Sandwiched between the smiling faces of Cambodian music icons Sin Sisamouth and Ros Serey Sothea, the lithe body of US evergreen Madonna and reams of K-pop from South Korea, a darker music has returned to the shelves of many of the capital's prolific bootleg CD shops.
Khmer Rouge propaganda anthems are back in vogue, and according to vendors they are selling well as the 56-million dollar joint UN-Cambodian trial of former leaders of the Khmer Rouge's Democratic Kampuchea regime prepares to get underway.
Cambodians appear to be going back to the harsh Khmer Rouge propaganda, including its revolutionary dirges, searching for clues about what drove the genocidal 1975 to 1979 regime, according to some music observers, although you won't hear these tunes on any of the country's radio or television stations.
Love has little to do with it when it comes to these tunes - in fact, love is never mentioned. Unwavering obedience to the Angkar, as the Khmer Rouge called itself, is a repeated theme, as is blame. "We follow the Ankar's orders and thus have bumper crops" is one such ditty.
"They are steady sellers," says Vy, the proprietor of one of the city's many copy CD shops. "I myself can't listen to them. If I hear (this music) for one minute … I am scared for three years."
But demand is strong enough for her to sell the grim compact discs for 25 percent more than bootlegs of more recent - and socially acceptable - pop idols.
Survivors of the 1975 to 1979 regime recall the songs being played at the mass dining halls set up for the ordinary people as thin gruel was served between spells of hard labor in the fields in the regime's disastrous drive to create an agrarian utopia bereft of markets, money and social classes. They also created a mournful musical prologue to meetings and important events.
Popular themes of the songs include attacking enemies of the revolution, obeying the Angkar, and working, until death if necessary.
"We do not buy this music because we support that regime. We buy it because we want to try to understand what made these people do what they did. What were they thinking?" said Khieu Bunna, 42, who classes himself as a victim of the regime under which up to 2 million Cambodians died and, like most Cambodians, lost family to the regime.
"But if I listen to it, I must listen alone," he added. "It makes other members of my family cry."
Former Khmer Rouge photographer Nhem En plans to sell as selection of the songs from his impressive collection at a museum he plans to open in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng, and has predicted there will be no shortage of customers.
Although there has been an avalanche of information about the impending tribunal, expected to begin the first of a handful of hearings of former Khmer Rouge leaders by early next year, the school syllabus largely ignores the period.
Mass circulation Khmer-language newspapers, including the largest, Rasmei Kampuchea, have previously been reluctant to publish stories relating to the Khmer Rouge period, saying they negatively affect circulation, and many Cambodians feel they have few sources of information about the bloodiest period in the country's recent history.
"People are starting to want to know more," said Cambodian media analyst and journalist Khieu Kola.