Music, Doug Johnstone

Singles & Downloads - Local Special

Locally-sourced produce is all the rage these days, so let’s have a cheeky wee Scottish round-up this issue, eh? Quality meat to kick off in the form of Frightened Rabbit, whose ‘I Feel Better’/’The Twist’ (Fat Cat) •••• is excellently jittery, skittery…

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

POP Lewis is a sultry indie poster girl with Rilo Kiley and delivered a beautifully moving country record, backed by The Watson Twins, two years ago. This second solo album lacks the focus of those projects, but it’s still a cut above the average…

Mercury Rev - Snowflake Midnight

ROCK The Rev are like an indie version of Madonna, constantly reinventing themselves and their sound with each album, and this seventh studio outing is another successful reincarnation for these dreamy loons. Their early drone-rock weirdness and even…

Dean Owens - Whisky Hearts

Dean Owens Whisky Hearts (Navigator) The craft of songwriting has become devalued in mainstream music these days, but there remain talented individuals out there waiting to be found. One such is Dean Owens, Leith-based singer songwriter with a…

Five reasons to go and see: Swervedriver

1 The shoegazing revival starts here! OK, Swervedriver were kind of more grungy than shoegazing, but the ballistic Oxford outfit had feet in both camps, creating a mesmerising racket on a par with My Bloody Valentine and Ride for the whole of the 90s…

Drever McCusker Woomble - Before the Ruin

The crossing of normally disparate musical boundaries is always to be applauded, although it’s not automatically the green light to genius that reviewers sometimes make out. This collaboration from two generations of folkies – Kris Drever and John…

Emiliana Torrini - Me and Armani

Emiliana Torrini Me and Armini (Rough Trade) Torrini is frustrating. The Icelandic chanteuse is gifted both in terms of her gorgeous natural voice and her perceptive pop songwriting (she co-wrote ‘Slow’ for Kylie, for example). But she also likes…

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip

Electrifying collaboration brought together by MySpace

Opposites attract, right? That certainly seems true for Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, the former being a short, stocky, shy beatmaster while the latter is a tall, skinny hyperactive wordsmith. ‘We both bring the best out of each other,’ says Pip, aka…

James Yorkston - When the Haar Rolls In

In this age of quick fixes and cheap thrills, there’s something deeply comforting about James Yorkston. This fourth studio album is the antithesis of the nasty fast food rush of most mainstream indie fare, more like a luxurious banquet in the company of…

Future of the Left

Title contenders

You can’t beat a good song title, and Future of the Left have some of the best. The Cardiff based trio’s second single was the thrillingly angry rock of ‘adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood’, and the band’s debut album Curses was peppered with other gems such as…

5 Reasons To Go See - John Renbourn

1 He’s an axe hero OK, he’s not in the same mould as Slash, but the veteran English guitarist and songwriter delivers an exemplary, dextrous mix of blues, folk, classical and jazz to wow his audience. 2 He’s a Pentangle Renbourn was one of the…

Jackie Leven

Scottish outsider brings home his extensive back catalogue

It’s the stuff on your doorstep that always goes unnoticed. While we heap plaudits on underground legends from across the pond, Scotland’s own talented outsider Jackie Leven remains unheralded. ‘I can’t get arrested in this country,’ Leven laughs…

Laura Marling

The Mercury Rev

Laura Marling is infuriating. Not her music, which is sublime, heartfelt, folky genius, but rather Marling herself, who’s so bloody talented and still only 18 years old. She got started early, brought up by a gardener mother and a father who was an…

Drive-By Truckers - Evolution rock

Drive-By Truckers may hail from America’s south but they do way more than your average redneck stomp. Doug Johnstone meets an ambitious rock band unafraid to take themselves and their audience to new highs

Live at Loch Lomond - The Sex Pistols

‘No future, no future, no future for me.’ Those words, penned by John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) back in 1976, expressed not only Lydon’s feelings, not only his band The Sex Pistols’ attitude to life, not only the stance of the fearsome punk movement…

Six places: to hear good music during August

Voodoo Rooms. Recently given a major facelift, this swanky venue plays host to club nights and live music of indie, hip hop, blues, jazz, soul, funk and cabaret flavours. Expect anything and everything. The Royal Oak Home to the city’s underground folk…

5 Reasons to Go See - Jay-Z

He stuck it right up Noel Gallagherafter Noel made some rash remarks about Jay-Z being chosen to headline Glastonbury this year. In retaliation, Jay-Z ran an intro tape mocking Gallagher, then proceeded to lead the huge crowd through a sarcastic version…

Exposure - Gin Goblins

Gin Goblins are Edinburgh punk legends, having delivered a unique brand of schlocky horror doom hardcore for the last 16 years. When The Horrors were still in short pants, Gin Goblins were getting victimised by Scottish tabloids and banned from…

Mercury Rev - Original soundtracks

They've refused to stand still musically in their 20 year career, and with this latest chapter Mercury Rev are pushing their music farther out than ever. Doug Johnstone revels in their sonic adventures Describing what Mercury Rev sound like is a…

The Breeders - The freed seed

Death to the Pixies (again) meant a new lease of life for The Breeders. Doug Johnstone traces the musical highs and chemical lows of Kim Deal. The Breeders are not what you'd call prolific. But that's OK, good things are worth waiting for. The on-off…

KT Tunstall and The Pictish Trail

ROCK Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline, Thu 10 Jul This first proper gig for the newly-refurbished 1700-seater Alhambra is a fitting one, with returning Fifer Tunstall warming up for T in the Park. Opening is Johnny Lynch, aka The Pictish Trail…

Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart

This is hands down the album of the year, so there. Distilling down everything that’s great about rock’n’roll from the last 40 years, Norwegian force of nature Ida Maria and her band have made a debut packed with hit singles, dripping with heartbreaking…

Tricky - Knowle West Boy

Fifteen years in and Tricky remains a fascinatingly contradictory figure. This debut for esteemed indie Domino sees him more eclectic than ever, with a raft of obscure guest vocalists adding to that vibe, and features both some of his most commercial…

5 Reasons To Go See - Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip

They’re unclassifiable - to some they’re outsider pop, to others they’re hip hop played through a punk filter. Then again their recent debut album Angles could easily be called lo-fi electronica mixed with spoken word poetry. Whatever, the end result is…

T in the Park - The Fratellis

The Fratellis aren’t a band you’d think of as suffering from existential self-doubt, eh? But a spell out of the spotlight has left singer and guitarist Jon Fratelli with the slightest lingering doubt about his band’s success and longevity. ‘I’m…