Back catalogue: Pop

Review: The 2023 film Wonka has delighted audiences with its fantastic original soundtrack featuring performances by lead actor Timothee Chalamet and an exceptional ensemble cast including Hugh Grant, Calah Lane, and Keegan-Michael Key. Composed by Joby Talbot and penned by songwriter Neil Hannon, the score captures the essence of the golden age of Hollywood musicals while paying homage to the beloved classics of the past. Director Paul King's vision of a prequel to the iconic 1971 film comes to life with enchanting melodies and vibrant arrangements, inviting listeners on a whimsical journey through the fantastical world of Willy Wonka.

Review: This new gold gatefold album captures one of the King of Pop's most electrifying performances during his legendary world tour. Recorded live in Manila, it showcases Jackson at his peak and delivers a setlist packed with iconic hits like 'Billie Jean,' 'Thriller,' and 'Beat It' alongside tracks from his HIStory album. Known for his flawless choreography, powerful vocals, and mesmerising stage presence, Jackson's performance in Manila highlights why he remained one of the greatest entertainers in music history throughout his career. The energy of the crowd and the superstar's passion make this recording an even more immersive listen.

Review: With a streak of hits reaching back to the early 90s, chart-topping Brit funk phenomenon Jamiroquai have plenty to celebrate. In 2006 they decided to remind everyone how much heat they've gifted to the world with High Times, a definitive overview of the singles that thrust them onto prime time radio and beyond. Now that compilation makes its way to vinyl for the first time, giving us the chance to spin such classics as 'Too Young To Die', 'Virtual Insanity' and 'Canned Heat' to our hearts' content - all killer, no filler.

Review: Jay Kay's powerhouse of crossover Brit funk maestros never stayed in one lane, but progressed from album to album without missing a beat. On 2001's A Funk Odyssey, they folded some explicitly floor-focused house and disco ingredients into their soul stew and came up trumps, smashing the hits out while staying true to the elevated musicianship they marked themselves out with in the beginning. There are monster hits like 'Little L' and cheeky bangers aplenty dotted throughout this pearler of an album, and despite how long ago it came out, it hasn't aged a bit.

Review: The wave of Jamiroquai reissues continues apace with a return to their 2005 album Dynamite. After so many knockout albums they just kept it coming with this sixth one, holding fast to the disco house vibe they'd picked up on A Funk Odyssey. Finding a sweet spot between the more organic jazz funk of their earlier work and the floor-focused grooves of their later period, this album is another flawless demonstration of their sharp musical chops and their killer instinct for a stone cold groove. It's not been repressed since it first came out, so you know there will be a lot of fans itching to get their mitts on this slice of superlative funky business from one of the best groups to ever do it.

Review: Making its debut release on vibrant neon green 12" vinyl for Record Store Day 2024, this release from Sony spotlights Jamiroquai's dazzling 2006 BBC live session, recorded at Maida Vale for radio legend Ken Bruce. It features all of the funk one's most epic tunes such as the perma-hit 'Cosmic Girl', the infectious 'Canned Heat' and the superb opener 'Runaway'. A great album, a great new pressing, a great one to snap up for when you need some colourful cosmic uplifting in your life.

Review: Jamiroquai's The Return Of The Space Cowboy celebrates its 30th anniversary with a special reissue on "moon grey" vinyl. This edition includes Michael Gray's 2024 Good Vibe Zone edit of 'Space Cowboy', available on a physical release for the first time. The redesigned packaging, featuring foil accents, enhances the original album's iconic cover. Released in 1994, The Return Of The Space Cowboy solidified Jamiroquai's place in music, following their successful debut Emergency On Planet Earth. Fans praised its blend of jazz, funk, and soul, The album achieved platinum status in the UK, France, and Japan, and its single 'Space Cowboy' became a hit, topping the U.S. Billboard Dance charts. Musically, the album toned down its predecessor's "acid" influences in favor of funk and jazz, with tracks like 'Half The Man' and 'Stillness In Time' having a more mature sound. Political themes, such as on 'Manifest Destiny', highlighted the band's growth, addressing issues of racial injustice and homelessness. Timeless and genre-defying, The Return Of The Space Cowboy remains a classic, with its influence felt in artists like Missy Elliott and Tupac Shakur, who sampled its tracks. This reissue commemorates its enduring legacy.

Review: Dedicated from May 2019 is a shimmering, synth-pop gem that builds on the emotional depth of previous album Emotion while refining Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen's signature sound. Packed with all the infectious hooks, lush production and heartfelt lyrics you would expect from a pop album, it also offers euphoric dancefloor anthems (such as 'Now That I Found You', 'Want You in My Room') with introspective, melancholic moments on 'Too Much' and 'The Sound'. Jepsen's knack for capturing love's highs and lows with sincerity and charm makes Dedicated an irresistible listen packed with playful grooves and 80s-inspired beats as well as joyful and bittersweet emotions.

Review: Carly Rae Jepsen's latest album The Loveliest Time is said to be a loose companion and something of a thematic inversion of her record The Loneliest Time from last year. It is the third in a series of B-side albums that present her as a likeable everywoman who is self depreciating and always full of conviction. Returning collaborators include Rostam, Patrik Berger, John Hill, and Kyle Shearer, and musically the record is her most diverse to date with everything from IDM-adjacent sounds to French touch and beyond with looping vocal samples and plenty of unabashed emotion.

Review: Daniel Johns is a bonafide Australian rock powerhouse - with or without bandmates. The primary songwriter, guitarist and frontman of Silverchair, an outfit who among other things claim more ARIA Awards than any other name in the ceremony's history, he's also one half of acclaimed duo The Dissociatives with Paul Mac and shares a second partnership with Luke Steel on the Dreams project.

All that aside, his first solo album, 2015's Talk, reiterated his ability to turn hands to almost any musical style, packing his oeuvre with a range of great ideas. Futurenever is the second lone wolf LP, and backs up the idea that he's insanely talented and relentlessly restless. Across the 12 tracks, we're given great pop in the truest sense ('D4ngersboy', 'Someone Call An Ambulance', 'Freaknever'), huge symphonic R&B balladry ('When We Take Over'), sexy funk ('I Feel Electric'), and stadium emo rock ('Reclaim Your Heart').

Review: A great example of how critics are often not all right, when Jack Johnson dropped his third studio album, In Between Dreams, music writers the world over adopted partisan positions. Some believed this definitely was worthy of catapulting him from Pretty Famous Acoustic Surf Rock Guy Popular With People Who Went Travelling Post-Millennium, to global superstar. Other were pretty non-plussed.

Suffice to say, we all know who won in the end - Jack Johnson. In Between Dreams rocketed to high chart positions, reaching number one in Australia and the UK, and number two in America, returning to reclaim that US position upon reissue in 2013. One of the most familiar records of the last couple of decades, even if you've never actually owned a copy (partly the result of all the advertising licensing that has taken place), perhaps now is the time to rectify that ownership issue.

Review: American singer and musician Jordy (Jordan Shulman) furthers his brand of lip-biting, suspended latex pop with a new album, following 2021's Mind Games and 2023's Boy. Sluing towards vocal-driven power pop, Jordy flaunts a homosexual, autosexual heat, with bound beats and rebounding gum rubber basses. 'Cruise', 'I Don't Want A Boyfriend', and the title track all charge the libidinal battery as much, with moods of tarry bubblegum glitz turned car-crash gunk. Meanwhile, the more experimental moments such as 'Men' verge on pitch-warbled electroclash, making for a pleasingly turned-on album.