Music News: Björk, Daði & Jóhanness LaFontaine

Björk has announced via her social media feeds that a new album—her first since ‘Vulnicura’ in 2015—is coming soon. Few details have been announced so far, other than that regular collaborator Arca will have a hand in some tracks, and that it will be a thematic about-turn from her last LP; in an interview with Pitchfork, Björk said, “The last album, we sort of call it ‘hell’—it was like divorce! So we are doing paradise now. Utopia.” She offered further hints about her mindset to DAZED in a new interview: “It’s about that search (for utopia)—and about being in love. Spending time with a person you enjoy is when the dream becomes real.”

Icelandic musician Daði has been around the scene since the late ‘90s, when he co-founded the funk band Jaguar. More recently, he took the plunge and went solo, releasing his first single, ‘Electric Disdain,’ along with a music video for the track. The song is sombre and was inspired by a very dark period in his life, when his 8 day old daughter became life-threateningly ill at the same time as his father’s dementia was getting progressively worse. The track is mastered by Mike Bozzi who has worked with Kendrick Lamar, Ice Cube and Tupac among others.

DJ and producer Jóhannes LaFontaine has started a record label called 199X, which will release tracks by Icelandic and international artists. Each song will be released on 180g vinyl and will only be available in 500 copies, with the first release being by Swiss artist Mateo Hurtado. All the album covers will be hand painted by the artist M. Kristensen. Jóhannes has been making electronic music since the tender age of eleven and he is currently based in Copenhagen. The label has an ongoing crowdfunding campaign running on Karolina fund, so if you want to support independent releases, then stop wasting your money on crap on Amazon and open up your donation heart.