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Alasdair Roberts + Kiila @ The Tunnels, 18th March


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interesting music promotions present

ALASDAIR ROBERTS + KIILA

Thursday 18th March 2010

The Tunnels, Carnegies Brae, Aberdeen, AB10 1BF. Phone (01224) 211121

Doors 8pm

Tickets 8+bf in adv / 10 on door

Available from One-Up Records, Belmont Street, Aberdeen. Phone (01224) 642662 or http://www.ticketweb.co.uk

http://www.myspace.com/interestingmusic

http://www.thetunnels.co.uk

ALASDAIR ROBERTS has now released 5 albums of tender yet driving folk music, since his discovery via Will Bonnie Prince Billy Oldhams advocacy on hearing a demo tape.

The last four of Roberts albums have been on the large American indie Drag City and he has shared stages with Joanna Newsom, Magnolia Electric Co, Smog and countless others.

Roberts repertoire is made up of his own compositions and jewels from the treasure trove of timeless Scottish folk songs he regularly plunders, delivering songs with his own deftly intricate guitar playing and a voice both bold and subject to fragility.

Scottish folk singer Alasdair Roberts is an anomaly. His appropriation of antique songs calls to mind the prospecting of Daniel Day-Lewis's oilman in There Will Be Blood: he performs the subterranean, hardscrabble toil of research, then plunges his drill down deep, coming back with black gold. (The Independent)

His most recent album Spoils is widely regarded as his artistically most successful yet, and appeared in several recent end-of-year polls. With an extraordinary vocabulary of deliberate archaisms and seductive, and beautifully artificial, metre, Roberts has found a new way to remake the traditions that are folks primary fuel. (The Wire)

Roberts is a songwriter who clearly has a very firm working knowledge of more traditional strands of the genre he occupies (his lyrics and guitar playing are, as ever, of considerable merit) but there's a free-roaming, ramshackle rawness to the recordings and presentation here that imbues a sense of intimacy and unconditionedness to proceedings. (www.boomkat.com)

Roberts takes his earthen craft on the road for this tour in the guise of the Alasdair Roberts Band, a 4-piece comprised of himself, members of his old band Appendix Out and members of Glasgow band Tatty Toes.

http://www.alasdairroberts.com

KIILA is a collective based in Turku, Finland, epitomising the exciting new wave of music coming out of Finland in recent years, typified by the output of the label Fonal. This will be their first ever UK tour.

Kiila released their 3rd album Tuota Tuota in June 2009 and, in the words of Dusted Magazine: Kiilas greatest coup is shoehorning genuine song craft into this mix without upsetting the balance. (For example) album opener, Viisi Hirvasta. For its first half its a hypnotizing instrumental built from plangent strings, stray percussion, and a recurring melody on the bass, until a half-chanted/half-sung passage emerges near its conclusion, making you wonder if it started life as a song, a poem or a jam. Tuota Tuota is full of moments like these, where you have to question how it is your listening, as all your usual hierarchies are upended and genres turned on their heads. That you at first dont quite realize Kiila is doing this is remarkable; that they make it seem so natural is even more so.

Though previous Kiila releases have featured tape collage, synths, turntables and more, its fair to say that Tuota Tuota comes across like their own skewed take on folk rock, albeit through psychedelic Finnish eyes. Kiila have been in existence for a decade or more now, and their various members are also active in other groundbreaking Finnish acts that have also achieved cult status in the UK and the US, including Kemialliset Ystavat, Islaja, Avarus and Shogun Kunitoki.

When this sextet takes the stage, you may be taken aback by the driving rhythms, sublime vocal harmonies and casually virtuous multi-instrumentalism that follow. Often compared to like-minded US acts such as MV&EE and Espers, who have all found significant audiences in the UK and US, Killa are regarded by those who know them as at least as equally musically profound and influential but still to reap their much-deserved wider recognition.

http://www.kiila.com

http://www.myspace.com/kiilamusic

This tour is produced by Newcastle-based promoters No-Fi, with the support of the Scottish Arts Councils Tune Up programme, Finnsih organizations ESEK and LUSES, and AV10 Festival.

http://www.no-fi.org.uk

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well it was a fabulous night, despite Alasdair's crackling voice. Hope it's better for the last two dates!

Kiila were superb especially when the whole band was in full flow. Brilliant stuff.

Alasdair seemed in fine form despite his dodgy voice and I really liked the full band setup. Shame he was really struggling to keep his voice going towards the end but it didn't detract too much from a great night. Really enjoyed Babylon/Bonnie Banks O Airdrie. It struck me halfway through the song that it's the same story told in a song called Fair Flowers Of The Valley which Tim O'Brien did on his Fiddler's Green album. I guess, like many American folk songs, it has it's roots in the version Alasdair sang last night.

Fair Flowers O The Valley: Tim O'Brien - Welcome

Various versions of Babylon:Child's Ballads/14 - Wikisource

Hoped the gig would've been a bit busier though and an 11.30 finish for a weeknight gig with only two acts seemed a little late for those of us who had to travel out of Aberdeen afterwards!

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Agreed.....Alasdair seemed disappointed in his vocals, but it gave a nice fragility to the songs, and the band 'coloured' things in very well.

Really liked Kiila too....I was expecting them to be much looser (a few of them are in Kemialliset Ystavat), but was impressed enough to get their latest CD. I especially liked when the fiddle player used his weird fiddle/zither thingy.I want one!

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Aye, both acts played longer than we anticipated. Value for money though, eh?

Aye I'm certainly not complaining about value for money (though I was pissed off at "8 advance 10 on the night" turning out to be 8 advance with a 2 booking fee!) and like I say it was a brilliant gig. Just in the back of my mind was the thought that if I had gotten the bus I'd have had to miss the last 3 or 4 songs of the set, which would've been really annoying.

It's a common complaint, but it's one I'd not had to make myself for a number of years. Nice to give it an airing again now I'm out the road.

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Aye I'm certainly not complaining about value for money (though I was pissed off at "8 advance 10 on the night" turning out to be 8 advance with a 2 booking fee!) and like I say it was a brilliant gig. Just in the back of my mind was the thought that if I had gotten the bus I'd have had to miss the last 3 or 4 songs of the set, which would've been really annoying.

It's a common complaint, but it's one I'd not had to make myself for a number of years. Nice to give it an airing again now I'm out the road.

Does that 2 booking fee include postage? Anything else? One-up would be a cheaper advance option

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Yeah, I think ticketweb have a delivery charge and a service charge, although you can opt to collect at 'the box office', removing the delivery charge.

One Up is a cheaper option, but as you indicate, some people can't easily get there, meaning if you need advance tickets, then t'interwebs is the only other way.

Is there much else we can do?

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Is there much else we can do?

Probably not, but that won't stop us having a whinge!

The copy haho gig used printed out booking references as tickets, does that work out cheaper? I can't remember. Guess the ticket agency has to make it's money somewhere but it's a bit annoying when you book in advance to save a little bit of cash then end up paying the same anyway. Should just have paid on the door then at least the whole tenner (20 quid even as I bought two tickets) would have gone to the bands or you guys!

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Guest idol_wild
Probably not, but that won't stop us having a whinge!

The copy haho gig used printed out booking references as tickets, does that work out cheaper? I can't remember. Guess the ticket agency has to make it's money somewhere but it's a bit annoying when you book in advance to save a little bit of cash then end up paying the same anyway. Should just have paid on the door then at least the whole tenner (20 quid even as I bought two tickets) would have gone to the bands or you guys!

Yeah - I use wegottickets; no postage required as your ticket is essentially a reference number, which you present at the door. It's very much like the Megabus way of booking.

It's greener, easier, and cheaper.

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