I took Johnny Flynn's album to Switzerland a few months ago to play on the radio show I do every time I'm there ("Sounds" on DRS3) and left my copy there to be played by their regular DJs. It's taken me until now to find a copy for myself. And the album is every bit as good as I remembered. Subtle folky stuff with celli and mandolins, a little reminiscent of James Yorkston, but a lot more upbeat. Plus, there is a song called "Wayne Rooney"!


Johnny Flynn, "A Larum" (Vertigo/Universal)

On the cover this, his first proper album (there was mini album taster last year) Eugene McGuinnes looks a bit like a very young John Lennon stuck - inexplicably - in a fencing outfit. The image has absolutely nothing to do with the fine contents of this CD. Song titles like "Rings Around Rosa", "Fonz" or "Moscow State Circus" give a hint that McGuinness is a singer songwriter with a neat turn of phrase as well as an ability to avoid lyrical and musical clichées. Double-edged jollity and wit is more his style than introspective melancholia. Ace. Domino Records truly is our contemporary version of Island Records in the 70s and Rough Trade in the 80s - a company whose every release is at least worth investigating.

Eugene McGuinness, "Eugene McGuinness" (Domino)


Juana Molina was born in Argentina, moved to Paris when she was 12 to get away from the government, returned to Buenos Aires six years later, became a tv comedy star, fled from fame to Los Angeles and became a musician. Her fifth album "Un Dia", is louder, "bassier" and "groovier" than the subtle predecessors and not at all less gorgeous for it. Molina truly has an indiosyncratic and subtle take on electronica and song-writing. The music this time sometimes has a minimalistic, repetitive groove, but the vocal melodies remain as intricate and "Argentinian" as ever.

Juana Molina, "Un Dia" (Domino)


Leila Arab was the keyboard player in Björk's live band before she turned her attention to the pleasures of the computer and the mixing desk. After a lengthy gap, this is her third album. Despite the vocal presence of Tricky's ex-partner Martina Topley-Bird the outcome is anything but trip-hop. The rhythm tracks are a complex tapestry of noise, beats and sampled instruments. Sometimes there is a hint of Central European circus, folk or chamber music, sometimes the noise borders on the industrial. Another guest singer on this gripping album is Ex-Special and -Fun Boy ThreeTerry Hall.

Leila Arab, "Blood Looms and Blooms" (Warp)

Dennis Wilson, "Pacific Ocean Blue" (Sony/BMG); the only solo album of the late Beach Boys' drummer resurrected, together with the never released "Bambu" and other tracks. A raw and dramatic album full of vast arrangements - many instruments played by Dennis himself - that could serve as a definition for a new genre, "California Soul".

Flat Mountain Girls, "Idle Talk & Wicked Deeds" (

No Depression calls it "postmodern traditionalism" - whatever, the Flat Mountain Girls are an old-tyme string quartet from Portland, Oregon whose music is a sparkling fresh melange of the Carter Family song book and a heap of traditionals, all done with real swing. This is their third album. The second, "Honey Take Your Whiskers Off", is just as good. The first I have not yet heard.



PET HATE OF THE MOMENT: Snow Patrol, Razorlight, Keane

Goes without saying, really. Great review of the Razorlight album somewhere - can't off the top of my head remember where: anyway, it said of Johnny Borrell that if he spouted any more hot air he could be hung on the wall of a "gents" and be used as a hand dryer.




The best of the year so far

Nick Cave, "Dig. Lazarus, Dig!!!"
The Raconteurs, "Consolers of the Lonely"
Leila, "Blood Looms and Blooms"
Robert Forster, "The Evangelist"
Elbow, "The Seldom Seen Kid"
Juana Molina, "Un Dia"
Santogold, "Santogold"
MGMT, "Oracular Spectacular"
Fotheringay, "Fotheringay 2"
Bowerbirds, "Hymns for a Dark Horse"
Kings of Leon, "Only By The Night"
Eugene McGuiness, "Eugene McGuinness"
Johnny Flynn, "A Larum"