Pop CD 249 Items

Dressed in a powder blue suit with the frilly shirt to match, DJ Yoda invites you to be his +1 for Prom Nite, his new album promising retro Americana full of daydreaming reverie, international megastar guests, trip hop acknowledging the likes of Morcheeba and Nightmares on Wax, and the turntable extraordinaire’s bread and butter of cuts, beats and rhymes.

Certainly no stranger to retro sounds having famously peppered his DJ and AV sets with the unexpected the world over, and his How to Cut n Paste mix series going all the way back to the 30s, Yoda’s harp-laden puppy love vibe spreads from the sweet and mellow sound of 2019’s Home Cooking, an album described as “boundary-breaking” by Mojo upon slotting nicely into the UK’s blooming jazz canon. Think deliciously harmonised doo-wop murmuring “Goodnight Sweetheart” with an eye for dreamboats en route to Makeout Point - on “My Energy”, Eva Lazarus takes the form of an earth angel, with Yoda on jukebox cut-ups, taking it back to starry-eyed, clean cut days of wonder (or more recently, Little Mix’s “Love Me Like You”).

Beginning enigmatically with the assistance of Hollywood A-lister (and former next-door neighbour) Lily James, “Breathe” demonstrate Yoda’s continued evolution as a musician (not to mention shrewd decision maker), with James’ vocal confidence - a little Lana del Rey to her breathiness - returning on the velvet-smooth “Airplane Mode.” It’s a smartly executed soundclash accentuated by LA rapper Choosey, the star of the album’s straightest hip-hop shooter “Harder I Rock”. Homeboy Sandman adds some kick to the prom punch with typical wordplay sent down “Coconut Grove”, and Liam Bailey is perfectly cast for the darkly cinematic sway of “Don’t Even Try It.”

On an album of many talking points, the LP’s crowning glory is opening single “Feel Like Home”: featuring the vocal comforts of the House Gospel Choir, it’s your go-to pick-me-up when the chips are down, targeting the hairs on the backs of necks like a softer focus version of Jamie xx’s “Loud Places.” Extended into an alternative, equally uplifting form by Beardyman’s “Don’t Mean Thing”, summer festival season already has its homecoming anthem. With tongues wagging, the twists and turns step away from Heartbreak Ridge when O Love tucks into the mouthwatering shopping list funk of “Way Home”; and “Lesson 1956”, featuring Jamie Cullum and DJ Woody, jauntily pays homage to classic Cut Chemist alchemy, Yoda’s celebrated turntable tomfoolery back in full effect and extending the flavours found in Home Cooking.

Magpie artwork supplied by London’s Endless, whose signature style has tagged Liberty and Lagerfeld as but two high profile clients, Yoda again maximises the experience and enjoyment gained from recording live instruments and prioritising songs over beats. His continued progress mixes risk-taking, elite musicianship, nostalgia brought bang up to date, and ultimately, good clean fun capable of stirring your soul, making Prom Nite a date to remember.

Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington return after announcing they were parting ways at a show in 2014 in the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. Their debut album Psychic from 2013 was lauded as a modern classic almost immediately after release.

Since, Nicolas Jaar has been incredibly prolific releasing no less than four albums through his own Other People label including a soundtrack to cult classic Sergei Parajanov film The Color Of Pomegranates, created original soundtracks for 2015’s Dheepan and 2019’s Ema, co-produced tracks on FKA Twigs (Bleep album of the year 2020) Magdalene and worked on material under the A.A.L (Against All Logic) moniker with the likes of no wave legend Lydia Lunch.

Working with multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington on the DARKSIDE project, Nicolas Jaar’s production takes in heady psychedelic influences from prog and drone genres. Layering his entrancing vocals over the pulsating rhythm section on tracks such as ‘Lawmaker’ and ‘I’m The Echo’ that draw on the sun drenched psych of contemporary West Coast bands like Moon Duo and Wooden Shjips. Elsewhere we encounter the extended ‘Inside Is Out There’ with percussion heavily indebted to Can drummer Jaki Liebezeit and heavily treated vocals sat low in the mix. “From the beginning, DARKSIDE has been our jam band. Something we did on days off. When we reconvened, it was because we really couldn’t wait to jam together again”.

A harmonious return from the prolific duo, filtering an array of influences into their own expertly crafted sound.

Daniel Ögren is one of the key artists in Sweden’s contemporary, underground music scene. He has already accrued quite the back catalogue, both as a member of the sensational quartet Dina Ögon and also as a solo artist with eight albums already under his belt. ‘Fastingen-92’ was originally released as a limited-edition vinyl pressing in 2020 on the independent label Sing A Song Fighter Records (the same label that first introduced us to Dina Ögon's music). The album came to our attention after hearing Daniels' solo band performing live at the Stockholm Jazz Club, Fasching. The band featured Love Örsan and Christopher Cantillo of Dina Ögon fame (who also records with the incredible Sven Wunder), and their sensational genre-busting set blew us away. It convinced us that this now out-of-print album needed to reach a wider audience.
‘Fastingen-92’ doesn't sit in one genre, it draws from Daniels's love of South American folk music, soul, Nordic folk music and film soundtracks, resulting in something unique, dreamlike and transformational.

It features 'Idag’, an epic, beautiful, cinematic song that introduces the ethereal vocalist Anna Ahnlund. ‘Idag’ has gained a cult following and Daniel has stated that it was the spark that started the Dina Ögon project. Tracks like 'Annalena' and 'Kristinehamn by Night (for Christopher)' sound like a new club sound that hasn't yet been invented (which Nicola Cruz would spin in his DJ sets), mysterious, hypnotic, and engaging. Other songs like 'Maj (for Tintin)' and 'Picasso' venture into blissed-out Scando-Balearic realms. Daniel's love of nature and the inspiration he draws from the geographic environment of the Swedish countryside can be felt in these tracks, they take you to other places and times and are simultaneously familiar, ancient and alien.

Alongside the collaborations with Anna and Christoper, the album features Josefin Runsteen playing the drums on 'Idag' and Swedish musicians Edvin Nahlin and Ulrik Ordin. The majority of the album was played, recorded and mixed by Daniel. For the Mr Bongo edition, we have added the bonus track 'April’, which was previously only available digitally. ‘Fastingen - 92’ is a truly remarkable record that gets into your soul, so please delve in!

First Dabeull's proper album of his career after several key releases - Intimate Fonk, Fonk Delight or the sought-after compilation InDaStudio.

For Dabeull, analog production is his favorite playground as showing his upcoming 9-track album, "Analog Love" (out on April 12th 2024) was recorded using Michael Jackson's Thriller console - 100% analog.

With their dulcet fusion of ‘60s French ye-ye pop, slinky Studio One reggae, and liminal Brazilian tropicalia, Claude Fontaine’s songs embody the best kept dreams of a globally connected world. The second album from the Los Angeles artist reflects the dream of creating the soundtrack for this utopia by the sea. Released on Innovative Leisure, La Mer is a mesmerizing portal. It’s impossible for it to exist outside of the modern moment, but it floats on the gilded dust of the past. At times, Fontaine channels Jane Birkin as backed by Jorge Ben. Francois Hardy locked into sonic reverie with Mulatu Astatke, or Margo Guryan making lovers rock. None of this is a happy accident. For her second opus, Fontaine assembled some of the most gifted musicians of the last five decades. First and foremost is her co-writer and producer, the multi-platinum Grammy-Award winning Lester Mendez, whose resume includes everyone from Grace Jones and Baaba Maal to Shakira and Nelly Furtado. As with Fontaine’s self-titled first album, the legendary Tony Chin appears on guitar, bringing the orphic tones expected from someone who has played with some of the greatest reggae musicians of all-time (King Tubby, Dennis Brown, Lee Perry, Jackie Mittoo, Max Romeo, Sly & Robbie). On bass, there’s Ronnie McQueen, one of the co-founders of Steel Pulse. Sergio Mendes’ percussionist, Gibi Dos Santos, supplies propulsive locomotion. So does Ziggy Marley’s drummer, Rock Deadrick. And that’s just the abridged list of storied instrumentalists who appear on La Mer.

Bronski Beat ‘s 1984 cult debut album “The Age of Consent” - remastered edititons celebrating the band’s 35th anniversary – is back on Vinyl & CD

Blancmange return with their 16th studio album ‘Private View’. The band returns to London Records some 40 years later after their first album ‘Happy Families’ (1982). Album features vocalist Neil Arthur with producer, keyboardist and programmer Ben Edwards (John Grant, Stephen Mallinder, John Foxx) and guitarist David Rhodes (Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Scott Walker). With 7 Top 40 UK hits and 70 weeks in the UK Official Charts, Blancmange’s influence on the global electronic and pop music scenes cannot be understated. Private View is distinctly Blancmange while also expanding into new sonic terrain. There’s a deft marriage of futuristic electronic sounds, Neil Arthur’s unmistakable vocal hooks, and songs veer from buoyant and joyful to dark and brooding. Private View will be released on London Records almost exactly 40 years to the day since the label released Blancmange’s debut album Happy Families. This neat full circle of Blancmange re-signing to the same label that ignited things all those years ago is also reflected in the album itself, being the perfect crystallisation of four decades of creativity. On Private View Neil returns with key collaborator Benge (Wrangler, John Foxx, John Grant), and David Rhodes (Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Scott Walker) also returns as the guitarist, having previously performed with the band as early as 1982’s Happy Families (as well as several other Blancmange albums). Private View is a record that manages to capture an artist who is potently in the moment when it comes to creating new work, while also being able to draw on 40 years’ worth of knowledge, experience, and built-in intuition. “I'm really lucky to be able make the music completely on my own terms,” Arthur says. “Being able to just continue being creative...that's when I'm happiest.” As he said before: “within myself there are no limits.” Blancmange is also reflected in the ongoing influence the music has on younger generations of artists and fans over the years. Contemporary electronic producers like Honey Dijon and Roman Flügel have paid tribute with remixes, Moby once called Blancmange “probably the most underrated electronic act of all time.”; while John Grant continues to profess his love for Arthur’s music, old and new, and has invited Blancmange to perform as part of Grace Jones’ Meltdown festival.

Björk presents a strings version of her highly-acclaimed eighth studio studio album Vulnicura, officially titled Vulnicura Strings. The original version of Vulnicura layered the boom and crack of electronic beats with an intense vocal melody and incredible string arrangements by Björk which have been performed live with a fifteen chair orchestra. The new version is musically wholly comprised of strings, with new violin solos by Una Sveinbjarnardóttir and strings recorded by a Viola Organista. Björk used the only Viola Organista in the world to perform some of the arrangements; an instrument which was designed originally by Leonardo Da Vinci but not built until after his lifetime. The instrument uses a friction belt to vibrate individual strings (similar to a violin), with the strings selected by pressing keys on the keyboard (similar to an organ). The instrument was recorded in Krakow, Poland by it's constructor Slawomir Zubrzycki and here is where the album reached completion.

Greatest Hits as chosen by her fans. This ex-Sugarcube has emerged as not only an international superstar, but one of the most bewitching artists in modern pop. This compelling best of contains It's in Our Hands joins Human Behavior; Big Time Sensuality; Play Dead; Possibly Maybe; All Is Full of Love; Army of Me; Venus As a Boy; Hidden Place; Hunter , and five more!

The tenth studio album by Bjork on CD coming with a Digipak sleeve.

The tenth studio album by Bjork coming in a Deluxe Mediabook edition.

For collectors: This edition comes with a different barcode than the first edition.

The tenth studio album by Bjork coming in a Deluxe Mediabook edition

Billie Eilish has revealed details on her highly anticipated sophomore album. The 16-track studio album, titled Happier Than Ever, will be released via Darkroom/Interscope Records on July, 30 Continuing the tradition on from her multi-Grammy Award, record-breaking debut album When WE ALL GO TO Sleep, Where DO WE GO?, Happier Than Ever features no outside songwriters or producers, and was written by 19-year-old Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas who produced the album in Los Angeles.

Billie Eilish has also teased her forthcoming single is coming this Thursday, April 29 at 9AM PT.

Billie Eilish has fast become one of the biggest stars to emerge since the release of her debut single “ocean eyes,” and continues to shatter the ceiling of music with her genre-defying sound. Fast forward from her humble breakout in 2015, Billie’s album When WE ALL Fall ASleep, Where DO WE GO? debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S as well as 17 additional countries around the world upon release, and was the most streamed album of 2019. When WE ALL Fall ASleep, Where DO WE GO? was written, produced and recorded entirely by Billie Eilish and brother Finneas in their childhood home of Los Angeles. Billie Eilish went on to make history as the youngest artist to receive nominations and win in all the major categories, at the 62nd Grammy® Awards, receiving an award for Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Album. Billie Eilish is also the youngest artist to write and record an official James Bond theme song, ‘No Time To Die.’ Most recently, Billie Eilish was nominated for four additional awards at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021, and took home both Record of the Year for 'everything i wanted,' and Best Song Written For Visual Media for 'No Time To Die.'

Avalon Emerson & the Charm is an evolution.

Created during an extended break from the hectic blur of her life as a touring DJ, the album is a personal statement of intent from an artist who’s long looked beyond the club for inspiration. It’s also the first time that Emerson has put herself, her emotions and, most notably, her voice fully into the spotlight.

Having spent her entire career working more or less alone, Emerson purposely sought out a small cast of like-minded artists to help bring the album to life. A Chief among them was UK avant-pop savant Bullion, who executive produced the record and, most importantly, shares both Emerson’s predilection for shimmering pop melodies and her boundary- less approach to music-making.

Working together, they cracked open her head and heart alike, creating a space where she could intimately reflect on the people and places she’s loved and left behind.

My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, Anohni’s sixth studio album, expresses a world view by shape-shifting through a broad range of subject matter. Through a personal lens, Anohni addresses loss of loved ones, inequality, alienation, acceptance, cruelty, ecocide, devastation wrought by Abrahamic theologies, Future Feminism, and the possibility that we might yet transform our ways of thinking, our spiritual ideas, our societal structures, and our relationships with the rest of nature. On her first full album since 2016’s Hopelessness, she explains the creative process was painstaking, yet also inspired, joyful, and intimate, a renewal and a renaming of her response to the world as she sees it. “Some of these songs respond to global and environmental concerns first voiced in popular music over 50 years ago.” Anohni’s approach since her last record has shifted from someone tasked with challenging global denial, to an artist seeking to support others on the front lines. “I learned with Hopelessness that I can provide a soundtrack that might fortify people in their work, in their activism, in their dreaming and decision-making. I can sing of an awareness that makes others feel less alone, people for whom the frank articulation of these frightening times is not a source of discomfort but a cause for identification and relief. On “It Must Change,” Anohni soulfully describes systems in collapse with a note of compassion for humanity: “The truth is I always thought you were beautiful in your own way // That’s why this is so sad.” Anohni’s voice is sensual and smoothed, selectively reaching to the edges of what it can contain. “We’re not getting out of here // No one’s getting out of here // This is our world,” she murmurs. A portrait of legendary human rights activist Marsha P. Johnson taken by Alvin Baltrop features on the cover, reflecting a 25-year relationship with the memory of Johnson that Anohni has held space for in the presentation of her own work. Elsewhere, the album artwork states ”it’s Time TO Feel What’s Really Happening”. In some ways it feels as if she is reaching across her life’s expression, and has found a moment of unique composure, wearing her long exploration of disarming intensity, with the maturity of a painter carefully choosing her colors. “I want the work to be useful, to help others move through these conversations we are now facing, to move with dignity and resilience through this bitter dawning.”

produced by Rick Rubin & Paul Epworth

produced by Rick Rubin & Paul Epworth