Following their appearance on the acclaimed 2020 project Blue Note Re:imagined and the release their 2021 EP We Will Rise, the London duo Blue Lab Beats—producer NK-OK and multi-instrumentalist Mr DM—make their full-length Blue Note Records debut with Motherland Journey. The vibes are strong on everything this pair cook up inside Blue Lab HQ, including their sublime take on vibist Bobby Hutcherson’s 1975 classic “Montara” which appeared on the 2020 collection Blue Note Re:imagined. “To be affiliated with Blue Note, whose artists we’ve grown up with, and whose music and politics have influenced us, was exciting,” says Mr DM. One of the fastest-rising production duos in the world right now, with a Grammy nomination for their work on the Angelique Kidjo album Mother Nature, and a MOBO nomination for ‘Best Jazz Act’ in 2021 testament to their rise, Blue Lab Beats craft a supple, wide-ranging sound that blends boom-bap grooves and jazz-funk hooks are wide-ranging influences inspired by the pioneers of hip-hop and the music of the African diaspora; a sound that tells of London, of today, while hinting at the future.