Doug Johnstone

Shalom Auslander - Hope: A Tragedy

Probably the funniest book that’s ever going to be written about the Holocaust

1 Feb 2012

(Picador) This is probably the funniest book that’s ever going to be written about the Holocaust. But then Shalom Auslander has previous experience of laugh-out-loud writings about Jewish guilt, paranoia, misery and self-loathing. His short story…

The Ting Tings - Sounds From Nowheresville

Second album a mixed bag containing glimpses of what makes them fun

23 Jan 2012

(Columbia) Pity the poor Ting Tings. After selling millions of records, the Mancunian electro-pop duo got stressed, scrapped a whole album and hid from their record label. Allegedly. You can see why the pair might worry about following We Started…

First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

Heartfelt ode to Americana from the Swedish siblings

5 Jan 2012

(Wichita) On the surface, First Aid Kit’s obsession with Americana looks a little odd, given that they’re Swedish sisters barely out of their teens. But the pair’s homage is steeped in knowledge, and this second album sounds like it could’ve been…

Explosions in the Sky set for UK tour 2012

The post-rock icons return to Glasgow to tour latest album Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

19 Dec 2011

There’s a long tradition of guitar bands scrabbling around trying to define the zeitgeist or whatever. Then there are the more restrained bands who quietly go about the business of being casually awesome. Explosions in the Sky fall into the latter…

Christos Tsiolkas - Dead Europe

Brutally bleak but beautiful novel, re-issued in the wake of The Slap's international success

18 Oct 2011

(Atlantic) The Slap was a major breakthrough for Australian writer Christos Tsiolkas, winning the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 2009 and becoming an international bestseller into the bargain. In the wake of that success, Tsiolkas’ backlist is…

Sigur Rós - Inni

Stunning live recording to accompany the Icelandic quartet's latest film release

12 Oct 2011

(Krunk) Sigur Rós’s effortlessly epic post-rock feels over-exposed these days, seemingly soundtracking every nature documentary of the last decade, but stripped of that banal association it still wields enormous emotional power, as demonstrated on…

Alice Hoffman - The Dovekeepers

Overworked historical drama with underdeveloped characters

16 Sep 2011

(Simon & Schuster) Alice Hoffman is one of the big guns of American fiction and an Oprah favourite, but this overworked and overwrought novel rather contradicts that reputation. Set in 70AD in the aftermath of the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans…

We Were Promised Jetpacks - In the Pit of the Stomach

Not groundbreaking, but an impressive second album

14 Sep 2011

(Fat Cat) The main challenge for Scottish noiseniks these days is to not sound like Biffy Clyro, something We Were Promised Jetpacks achieve with aplomb on this accomplished second album. There are echoes of Interpol and even The Skids on the likes…

The Shivers - More

Sixth album of diverse styles linked by soulful sensibility from New York outfit

14 Sep 2011

(Fence Records) Having tootled along in NYC for years, this is The Shivers’ sixth album but first to be released over here, and it’s a perfect introduction to their idiosyncratic and gentle form of genius. Diversity is the name of the game; anti-folk…

Interview - Alan Bissett

Writer tackles Scotland’s sectarian shame in fourth novel Pack Men

24 Aug 2011

With the rivalry between the Old Firm reaching dangerously manic levels recently, you’d think that sectarianism would be reflected in our nation’s fiction, but it’s hard to think of many novels that examine our unique bigotry. Step forward Alan Bissett…

George Pelecanos - The Cut

An exemplary piece of work from the writer of The Wire

24 Aug 2011

(Orion) George Pelecanos has taken his foot off the novel-writing pedal recently to work in television, most notably on The Wire, but it’s good to have back ‘perhaps the greatest living crime writer’, according to Stephen King. And he’s not wrong…

Ross Raisin - Waterline

Unconvincing follow up social drama to God's Own Country

14 Jun 2011

(Viking) The strength of Ross Raisin’s debut novel, God’s Own Country, was the authenticity of the central character’s Yorkshire voice, but for this follow-up Raisin has moved proceedings to Glasgow, and it has to be said that his Scottish brogue is…

Denise Mina's 'The End of the Wasp Season' is a worthy addition to the DS Alex Morrow series

13 Apr 2011

(Orion) Denise Mina is one of the most interesting Scottish crime writers, continually fighting the war on cliché in terms of prose, plot and characterisation. This second novel featuring DS Alex Morrow is a consolidation of her recent move towards…

Explosions in the Sky: Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

Post-rock titans add a few subtle colours to their palette for fifth album

21 Mar 2011

(Bella Union) It’s been over a decade since this Texan post-rock foursome first formed through an advert – ‘Wanted: Sad triumphant rock band’ – and this fifth album sees them sticking to that definition while subtly expanding their sound. It’s…

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine

Plaintive vocals and guitar meets atmospheric melancholic soundscapes

1 Mar 2011

This was apparently a labour of love between Fife folkster King Creosote and London electronica artist and producer Hopkins, recorded in fits and starts over the last seven years. It’s a beautifully complementary collaboration, Kenny Anderson’s…

Norman Blake and Euros Childs take Jonny on tour

Teenage Fanclub and Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci members line up UK gigs

11 Feb 2011

Indie fans of a certain vintage might once have daydreamed about what a collaboration between one of Teenage Fanclub and one of their Welsh equivalents Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci might’ve sounded like. Well wonder no more, because Norman Blake and Euros…

Tony Black - Truth Lies Bleeding

Fifth outing for Scottish crime writers’ Scottish crime writer

9 Feb 2011

(Preface) Tony Black has a reputation as the Scottish crime writers’ Scottish crime writer, garnering praise from contemporaries to match impressive sales figures. This fifth outing demonstrates plenty of reasons why that’s the case, with fantastic…

Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

Post-rock legend's seventh album ventures further into experimental territory

26 Jan 2011

(Rock Action) Now on their seventh album, Mogwai could be forgiven for taking their feet off the pedal. They haven’t. But there is a feeling on Hardcore …, despite the occasional foray into the monolithic riffage of their early days, that the band…

Anne Holt sets new novel 1222 in isolated hotel - interview

The bestselling Norwegian crime writer on her latest book

16 Dec 2010

An isolated hotel is the setting for the new novel by bestselling Norwegian crime writer Anne Holt. Doug Johnstone hears of a place where DNA can’t touch Sometimes it feels as if developments in forensic science have taken all the fun out of crime…

Surrounded - Oppenheimer & Woodstock

26 Oct 2010

(One Little Indian) On their last album, 2008’s The Nautilus Years, Swedish five-piece Surrounded were a virtual facsimile of Mark Linkous’s Sparklehorse. With their musical inspiration sadly no longer with us, the band here have eschewed the…

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

6 Oct 2010

(Asthmatic Kitty) An endlessly inventive songwriter and musician, Sufjan Stevens here abandons for the most part the nu-folk banjo-and-piano sound that first got him noticed, replacing it with a mix of offbeat glitchy electronica and wide-eyed studio…

The Walkmen - Lisbon

6 Oct 2010

(Bella Union) This sixth album from New York-based scattershot indie troubadours The Walkmen is something of a consolidation exercise, taking the many disparate sounds that have influenced their back catalogue and combining them into something which…

Weezer - Hurley

6 Oct 2010

(Epitaph) Weezer have been underachieving for most of their career, reaching a nadir with last year’s risible Raditude. A recent switch from Geffen to an indie label has injected a modicum of energy into Hurley, but it’s still a long way from the…

Susan Hill - The Small Hand

22 Sep 2010

(Profile) Susan Hill has been writing precise and chilling books in the rather unfashionable genre of the ghost story for decades, so she more or less has it down to a fine art by now. This short and typically gothic tale demonstrates the refinement…

Superchunk - Majesty Shredding

15 Sep 2010

(One Four Seven Records) It’s been a ridiculously long nine-year hiatus for this seminal Yank punk-pop outfit, the band members concentrating on running the pivotal Merge Records instead (and releasing a who’s who of American indie into the bargain).