Browse by Artist: ROBERTS, ALASDAIR

Artist:	ROBERTS, ALASDAIR
Title:	Farewell Sorrow
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 240CD

"After more than five years, three LPs and several 7" singles as 'Appendix Out', Scottish singer and man of letters Alasdair Roberts is bidding farewell to his nom-demusique (but fortunately not his raison-d'être!). Heavily steeped in the lineage of European folk music (the Scots have something to say about this, you know), the words and music of Farewell Sorrow evoke a spirit of youth, an air of reckless abandon, a passion not meant to stay in this world. Sure, there are still a couple of the dirges you might expect, but they're now enlivened with a subtly malevolent, rakish wit and nestle alongside bona fide pop songs detailing the lighter side of life in Alasdair's imaginary kingdom."

Artist:	ROBERTS, ALASDAIR
Title:	No Earthly Man
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 283CD

"Over the course of three albums of original music with the band Appendix Out and a pair of albums under his own name, Scotsman Alasdair Roberts has been moving toward a purer understanding, exploration and interpretation of the traditional song of the British Isles. No Earthly Man shouldn't be regarded as a culmination of this exploration: this is Roberts' music, something he'll be fiddling with for the rest of his days. However, this new album comes with some sense of finality, part of which may have to do with its focus -- a set comprised entirely of death ballads. Recorded near the whisky distilleries of rural Aberdeenshire and mixed amid the tobacco fields of Kentucky, No Earthly Man benefits from the playing and perspective of a diversity of musicians, and from the production talents of honorary Scot Will Oldham."

Artist:	ROBERTS, ALASDAIR
Title:	The Amber Gatherers
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 326CD

"After his 2005 collection of tragic ballads, No Earthly Man, Alasdair Roberts bounces back with a bright and shiny new record, The Amber Gatherers. We knew the grave couldn't hold him down for long! Seems he's a changed man -- is that a smile playing upon his lips? You best believe it. In contrast to No Earthly Man, whose moments of glee were generally hard to discern (although Lord knows they certainly were there for the keen of ear to enjoy), The Amber Gatherers is a pure pop record. A jukebox record, no less! Seems like this time, Alasdair wanted to make the kind of music you might hear on walking into your favorite bar, rather than drifting from the speakers of, say, your local charnel-house."

Artist:	ROBERTS, ALASDAIR
Title:	Spoils
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DC 392CD

"Returned from his voyages of discovery around the globe, Alasdair Roberts has brought a sac of assorted goods for you merchants, eight epic new songs... Spoils, geddit? As the years pass, our Alasdair just keeps getting older. Not the way you and I do; more like accelerated growth, centuries passing. When the lad starts scoring his tunes for archaic instruments such as psaltery, viol and 19th century guitar, it's serving notice that he's going way back. In a sense, this makes Spoils his earliest album. Possessed of a spartan grace, Spoils is deceptive like that. On board are Alasdair's old hands from Appendix Out (Tom Crossley and Gareth Eggie) as well as free percussionist extraordinaire Alex Nielson, noted baroque guitarist Gordon Ferries, Emily MacLaren, Niko-Matti Ahti (of Finnish free-pop duo Kiila), and David McGuinness & Alison McGillivray (both of Scotland's Concerto Caledonia), bringing a loose and lively mixture of drums, bass, piano, flute, glockenspiel, harpsichord, harmonium, viol, synthesizer, dulcimer, psaltery, hurdy gurdy, fiddle, and of course guitars and voices. Ever heady, Alasdair's got the crew working together to support a craft comprised of luddite musings, tales from the traveling people and all manner of syncretic folklore, philosophy and a variety of faiths. In this way, our contemporary rallying cry of 'we are one' is voiced and fortified with images from international lore that march forth from the murk of time to this very day. Spoils has a lot on deck, but it's meted out evenly and with an intense energy, always in service of the songs, which are marked with some of Alasdair's finest melodies. Additionally, Spoils ingratiates new compositions in a deeply personal manner with the world of traditional music that has sunk beyond the horizon for too many of us. It is a gift to these latter days that a man like Roberts exists, to sing us back to our ancient home."

Artist:	ROBERTS, ALASDAIR
Title:	The Wyrd Meme
Label:	DRAG CITY
Format:	CD
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	DC 394CD

"At a dizzying peak of powers, Alasdair Roberts is knocking out tune after killer tune, all scored to the beat of his own weird drum, and we love him for it. This is why we choose to exist, to help cement the footsteps of musicians and eccentrics such as he, footsteps that will endure through into future days, just in case the music-buying public of our time somehow drops the ball. Imagine that! The Wyrd Meme is an EP occasioned by the aforementioned windfall of great music circa 2009 from our Alasdair -- the eight massive constructions on Spoils are succeeded by another four songs, this set comprising twentytwo minutes of pure aural Roberts: stimulating, colorful, melodic, and arresting, just for starters. At the time of Spoils (all those weeks ago), the press was inclined to toss around Alasdair's musical vision of syncretism quite liberally -- and it was well down of them to indulge. Of late, Ali has taken to stitching his lyrics together from a diversity of threads, weaving from line to line with myths and legends, verse and slang and old and new, bringing different schools together and wedding it all to his razor-sharp guitar and singing so precise and powerful as to make a groaning man cry. And the ladies like him, too. The syncretic style of this Spring felt so right for this new global village we're all in, The Wyrd Meme takes a dip in the pool as well. Really, it's kind of like a maxi-single, as each song stands in the spotlight afforded single tracks, each of them bidding to be the best song ever in the history of Alasdair Roberts. That's a long time, you know -- at least a couple thousand years just to start. The Wyrd Meme is an autumnal masterwork that'll sound great at any time of the year, every year for the rest of your life. Buy it for Christmas -- keep it to take with you in your burial box." Total playing time: 22 minutes.

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