ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Singer and guitarist Alasdair Roberts was born in Swabia, grew up in a Scottish rural town and is now based in Glasgow. His work mainly consists of two parallel strands: self-written song material, which can be heard on albums such as Farewell Sorrow (2003) and A Wonder Working Stone (2013), and interpretations of traditional songs and ballads from Scotland and beyond on albums such as The Crook of My Arm (2001), No Earthly Man (2005) and Too Long In This Condition (2010). Roberts has collaborated widely with many different musicians throughout his musical career, including the Scottish Gaelic singer Mairi Morrison. He has also worked with artists from other disciplines such as puppeteers, film makers and the poet Scot Robin Robertson, a collaboration resulting in the 2013 album Hirta Songs. After his self-titled record Alasdair Roberts (2015), his latest release has been the album Pangs (2017). In addition to these projects, Roberts is a member of the English/Scottish folk quartet The Furrow Collective.

The avant-garde band F.S.K. was formed in Munich in 1980 and has been associated with punk, Neue Deutsche Welle and new wave. To this day, F.S.K. consists of its founding members, whose primary artistic fields inform the band’s interdisciplinary approach: Thomas Meinecke is a novelist, Michaela Melián is an artist and professor at the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg, Justin Hoffmann is the director of the Wolfsburg Art Society and Wilfried Petzi works as a photographer. Musically, the band operates with great stylistic freedom and curiosity, experimenting with different forms and genres, including elements of schlager music, folk, electropop and techno. With Meinecke’s lyrics, special emphasis is also placed on the textual aspects of the songs. After a quieter time following their album Akt, eine Treppe hinabsteigend (2012), the band returned in 2017 with their new record titled Ein Haufen Scheiß und ein zertrümmertes Klavier.

In 1977, Vic Godard, singer of the early British punk band Subway Sect, described their sound and attitude, “We oppose all rock ‘n’ roll, avoid all these clichés.” Subway Sect were one of the more distinctive acts to emerge from the first wave of UK punk, possessing a lean, primal sound. Godard and Rob Symmons (guitar) were fans of Northern Soul, and as the former dug deeper into songwriting, he embraced his interest in pop styles of the past and classic crooning; his 1980 album What’s the Matter Boy?, credited to Vic Godard & Subway Sect, reflected his new creative direction, as did 1982’s Songs for Sale, an homage to Cole Porter. In 1986, Godard released his first solo album, T.R.O.U.B.L.E., but he grew disillusioned with the music business and quit to become a postman. In the 1990s, Godard returned to music part-time and continued to write and record with a variety of collaborators, continuing and evolving in a punk sound, with DIY roots and influences from Northern Soul and 60ies pop.