Interblaktic

Muzi launches into the future on opening track “Interblacktic,” a Chicago house infused jam laced with Zulu call-and response vocals that unfolds in an afro-futuristic universe: “There seems to be a lot of Black people on Mars” says a tinny voice right at the start. “Red lips, kinky hair, black skin, free as hell/Love it or move over” is Muzi’s response. But as fast as we’ve been transported to the future, the album dips into South Africa’s dance music past on “Come Duze,” a sunny Bubblegum track that features the unmistakable, self-assured vocals of South African rapper Sho Madjozi. Interblacktic sails through South African house music, scintillating pop, and gqom, pulling in melodies and rhythms from local styles like Maskandi, Kwaito, and Isicathamiya — often in the space of a single song, like the way the thumping dance rhythms on “Tjuu Wena” give way to marching percussion, guttural chanting and the most earwormy flute by the end of the song.