Motherland Journey

2022’s Motherland Journey was the third album from London-based Namali Kwaten and David Mrakpor. It’s a seventeen-track, fifteen guests, day-glo, sumptuous free-and-easy musical fusion of jazztronics, jafrobeat, street soul, hip hop and electronica. Just the first five tracks alone deliver an astonishing variation of expertly executed styles: there’s spacey electronica with “Sky Reflections (Intro),” “Labels” is straight-up hip hop, “I’ll Be Here For You” is contemporary R’n’B with vocals from Teni Tinks, “Gotta Go Fast” heads into expertly played broken beat jazz funk, while “A Vibe” is a club-friendly 4/4 jazzer.

Motherland Journey is overflowing with ideas, packed with highlife guitars, Dilla-esque hip hop beats, auto-tuned vocals, beautifully orchestrated strings and never-too-long solos. Afrobeat, neo-soul, broken beat, R’n’B and all the sounds of the UK streets are skilfully merged into Blue Lab Beats’ own, distinctive jazztronica.