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

ok so this is not my favorite AR release, but it'll do. The songs where he's singing are less "adult world-trad" than Morrison's. I still think she's charming though. It's something you could put on when the parents come over?

I also picked up the Roberts-compiled Lomax recordings record because I am compelled to buy things like that whenever I see them.

new one!
http://www.dragcity.com/system/assets/files/1370/original/AlasdairRoberts_AWonderWorkingStone_MINI.jpg
In January 2013, Drag City Records will release the new album by Alasdair Roberts & Friends, entitled A Wonder Working Stone. A collection of varied new epics, Alasdair's latest is by turns metaphysical, cosmological, phantasmagorical, topical, personal and universal. This is Alasdair's most ambitious, fully-realized work to date (an extraordinary claim following the incredible excursions made on his recent releases Spoils and Too Long In This Condition). A Wonder Working Stone continues Alasdair's long-standing love affair and deeply creative interaction with the traditional music of has native Scotland (and beyond), offering an idiosyncratic and nuanced radicalization of that tradition. Indeed, he questions the very notion of 'tradition' in the modern age, with songs addressing topics such as mortality (as ever), life, love, sex, faith and history. There is a meditation on loss - the losing of self, of the music of the nation? - that is belied and ultimately denied by the lively nature of the work. The arrangements of A Wonder Working Stone are dense with the music of friends, realizing the lifeblood of community, and throughout the album, they are presented with raucously cinematic flair. In the middle of it all, Roberts delivers his unique 'scordatura' finger style guitar and distinctive tenor vocals with the backing of a core group of among Glasgow's finest musicians - Ben Reynolds (electric guitar), Shane Connolly (drums), Rafe Fitzpatrick (fiddle, rap), Stevie Jones (bass) and with special guest vocals from Olivia Chaney, as well as appearances from many other fine players on strings, brass, flute and accordion, all of which edify and expand the musical world of Alasdair Roberts and all those friends who listen.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!! I hear Alasdair Roberts batsignal and I rejoice!

FFFFFFFFFFantastic news. Great pic of him during a recent Glasgow festival performance in the latest Wire. I've yet to see him live, so I hope there's an accompanying tour for this album.

by turns metaphysical, cosmological, phantasmagorical, topical, personal and universal

yessss

best title so far - "the end of breeding"

FFFFFFFFFFantastic news. Great pic of him during a recent Glasgow festival performance in the latest Wire. I've yet to see him live, so I hope there's an accompanying tour for this album.

― willem, Wednesday, October 24, 2012 2:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

*Wiggles tie proudly*

You're organizing said tour?

;-)

i assume he took the picture!! now we need to get not_goodwin to catch a. roberts walking through the highlands with a deer or something. then i will have seen the photos i need to see, for now at least.

huh

From the circle and quaternity motif is derived the symbol of the geometrically formed crystal and the wonder-working stone. From here analogy formation leads on to the city, castle, church, house, and vessel. Another variant is the wheel (rota).The former motif Emphasize The ego's containment in the greater dimension of the self; The Latter Which Emphasize The rotation thus appears as a ritual circumambulation. Psychologically, it denotes concentration on and preoccupation with a center. Carl Gustav Jung , The Collected Works , Volume 9, pg.352.

I just took some simple photographs of Ali this morning ready for promoting the forthcoming album... A great pleasure as ever, even on a rather soggy Glasgow morning.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8061/8203424716_eb62a2c06b_z.jpg
Alasdair Roberts by Crimson Glow Photography, on Flickr

very nice. new album is sounding great, a lot to dig into as usual. any plans to come to the states?

I did ask him about touring and things and I believe he'd love to head to the USA if money allows, but I'm not sure that it does readily!

Oh! What a nice photo. He has such a warm face. I hope he can bring it to the USA (but not with the Decemberists because I don't like them). When can we get the new album? I've been thinking about it!

just got this email from drag city
The British are Coming...ALL OVER ALASDAIR ROBERTS' NEW RECORD‏
[i did lol, i'll admit]

I made a face :-/
(still can't wait to hear it!!!!)

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17554-a-wonder-working-stone/

Despite these shadows, however, the overall mood is one of celebrating in the face of encroaching doom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbD2sd1YaFw

shit-hot electric guitar

ten distinct yet not mutually exclusive adjectives

1. topsy-turvy
2. historical
3. metaphysical
4. cosmological
5. phantasmagorical
6. universal
7. oedipal
8. personal
9. satirical
10. topical

http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/albums/alasdair-roberts-friends-a-wonder-working-stone-115934

I suspect only he could rhyme abracadabra with “intact cadaver”

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/7535

dusted's review links to the dragcity soundcloud, one track, 'the year of the burning'

which would be 'historical'

Shit hot guitar!! He is never disappointing. I don't like to read reviews before listening to sthg I'm anticipating, but I will listen to the track on soundcloud!!

ordered! waiting!

whipcrack on whipcrack on whipcrack!

it's finally here! i'm listening to it this morning before i go into work a little later. great morning!! beautiful package too. i love how he writes notes for each song, v thoughtful.

"brother seed" is totally melting my brain right now
what a song!!!!

lol @ "scandal and trace" with the red river valley melody

this guy, always lightening the mood with a goofy tune while singing about being on the edge of empire. i have kinda mixed feelings about this song, but it's audacious.

i'm definitely going to try to introduce "only a cock's stride away" to my daily vocab.

I believe this should be posted here -- this is the incest ballad "brother seed", totally whoa good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVme8xe7NNo

misreading the tracklisting for this new one i was surprised to see ali going in a slightly new direction with his polka-rap, but no. :''(

this album goes in a lot of different directions, but that's not one of them

dunno, isn't that funky part of Rap Y Clychau Glâs pretty much Glaswegian hip hop?

Alasdair Roberts and his friends are coming to Chicago this summer! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

coool, what are the other dates?

i dunno! he is coming as part of our summer in the park music series thingie -- they usually have one act i am marginally interested in, but this year i am so excited to use taxpayer dollars to fly one of my favorite artists over here -- and his friends! i want to be on the welcome wagon committee.

surely this is being paired with other shows, though -- the city thing is a good way to get over here, and then stay a while (i hope!)

for the sake of people in other parts of the usa, that is

talking of whom:

http://thequietus.com/articles/11821-alasdair-roberts-favourite-albums

The song Craigie Hill off that Dick Gaughan album is something you really need to hear btw. First heard it when June Tabor played it on a radio show she was a guest on, total lump in the throat stuff for me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP15bKvUpdw

does anyone know anything about him cancelling US tour? website does not look promising for show in chicago on MONDAY

;_;

http://www.alasdairroberts.com/content/2013/07/07/north-american-tour-cancelled/

North American Tour under threat
July 7th, 2013

The July 2013 North American tour of Alasdair Roberts & Friends is in danger of being cancelled as we do not yet have the required visas for entry to the USA. Please watch this space for further developments…

also omg he is playing in cedar rapids <3

lamesville

hey only they're allowed to call it that

Alasdair and two of his bandmates's visas have been approved. Now we are waiting on the Embassy to process and return their passports, which hopefully happens before the are meant to fly on Thursday. We are optimistic that the tour will happen. The ensemble is a three piece now. Two casualties to the process!

DC show at end of the month still tentatively on, albeit w/ Alisdair and less bandmates

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