Aiming to rescue the airwaves from run-of-the-mill rap and humdrum Hip-Hop, the Hometown Heroes crew swoops into view, bringing together audiovisual evangelist DJ Yoda, soundsystem shocker Brad Baloo of The Nextmen, and legendary rhyme supplier Edo G out of Boston for a funky fix of unashamed dad-hop.

The holy trinity have dozens of classics under their belts covering Rap’s golden era to the present and ‘Hometown Heroes’ is another gem providing the sort of rewindable Hip-Hop that’s hella breezy, but still packing plenty of bluster beneath the surface.

TRACK LISTING

Side A

1. Advice
2. The Process
3. What You Wanna Do
4. Do You Right
5. Stand Still
6. Talk About It

Side B

1. Advice Instrumental
2. The Process Instrumental
3. What You Wanna Do Instrumental
4. Do You Right Instrumental
5. Stand Still Instrumental
6. Talk About It Instrumental

Remastered version of ‘Home Cooking’, the album that cemented Yoda as a versatile producer and not just a deejay. It now serves as a snapshot of the jazz and soul scene at the time with artists like Nubya Garcia, Eva Lazarus and Theon Cross going on to break out. Recorded between his own studio and the world-famous Abbey Road, ‘Home Cooking’ keeps one foot in the Hip-Hop old school with collaborations and the return from Jungle Brothers and Boston bastion Edo. G. Two key singles have been remixed for a bonus 7”. ‘Roxbury’ featuring Nubya Garcia and Edo. G has been given the golden treatment by the legendary Double Dee & Steinski while ‘London Fields’ featuring Joel Culpepper is reworked by label mates The Still Brothers. 

TRACK LISTING

London Fields Feat. Joel Culpepper
Thornton Heath Feat. Omar
Rising Brook Feat. Eva Lazarus
Kingswood Feat. Andrew Ashong
Abbey Road Feat. Nubya Garcia Theon Cross & Henry Wu
Roxbury Feat. Edo G & Nubya Garcia
Soweto Feat. Scarface Manolo
Hither Green Feat. Joel Culpepper & Baby Bam
Afrika Feat. Jungle Brothers
Croxley Green
Eastville Feat. Eva Lazarus
Boundary Gardens Feat. Andrew Ashong….
Roxbury Double Dee & Steinski Remix
London Fields Still Brothers Remix

New remastered version with alternative cover art. Unlike all DJ Yoda’s artist albums, ‘Breakfast Of Champions’ features the same collaborators on every track effectively putting together a band. The genesis of the project was in Manchester, where the legendary Band On The Wall venue asked him to host an artistic residency. He put a call out for local musicians, did auditions, and selected three rappers. Two were local to Manchester - Truthos Mufasa and Sparkz. They were local legends making up parts of The Mouse Outfit and LVLZ. And the third was Rex Domino from down south, who was a British MC who Yoda thought would gel well with the other guys. They wrote, rehearsed and recorded intensively in Manchester - performed a memorable series of live shows (including an epic Glastonbury show), and Yoda put the finishing touches to the album back in London after the fact. “It was such an enjoyable experience” says Yoda. “Lifelong friendships were made, and most excitingly two of the band members got together (James Breen, drummer, and Claire Northey, violinist) and had two kids! So there are Breakfast of Champions humans out there too!” This new pressing features alternative artwork that was never used at the time of the album’s original release. 

TRACK LISTING

A1 And To The World
A2 Day To Night
A3 Pebble Beach
A4 Click
A5 2468
B1 Super Cereal Syrup
B2 The Baddest
B3 Mantra
B4 Better Day
B5 Open Your Eye

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’.

Again maximising the experience and enjoyment gained from recording live instruments and prioritising songs over beats, Yoda continues to progress with a mixture of 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.

TRACK LISTING

1. Breathe (feat. Lily James)
2. Coconut Grove (feat. Homeboy Sandman)
3. Don't Even Try It (feat. Liam Bailey)
4. Lesson 1956 (feat. Jamie Cullum & DJ Woody)
5. My Energy (feat. Eva Lazarus)
6. Feel Like Home (feat. The House Gospel Choir)
7. Airplane Mode (feat. Lily James & Choosey)
8. Harder I Rock (feat. Choosey)
9. Way Home (feat. O. Love)
10. Don’t Mean A Thing (feat. Beardyman)

R&B Star joins Yoda for a London anthem. Smooth jazzy R&B sounds combine Yoda’s lush prodection with Joel Culpepper sublime vocals. Culpepper has collaborated with the likes of Swindle and supported Stevie Wonder and Lalah Hathaway to name but two.

TRACK LISTING

A. London Fields
B. London Fields Instrumental

Taken from the ‘Home Cooking’ album. The name DJ Yoda needs no introduction and joined with rising UK Jazz star Nubya Garcia and legendary emcee Edo. G, ‘Roxbury’ is a sublime mix of Rap, Jazz and Soul. Perfect summer vibes! Recorded between DJ Yoda’s studio and the acclaimed Abbey Road, the record is influenced by Guru’s ‘Jazzmatazz’.

TRACK LISTING

A. Roxbury Ft Nubya Garcia And Edo. G
B. Roxbury Instrumental

A soul and jazz spreading of wings, with the help of scene headliners Nubya Garcia, Theon Cross and Henry Wu. ‘Home Cooking’ is the new, mature sound of DJ Yoda. Maximising the experience and enjoyment gained from recording live instruments and prioritising songs over beats for his previous two albums ‘Breakfast of Champions’ and ‘Chop Suey’, this is a big step for the cut-and-paster as a producer, having wowed the world over for over two decades with his celebrated turntable tomfoolery. Recorded between his own studio and the world famous Abbey Road, ‘Home Cooking’ keeps one foot in the hip-hop old school with collaborations with the returning Jungle Brothers (the party-starting ‘Afrika’) and Boston bastion Edo. G (a peaceful route from London to ‘Roxbury’), and spreads to a melodic vibe scoring chilled Sunday mornings.

“I titled this one ‘Home Cooking’ because the music is so close to my heart, in terms of what I grew up on, and what really speaks to me on a personal level”. Imbued with the spirit of Guru’s ‘Jazzmatazz’, the output of Acid Jazz and 90s vitals from the Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, Yoda admits that it's a happy accident that, whilst drawing on jazzy, soulful hip-hop from 25 years ago, the sound of ‘Home Cooking’ is very much of-the-moment. With British jazz currently in the rudest of health, vigorously championed by Gilles Peterson and with the likes of Sons of Kemet receiving Mercury Prize recognition to show such an upsurge has not gone unnoticed, Yoda lines up some of the best musicians the scene has to offer.

Sons of Kemet member and tuba sharp shooter Theon Cross, fast-rising saxophonist and boundary breaker Nubya Garcia, and award-winning jazz alchemist Henry Wu on keys, put ‘Home Cooking’ in the safest, most nimble of hands. “I feel so lucky to have been able to work with musicians of this calibre”. Add in the vocals of Brit-soul legend and MBE Omar, BBC Introducing star/“the UK's answer to Frank Ocean" Joel Culpepper, (‘London Fields’, played as a live six-piece session for BBC Radio London) and big gun for hire Eva Lazarus (a prominent feature on Swindle’s ‘No More Normal’, an album that runs parallel to ‘Home Cooking’), and the timing of Yoda’s sound expansion, plotted across London and beyond, has been impeccable. “It’s just lucky that right now is such a great moment for UK jazz, and that coinciding with me making this album - it certainly wasn’t by design. I didn’t set out to necessarily make something with such a strong jazz and soul influence, but at one point I took a step back and listened to everything I’d made, and it had accidentally, or subconsciously, turned out like that”. 

TRACK LISTING

1. London Fields
2. Thornton Heath
3. Rising Brook
4. Gospel Oak (CD Only Track)
5. Kingswood
6. Abbey Road
7. Roxbury
8. Soweto
9. Hither Green
10. Afrika
11. Croxley Green
12. Eastville
13. Boundary Gardens

Buoyed by the wealth of collaborators for his acclaimed second artist album, 'Chop Suey' that dropped in late 2012, Yoda has been busy in the studio creating his first live hip hop band, Breakfast of Champions.

Evoking the golden age of hip hop, the band features up-and-coming wordsmith Rex Domino, Mouse Outfit MCs Sparkz and Truthos Mufasa, plus a host of musicians chosen by DJ Yoda himself.

Finally realising his long-held vision for a live hip hop band, ‘Breakfast of Champions’ is so much more than just a hip hop Album. DJ Yoda has managed to bring in the the studio the excitement and the energy of a whole live band, crossing all sorts of genera: hip hop, dub, funk, rocksteady, reggae, R'n'B, ska, country, Klezmer and more, 'Breakfast of Champions' is the ultimate music journey.