April 13: Cambridge: Alasdair Roberts + haeti...

Farewell Sorrow is superb, all originals, dark, romantic and occasionally mischievous.

No Earthly Man is really quite a step forward sonically. He's got Isobel Campbell doing some cello drones, John McCusker playing fiddle, and Scatter's Alex Nielson doing his incredible pagan-jazz drumming.

How far forward to you want him to take the tradition? Use beats, glitches? That's not really what he wants to do. He doesn't consciously think of himself as an updater of the folk tradition, he's just doing the music he likes.

Farewell Sorrow is superb, all originals, dark, romantic and occasionally mischievous.

No Earthly Man is really quite a step forward sonically. He's got Isobel Campbell doing some cello drones, John McCusker playing fiddle, and Scatter's Alex Nielson doing his incredible pagan-jazz drumming.

How far forward to you want him to take the tradition? Use beats, glitches? That's not really what he wants to do. He doesn't consciously think of himself as an updater of the folk tradition, he's just doing the music he likes.

i find the oldham connection interesting. because of the idea of a musical scottish diasporia in kentucky.

the two brothers is really the one that i have trouble processing musically

The single ("Hazel Forks") or whatever from the new one is breathtaking..

new one is killer. really, really good.

searched for an Alasdair thread yesterday after downloading the new album. Haven't heard it yet though. But I'm inclined to trust Tyler's opinion on this.

i actually just did a little email interview with him, which turned out nicely. will post the link when it's up. this new one is sort of drunk on beautiful archaic-sounding language, nice band interplay, lovely melodies. he's apparently touring the states with bert jansch this summer! a dream come true.

I love Spoils, the melodies, stuff going on in the background (that noisy guitar in "You Muses Assist"), funny/awesome lyrics ("Unyoked Oxen Turn" is quite hilarious. Also the way the instruments start running after the protagonist starts running in the song). Fantastic. Here's to hoping he'll tour the continent as well.

here's the link heavy interview i did with alasdair: http://junkmedia.org/index.php?i=2503 i had to look up a lot of the stuff he's referencing, heh heh.

great interview tyler

thanks! he's an interesting guy -- I liked this bit: "I suppose my thing is always about flexibility, multiplicity, confusion wanting to reflect the turmoil of reality... always trying to remember that the oar in the ocean is a winnowing fan on dry land." Really think that this new one is great.

That's my photo accompanying the interview. I'll have to hit them up for a credit. http://krakow.zenfolio.com/alasdairroberts

Very good piece. I agree that the new album is fantastic.

ha! i guess we are unwitting collaborators. sorry about that -- not sure where Junkmedia got the photo ... from Drag City I presume, or maybe they just grabbed it from his site?

It'll have come from Drag City and/or his PR people, as I took the photos for them. Should be credited though, so I'll just email junkmedia to ask for a credit/link (every little bit helps).

oh yeah, that shouldn't be a problem -- just hit up Laura Sylvester, the editor, at l✧✧✧@veri✧✧✧.n✧✧

oops lsyl @ verizon.net

Thanks very much tyler, I'll drop her a line. Appreciated.

i'm on an alasdair/appendix out binge
love him so much

in fact, i saw him on the no earthly man "tour" in chicago and it was one of the best shows i've ever seen. riveting, extremely quiet, and, not surprisingly, sparsely attended. there were some drag city ppl and about 20-25 others.

there's an EP coming out this fall -- just got the "digital promo" but haven't listened yet ...

ooooo
anyone know anything about the US august tour dates w/bert jansch?!?!?!?!?

oooo! in chicago aug. 10!!
excited.

07/31 SPACE Gallery Portland, ME
08/02 The Bar New Haven, CT
08/03 La Sala Rossa (w/ Bert Jansch) Montreal, QC,CAN
08/04 Casbah Lounge Hamilton, ON,CAN
08/05 Horseshoe Tavern (w/ Bert Jansch) Toronto, ON,CAN
08/07 Andy Warhol Museum (w/ Bert Jansch) Pittsburgh, PA
08/08 Wexner Center for the Arts (w/ Bert Jansch) Columbus, OH
08/10 Martyr's (w/ Bert Jansch) Chicago, IL
08/12 The Dame (w/ Bert Jansch) Lexington, KY
08/13 529 Atlanta, GA
08/14 Farm 255 Athens, GA
08/15 Pilot Light Knoxville, TN
08/16 The Southern (w/ Bert Jansch) Charlottesvill, VA
08/17 Golden West (w/ Lesser Gonzales Alvarez) Baltimore, MD
08/18 Velvet Lounge (w/ Kuschty Rye Ergot) Washington, DE
08/19 Bruar Falls Brooklyn, NY
08/20 City Winery (w/ Bert Jansch) New York, NY
08/21 Johnny Brenda's (w/ Bert Jansch) Philadelphia, PA

not coming to my neck of the woods :( and bert jansch canceled his show here last month :(((

i saw bert j when he was at the empty bottle too, so seeing them together -- whoo! i am having trouble verifying the martyr's gig, though -- website doesn't list it.

riveting, extremely quiet, and, not surprisingly, sparsely attended. there were some drag city ppl and about 20-25 others.

At the Brighton (UK) show I went to on this current tour, there were maybe about 15 people or something like that. I hope he doesn't take this sort of turn-out to heart.

here's the info on the new EP

New Alasdair Roberts EP "The Wyrd Meme" out October 20th

1. The Hallucinator and the King of the Silver Ship of Time

A Sybilline island-dweller is courted and berated by the King of Time, Chronos, when he comes sailing by in his opulent vessel. Her island exists outside of linear time and therefore does not fall under his jurisdiction; his courtship and berating prove useless and both the Hallucinatrix and Chronos go their separate ways. He advises her to mould a child of wax or chisel one from stone to banish her solitude; he also leaves her his garment, with the arrogant suggestion that she touch the hem now and again.

2. The Yarn Unraveller

The power of matriarchy, as represented by the symbol of the double-headed axe. The speaker is unfit to be an equal companion to the matriarch, who provides over her clan’s vast and ancient store of knowledge; he must serve as her yarn unraveller only. “Liberator, Lancer and Marauder” are street names in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The “harp of triple song” is that of Calliope, Erato and Euterpe. “Pastor Glass” is a controversial figure in Scottish religious and political life. The island of Simi in the Aegean was formerly known for its sponge-diving industry.

3. The Royal Road at the World’s End

The Royal Road mentioned in this context is Freud’s “Royal road to the unconscious”; that is, dreams. It is conflated with the Scottish folk tale “The Well at the World’s End”; the song describes a phantasmagorical journey narrated in the first person. Ouroubouros is invoked as a symbol of eternal recurrence (one of the themes of ‘Spoils’ LP, of which this EP is a companion piece); it transmutes into Abraxas, who entered the song via Jung’s “Seven Sermons to the Dead.” There is a reference to the display of stuffed animals in Winnemucca, Nevada, a settlement of Basque shepherds.

4. Coral and Tar

The titular substances are invoked as symbolic of a subtype of quasi-Manichaean duality. It is hoped that this song might be sung by those wishing to apologise to friends, family and loved ones after bouts of heavy drinking and/or other forms of substance abuse or self-destructive behaviour.

lol, love this guy

worst thing was a few years ago talking to a Decemberists fan who saw Ali open for them a couple years ago ... dude was totally making fun of Roberts and then raving about the Decemberists. X^0

props to the Decemberists for giving Ali the gig though!

LOVE THIS GUY

haha, he does seem like he'd be a fun guy to have a drink with -- from Freud’s “Royal road to the unconscious” to stuffed animals in Winnemucca, Nevada all in one breath ...

dude can discuss protolanguages
<3 <3 <3

The Hallucinator and the King of the Silver Ship of Time = kosmische folk

Dying to hear this ep. There remains so much to discover on Spoils though :)
Still hoping for some european dates...

sadly i just found this
Unfortunately, Bert is ill and his North American tour has been cancelled.

;_; for real

Spoils is totally killing me today. So excellent.
Reminds me that I need to buy the EP.

EP might be better than Spoils! So good.

Excellent picture of Alex Neilson on the back of it too!

Amber Gatherers really is a great record huh?

Cover artist on the current Wire. Photogenic chap.

love this guy.

will buy this "wire."

also he disappeared from facebook. i was enjoying his updates re. his recording.

Shot this with him the other day...

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v5/p165744498-3.jpg

Plastic toy guitar jamz!

sadly i just found this
Unfortunately, Bert is ill and his North American tour has been cancelled.

;_; for real

― figgy pudding (La Lechera), Monday, August 3, 2009 4:47 PM (8 months ago) Bookmark

Bert is coming back to Chicago -- will AR be there too? Does anyone know? Venue is the same...fingers crossed!!

Bert Jansch is opening for Neil Young in May here in the southeast.

new record! looks like trad songs: http://www.dragcity.com/products/too-long-in-this-condition

oh and a free Ep too!
via Drag City:

ALASDAIR ROBERTS IS FREE

…free, that is, of the hang-ups and put-downs that come from selling music and making money from it. No, this time, you can have Alasdair’s music and it’s not even “up to you” to decide whether to pay a dime or not for it. This particular music was born free and that’s the way it’s staying, courtesy of Ayrtime. They sponser free shows too – but the inheritance has to run out sooner or later, right? Check it all out here while you can. http://www.ayrtime.org/roberts.html. Meanwhile, back in the world that we’ve known, the world that employs all of us down here in the ivory bunker to serve what we love (music, kids!), we’re preparing an Alasdair Roberts record for release on June 29th that will appeal to the old-fashioned among us, and not just because you need to pay money for it. No, Too Long In This Condition is a record of traditional songs that are hundreds if not thousands of years old when all placed end-to-end. Don’t forget, our Alasdair is a man deeply impressed by the intersecting belief systems and mythologies of the world. His last album, Spoils, put forth the proposition of syncretic contemporary folk rock – and quite successfully, we might add. For Too Long In This Condition, he’s once again working with a group of like-minded contemporaries to unravel the mystery behind the immemorial inclinations of our all-too-human race. In some ways it’s Alasdair at his most traddy with fiddles, harmony singers and a rich danceable beat; at other times, he’s at his most boldly forward with arrangements that couch the songs in the modern muddle, with the eerie sound of fingernails scraping at the coffin lids of the ageless dead. It’s too much to miss! Check out a representative sample of this album on this website right now.

oh man it's gonna be so awkward when he is on stage with two other people at a giant pavilion in downtown chicago
i was hoping there would be a full band
fingers crossed for the passports! i've been looking forward to this for months. years if you count the last time i thought he was coming and then bert jansch got sick :(

three of them made it! those poor men in the hot sun, it looked painful. they were troopers though, gave it their all. played mostly new stuff from wonder working stone, but also played http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fair_Flower_of_Northumberland
<3

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7355/9287321885_763fa82240.jpg

let's see how it goes tonight at the giant pavilion...

LL, did you happen to catch his last minute show last night at Lighthouse Tavern? saw the last minute tweet from Drag City and it was so tempting, if i hadn't been wiped out with severe head congestion.

no :(
even if i had seen it, i was in for the night
now i'm bummed

oh sorry, didn't mean to bum you out.

a person can't stay attached to every social media outlet hoping for a morsel, it's ok
still bummed i missed it though

My dad e-mailed me to say that he and my stepmom were going to see Fatoumata Diawara tonight and would be getting there early for "the Irish folk singer warm up group." I replied that Roberts is Scottish, and he joked that now they "probably won't go." I mean, I think it was a joke! But my stepmom is also really into being "Irish," so I dunno.

man
i knew that would be the case -- i was trying to explain to D how i knew that AR would go first and not be the headliner even though i hadn't looked it up to check and that proves my point. :-/

i have a request -- i'm hoping for "brother seed". figure there's a good chance since it's on the new album that both the other two guys played on.

I don't know Alasdair Roberts's music at all. But it's hard to imagine that he'd be able to top Fatoumata Diawara's energetic dance grooves, anyway.

http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/?entity_id=95372&source_type=B

DC show video stream

Alasdair Roberts & Robin Robertson
Hirta Songs

10 track album concerning the history, landscape and people of the remote Scottish archipelago of St Kilda. Features guest appearances from Corrina Hewat and Robin Williamson, plus mainstays of Alasdair's live and studio ensembles Tom Crossley, Rafe Fitzpatrick and Stevie Jones.

Single CD in jewel case with 12 page booklet, limited edition 180g vinyl with insert (250 copies for the World) and download. Released November 2013.

http://www.stonetaperecordings.co.uk/str-006.html

Looks like an amazing place (St. Kilda). Going by google maps there's about five houses on the entire island..
I'm still getting my head around the Roberts & Friends album, but I say bring it on.

yeah, i'm definitely still absorbing the last one...
just found this place - http://libraryofaethers.wikispaces.com/ which might help.

topics:

Animals
Armed conflict & weapons
Birds
Body parts, functions & fluids
Drinking
Musical instruments & terms
Numbers
Points of the compass
Titles & trappings
Trees
Vegetation
Weather

i was already excited but by the time i got to "vegetation" and "weather" i was already dreaming of st kilda

must get!!

did anybody go to his Galoshins show a couple of years back? (Actually looking through this thread I see that Krakow definitely did!) On one hand I kinda wish I'd written something about it after it happened so I could remember it properly, but then I quite like the weird dreamlike place it occupies in my memory.

shit-hot guitar

finally i hear it

New album, a collab with poet Robin Robertson, is really good. Concept album, of sorts, about St Kilda, with nice guest spot by Robin Williamson (Incredible String Band) on hardanger fiddle.

http://stonetaperecordings.bandcamp.com/album/hirta-songs

Hoping to attend this, cld be an excellent setting for A.R.:

http://www.ents24.com/glasgow-events/govan-old-parish-church/a-christmas-time-concert/3669218

That sounds lovely!!

Dang, not going to be around for that unfortunately. I've seen him plenty of times, but Govan Parish Church would be quite something.

Finally got Hirta Songs yesterday. Only heard half of it on my commute but it sounded wonderful and I look forward to spending quality time with it.

these are
the wheels of
the world, my friend
you must understand
for two thousand years they’ve been
spreading destruction
all over this land

she's lain with one too near in blood

http://www.dragcity.com/products/alasdair-roberts

http://www.dragcity.com/uploads/products/2256/images/1030/large_DC613.jpg

Alasdair Roberts
Alasdair Roberts
LP/CD/MP3/FLAC

Drag City
To Be Released 2015-01-27
Catalog # DC613

Ooh, I want details!

i like this guy.

cover looks like an alisdair gray drawing

Ooh, going all eponymous on us

There's a live rendition/recording of "The Problem of Freedom" posted here: http://onderinvloed.com/home/2014/10/alasdair-roberts-2/

shit-hot guitar

sooooo excited for new one
pre-ordered

shit-hot bass clarinet

or what is that?

the new album has so many saaaad songs on it! really beautiful.

i LOVE Farewell Sorrow. heard it for the first time this year. What else is as good as that album?

i'm a big fan of the Amber Gatherers, but it's a little peppier than Farewell Sorrow.

Just saw this, which I like a lot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBjGZTy6KME

i dig this new song! the drums are weird and i like them a lot, his voice sounds good too
also the album is called "pangs"!

https://soundcloud.com/drag-city/alasdair-roberts-the-downward-road

shit-hot guitar

― j., Tuesday, November 25, 2014 3:43 PM (two years ago)

One thing I will bleat, as they drag my sclerotic body from this rock, is why didn't I listen to more Alasdair Roberts?

What News? is quietly glorious.

https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2019/07/02/alasdair-roberts-the-evernew-tongue/

is that a lil shit-hot guitar playing i hear????

November 24: Cambridge: Alasdair Roberts + Rachel Watkins

Hadn't seen AR play in forever, it was a good time. Nagging feeling that I still prefer him singing traditional ballads vs original compositions.

just the opposite

I don’t care whether he’s singing originals or traditionals— he’s always engaging imo/ime!

now we need someone to hate them both

Audio transcription has been my sideline for over 20 years. Please get in touch if you have any audio for speedy, accurate and confidential transcription. My fingers are a blur... thanks. pic.twitter.com/k0cktMFg1n

— Alasdair Roberts (@AliRobertsMusic) March 16, 2020

aw <3
99% accuracy! if i had need for this i would totally hire him

New Alasdair Roberts out today... it sounds like Alasdair Roberts, which is fine by me.

Saw him in a tiny little pub on Thursday. Just him and his guitar. He did two sets. The first was all material from the new album (Scottish & Irish folk songs) and the second set was a selection from the last twenty years. I didn't recognise a bunch of what he played, but in that small, dark space, where you could hear the creak of customers as they moved around in the pub upstairs, it was a good time to be alive.

https://i.imgur.com/39xXldO.jpeg

"Coming this spring from Boatwhistle Books: 'Library of Aethers: Selected Lyrics 1994-2024'. Beautifully illustrated inside and out by Annabel Wright and featuring contributions from Robin Robertson, Rafe Fitzpatrick, Màiri Nic'IlleMhoire and Christopher Mack. Two launch events: GLASGOW Glad Cafe, Wed 17th April. LONDON Kings Place, Sun 21st April (4pm). London tickets available here: https://shop.kingsplace.co.uk/29933/29937";

https://www.facebook.com/alasdair.roberts.7/posts/pfbid07DpNRvuQszKQqKghFQYKut3o9799pZPonMLJ162V73iwpKLQeijeGasfNLSDW8hal

Love the cover art. This should be really interesting.