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The Colleagues VibeZ

Fifty-two tracks from a production duo who decided that modern R&B needed to sound like it was made by people in a room together. They were right.

The Colleagues: production as authorship

The Colleagues are an R&B production duo — Karl "KP" Powell among them — who have spent the better part of a decade building albums under their own name rather than disappearing into other people's credits. Their catalogue includes Another Love Story (2019), Love Dates and Heartbreaks (2020), What A Time To Be In Love with Raheem DeVaughn (2020), and Love Euphoria with DeVaughn and saxophonist Vandell Andrew (2023).

Their stated goal is worth quoting, because it explains everything about the sound: to make music "with a more modern feel but gave you the feels of a song from the '90s and 2000s." In practice that means live-feeling drums, real bass, generous use of horns and Rhodes, and a rejection of the sparse trap-adjacent production that has dominated R&B radio.

The October London partnership

The most significant recent chapter is their work with October London, the Death Row Records signee whose voice sits uncannily close to Marvin Gaye's. Their July 2025 EP Love Language produced "Click Flash" and "Patience" as singles, and the six tracks run a full emotional arc — "Tell Me Your Name" as the opening approach, "Over Think" as the doubt, "I Miss You" as the apology.

What to listen for

The October London material is the spine here — six or more tracks across the playlist, and the best demonstration of what the duo does with a great voice. Raheem DeVaughn appears repeatedly ("Mr. Midnight," "Deep Deep," "Love around the clock," "Joyful Noise"), and the "Love around the clock" lineup with Goapele and Vandell Andrew is a highlight.

Elsewhere they stretch: "Slow Motion" with Vedo, "Invested" with Lewis Sky, "Chardonnay Kisses" with G Bliz, and a drum-and-bass reworking of "Crazy" that has no business working as well as it does.

Fifty-two tracks of grown, unhurried soul. Ideal for a long evening.

Go deeper

Their album-length collaborations are the format that suits them. What A Time To Be In Love (2020) and Love Euphoria (2023) with Raheem DeVaughn are the fullest statements before the October London EP.

October London himself deserves attention independently — his The Rebirth of Marvin is exactly what the title claims and unusually good at it.

For the sound they are reaching back toward, the homework is Marvin Gaye's I Want You, Teddy Pendergrass, and the Philadelphia International catalogue generally. For contemporary artists doing similar work, try Eric Roberson — the patron saint of independent grown-folks R&B — and Kem.

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