only Sounds of Afrotronica), they have consistently blurred genre divisions between jazz, funk, soul, Afrobeat, soca, dub, hip-hop, and electronica.
Motherland Journey, the duo's debut Blue Note long-player, includes a star-studded cast of old and new friends. Over two years in the making, it began as a set of 70 gritty demos and has been curated to yield 17 meticulously crafted tracks.
After the jazzy, broken beat intro "Sky Reflections," neo-soul princess
Tiana Major9 and rapper
Kofi Stone lead
Blue Lab Beats onto the jazz-hop path in "Labels," where they're framed by ringing modal piano chords, ticking hi-hats, and bubbly basslines.
Teni Tinks, an elegant neo-soul singer and vocal producer, provides a soaring delivery on "I'll Be Here for You." A bumping R&B rhythm track, sampled strings, languid guitars, and a labyrinthine bassline underscore breaks from an alto sax and trumpet. Trumpeter
Poppy Daniels lends her inimitable horn to the summery,
Hugh Masekela-influenced groover "Gotta Go Fast." R&B singer and producer Emmavie Mbongo lends her voice to the exotic club jazz of "Don't Let It Get Away." Accra, Ghana's Afrobeat prince
Ghetto Boy works alongside the duo on the single "Blow You Away (Delilah)," with layered interplay between juju and highlife guitars, slippery tom-toms, Auto-Tuned backing vocals, and swaying township-style jazz horns. These elements commingle in his appearance on "Sensual Loving" a steamy, dubby syncopated meld of Afrobeat, club, and soul-jazz.
Fela Kuti's estate are fans of
BLB; they gave permission for use of his voice on the title-track collaboration with producer KillBeatz. The production weds tenets of mid-'70s Philly International to the chart sophistication of CTI and smooth atmospherics of GRP.
Fela's voice rises above a chanted female chorus as brass and reeds exchange swinging call-and-response lines below a winding guitar break. In "Dat It,"
Drake sideman and Stones Throw recording artist
Kiefer joins his piano to
BLB's slippery, laid-back futurist soul-jazz. "Warp" features saxophonist
Kaidi Akinnibi and trumpeter Jackson Mathod moving around a skittering drum'n'bass vamp before evolving into a soaring contemporary jazz jam. Vocalist
Pip Millett and trumpeter
Dylan Jones join for the sultry, soul-driven, funky jazz of "Home." "Real Good," with singer
Jerome Thomas, sounds like
Curtis Mayfield jamming with the
Robert Glasper Experiment. The duo's five instrumentals -- intro, outro, and three interludes -- ghost trace jazz-funk's development from
Roy Ayers and
Lonnie Liston Smith to
Ronny Jordan and Guru's Jazzmatazz to
Nubya Garcia,
Emma-Jean Thackray, and
Ruby Rushton.
Motherland Journey imprints these influences with a unique 21st century sonic signature that reveals
Blue Lab Beats' depth, breadth, and widescreen vision. ~ Thom Jurek