Akwaaba - Do It Tomorrow (Discfunction)

Akwaaba, Steve Kotey and Paul ‘Mudd’ Murphy’s debut album (alongside Tom Lee), was conceived at the crossroads between afrobeat, deep house and Lee Perry’s effects pedals. Torrid rhythms drive the whole album forward from Lagos towards somewhere outside Hatch End, but it's the melodic content that lifts it above the usual sample-heavy fodder with Plexiglass Rhodes and skidding guitars that slip and slide over the album like drunken ice skaters. Nights Over Claremont is flamenco disco with a barrage of drums to keep the dancers happy, Cosmic Love is cut from the same cloth but the reverb is turned up (and out) to create a miasma of sound and no small amount of (cosmic) love. Released in 2000, it still sounds remarkably fresh now.