Johnny Flynn - He is the Wrote and the Writ

Johnny Flynn is one of those artist who get a special place in my audio anthology in my brain. I will pre-order ANYTHING he does and even buy the CD forever (as long as he doesn't get shit). So Been Listening IS COMING (you like how I did that?) on June 8th and so we are lucky enough to have a 5 track sampler to enjoy until then. HURRAH!

Johnny Flynn - Been Listening by cooperativemusic1

Kentucky Pill has a beautiful Phil Collins feel to it but DON'T let that put you off... Slightly more upbeat in feel that I was expecting, still ample use of strings (not fiddle. Strings). Continued usage of RICH (so easy to use this word in association with this man and the fruits of his loiny brain) harmonies makes me happy. Like the sunshine but more consistent and less likely to disappear everytime there is a public holiday.

The Water is JUST MAGICAL. The plink-plinking on the the plucked violins over slow, rolling and ebbing bowed arrangements basically refuses to let you ignore them. You got Johnny giving you sound of the woodland while Laura Marling offers a pixie-ish (give me another word for magic) ethereal balance that allows you to drift off to River Cottage and image the faery folk who live next to the brook living off Hugh's wild garlic. Lucky lucky fantasy people. I get the feeling that this is going to be highlight track. I'm EVEN more excited for the album now.

Churlish May - CHURLISH! TRUMPETS! *breaths deeply with a smile on face* ANY song that charts live and love directly against the Gregorian calendar is alright by me. This classic Johnny. Absolutely classic. Wonderfully dotted rhythm. Makes to want to upgrade from sawy to bob a little bit. AAAAAAAHAHAHAH love it. Summer's a-comin' people.

On the whole. Johnny is the UK's answer to many an American folk rock hero. Like everything done over here, there is less shouting and a'hollering, fewer people jumping on his bandwagon and probably will not have enough following from his target demographic to propel him to super-stardom as he might as the across-the-pond equivalent. He might not have a beard. He might not wear dungarees or marry Pamela Anderson but he is AWESOME. He can govern a mood. He will CAPTURE your curiosity. He WON'T fail you.

Go pick up his album at Rough Trade East and get a wristband for a mini gig in their store... But not before I get mine

There is growing scene in NYC at the moment spearheaded by the likes of ambeR Rubarth, Alex Wong, The Paper Raincoat, Alex Berger (look out for him in the London and the rest of the UK as he starts to promote his new studio album SnowGlobe - it is stunning... Did someone say Christmas Top 10), Vienna Teng and Ari Hest. If you even remotely like Johnny Flynn GO LISTEN TO THESE GUYS. Now. I'll give you my recommendations in a little bit fear not... just go have a look around yourself. These individuals and groups are what I would want any cross-Altantic pact to focus on. Blair and Bush got it wrong.

Speach Speech

Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy. I wish I knew how to link to the album... check it on spotify or something.

I have been lucky enough to have been listening to Speech for a few years now. I first heard her back in the glory days of Colin Murray's Radio 1 show in November 2008 (when I was a lad. i miss that fella. genuine inspiration to me. Grimmy isnt so bad though)... First saw her as an impromptu fill-in support act for Gary Go album launch at the Luminiare Club in Kilburn ROUGHLY this time last year.

It was one of those thunderbolt moments when KABAM, she came on the radio. Insta-cream. I genuinely thought everything about Searching (probably her most famous and well known track) was 'perfect'. Like i said. THUNDERBOLT. I LOVE the drums *tis tis-tis. tis tis-tis* and the drummer, the simple melody line. couple that with the vaguely frenetic lilting vocals then there we are. Her use of pragmatic turns of phrase (I am still waxing jizzical over Searching by the way - stick with me), easy vocabulary and fairly cutting content leaves me in a blissful (get used to me using that word) state of mind. Simple. Effective. Joyful to listen to.

THEN she goes and releases an album [insert token 'she won the mercury prize' comment here] that takes you through a few different states of mind, a few emotional key changes, an awesome blend of instruments and arrangements - SMASH. You got one of those albums that you start listening to (Searching is the opener) and then listen all the way through to the end - effortlessly.

Highlights - the clarinets, double bass... the drums (not the band the drums, I mean the percussion section. Literally. The. Drums).

Tracks to download if you want convincing:

Searching

Spinnin'

Live and Learn

Wheels in Motion

Live, she was funny. I laughed out loud (if i ever use LOL hurt me) doesn't happen often (or maybe I just don't notice). Performing as a three piece, Speech, drums and double-bass. Technically brilliant. Audbily mezmerising. Left me wanting more.

Now, me being me, and my memory being what it was at the time, and all the things that meant i couldn't remember her name