The Tunnels Aberdeen

Friday 2^nd April | Doors 8.00pm

Tickets £10 in advance from One-Up, Phone Nr (01224)642662 or www.ticketweb.co.uk or £12 on door

Acoustic Ladyland

Bonding over a mutual distaste for musical sterility and an inclination toward the more exciting and dangerous end of modern music, Acoustic Ladyland have been blowing minds since their inception in 2001. The band is Pete Wareham (saxophone), the recently-joined Chris Sharkey (guitar) Ruth Goller (bass) and Sebastian Rochford (drums).
This fresh incarnation of Acoustic Ladyland sets the bar even higher than before and has arguably achieved their most potent and lucid album to date, the long-awaited Living With A Tiger (out July 6^th 2009).
With their legion of fans including discerning types like Scott Walker, Chris Morris and the Mighty Boosh, experiencing Acoustic Ladyland live is not to be missed.

“Acoustic Ladyland return with a ferocious, slash-and-burn, minimalist sound that already makes this a contender for alt. jazz album of the year.”
✭✭✭✭✭ TIME OUT

“ A ferociously good third set…sounds like a group cranked up on crystal meth.” ✭✭✭✭ MOJO

Benni Hemm Hemm , the band of Benedikt H. Hermannsson, hails from Iceland, and, in his own words, “is an organism that is hard to explain”. With 300 members in total, at most shows the band can swell from 3 to 40! BHH is set to release his 3rd EP, ‘Retaliate’, in April this year, which will be the first to be sung entirely in English. Jubilant indie-pop at its best. We say jà!

www.myspace.com/bennihemmhemm

The Tunnels are very excited to welcome A Genuine Freakshow to our fair city this evening – “a seven-piece experimental post-everything pop bonanza”. The Reading septet are famed for their eclectic and engaging gigs, with tunes that belie their influences of Radiohead, Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky and Sigur Ros. Grand, gorgeous, and one gig you won’t want to miss.

www.myspace.com/agenuinefreakshow

York based metalcore band, Glamour of the Kill, are currently screaming about on their UK tour, which will preview new material from their upcoming debut album, ‘The Summoning’. Having played last year at Sonisphere, and toured with Glasgow band, Yashin, GOTK have honed their craft and are ready to raise the roof at The Tunnels.

This female-fronted indiepop band from Cardiff have been proclaimed “The joint best Welsh pop band EVER!” And if that’s not enough to pique your interest, then perhaps the fact that they produce infectious, Belle & Sebastian cum Phil Spectoresque loveliness, and their debut album, due for release this month, boasts cameos from Saint Etienne, Stars, The Field Mice and Shampoo. Lush!

www.myspace.com/theschoolband

Richmond Fontaine are a four piece alt-country band hailing from Oregon. Citing influences as Gram Parsons, Green on Red and Dave Alvin, Richmond Fontaine have garnered rave reviews following the release of their 8th studio album, ‘We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River’. Lead singer, Willy Vlautin, is also a well respected member of the literati having published a number of novels, including The Motel Life.

www.myspace.com/richmondfontaine

Donny, Dirk and co are back! A band that need no introduction – the Towers of London have returned to The Tunnels for another slice of punk, rock n’roll, action. Maybe.

www.myspace.com/towersoflondon

www.myspace.com/christtuk

A man that needs no introduction. A spoken word genius, a folk wonder, a modern day Blake.

Chris TT is an inspiration, the Mayor of London’s Underground (music scene).

He will be playing at The Tunnels on Sunday 26th October 2009.

www.myspace.com/dollandthekicks

Energetic, frenetic, disco pop punk comes courtesy of Doll and her Kicks. With Kate bush vocals, plenty of attitude and some killer tunes, Doll and The Kicks are a force to be reckoned with.

And with a UK tour in full swing, as well as a support slot with none other than Morrissey under their belt, this band look set for big things.

Doll & The Kicks are playing on Wednesday 14th October 2009.

Willard Grant Conspiracy is the musical collective that surrounds songwriter Robert Fisher.

With their last five records (Regard the End, Everything’s Fine, Mojave, Flying Low, and 3am Sunday At Fortune Otto’s) and their brand new album Let it Roll, the band has quietly gone about putting together one of the most impressive catalogs in the alt.country / post punk-folk rockgenres.

The records have been met with critical acclaim and have been included in many critical best-of lists. The band has a loose configuration that allows its members to be involved as they are available, in order to support all of their musical and life interests. But make no mistake–this is ensemble playing and a real band no matter how many participants are present.

Currently based in the California desert where Robert lives, musicians from Massachusetts, Arizona, New York, London, Holland, and Japan are all part of the whole depending on who can play, when the playing begins and where the tour ends. This flexible lineup along with a dedication to improvisational playing ensures that every show is truly unique.

Tim and Sam’s the Tim and Sam band with Tim and Sam will be playing on Friday 26th September.

ManchesterEveningNews: “The Manc oufit make music as snug as a warm winter blanket; all folk-drenched pastoral psychedelia with an extra sprinkling of ethereal wooziness.”

The Guardian: Recommended new music. “Like listening to Sigur Rós, without the worry of deciphering Hopelandic.”

Rock Sound: “Carefully crafted instrumental indie that twists and turns with folky wonder.”

Clash Music: “Wonderfully Gonzales styled Balearic instrumental pop. Curious, longing, elegant, romantic, a Working For A Nuclear Free City sans the techno elements, Join The Dots is an emotive, resonant track that wouldn’t feel out of place on the first Café Del Mar album.”

Misery Signals will be playing on Friday 25th September.

 Misery Signals are riding high off of their recently released sophomore full-length, Mirrors, on Ferret Music.

The album has received a deluge of critical acclaim and fan praise over the past months. Feature coverage and review galore including being named as Alternative Press’s 100 BANDS YOU NEED TO KNOW 2007 have yielded such quotes as and

“Let’s face it: A lot of metal-roar-core acts don’t mix in Sigur Ros-esque ambient breaks within the kind of gut-wrenching boom you’ll find on the Signals’ recent disc, Mirrors.”

“A relentlessly ambitious melodic, metal core band with a knack for exhausting members with their take-no-prisoners touring schedule.”

Trapped in Kansas will be playing on Wednesday 23rd September.

It says a lot for the guitar-bass-drums format that it can still produce music that’s practically devoid of stylistic precedents. OK, so most pub circuit bands are more likely to be a loose fitting stitch-up of The Libertines, The Jam and Kasabian, but occasionally a group uses the tried and tested set-up to inflict devastatingly original sounds.

One such band is Trapped in Kansas, an Ayr/Glasgow-based quartet who formed just over a year ago while at university. UtR has already called them “Scotland’s most accomplished math rock act”, an accolade which has less to do with long division than it does minimalistic alt-rock.

Humanzi will play on Monday 21st September in Tunnel 2.

It’s almost 2 years since Humanzi disappeared off the radar.

The band took a step back from the hype that surrounded them, said goodbye to their native Dublin and decamped to Berlin, Germany.

Immediately they found a creative space and began writing their second album. The album was eventually recorded in a derelict DDR radio broadcasting station used by the East German government up until the fall of communism in 1989.

The writing and recording process was a slow and studious one in which Humanzi have redefined their sound. The result treads a dark, industrial but ultimately hopeful lyrical landscape. Out of isolation great beauty has come, from the heart of a kingdom of ghosts beats a sickening pulse….

HUMANZI ARE BACK.

New York electronic rock group, Glint, have built up a dedicated fanbase in the underground music scene for their Bowie and Eno style sounds that have also drawn comparisons with Mogwai, Portishead and Muse. Deemed an  ”irresistible live act in the electronic art rock scene” by Billboard Magazine, this gig may be the perfect antidote to those Sunday night/Monday morning blues.

And if Glint weren’t enough, they will also be joined by ex-Aberdeen lads, Atlas Skye, who have previously been plying their trade in Drive By Argument. Their return headline show was a sell-out in May, so get tickets for this show fast!

 In 2007 they signed a contract with Mercury Records. The band played both 2007 T in the Park and Glastonbury festivals and have attracted a fanbase and media attention extending well outside their Scottish base.

Xfm Scotland’s Jim Gellatly has marked the band as one of his favourites for 2007.They have recently drawn further praise from former Creation Records  boss Alan McGee who is keen to replicate the success he claims for discovering Oasis weather or not the band show extreme promise

Prior to the release of their first album, the band were chosen to support Oasis on the four Scottish dates and also to support The Fratellis on the full UK tour.  Recently sergeant supported Oasis on their stadium tour at Murrayfield.

Joining us en route to Rockness, Glastonbury, Latitude, Lovebox, Bestival…phew!…Wave Machines will be bringing to The Tunnels a night of ‘lo-fi art disco’.

With comparisons made of the Mersyside musos’ to Hot Chip and their sound “like a theme tune to a Michael Gondry animation”, you know you’re in for a night of great things. Hell, even Kanye West has blogged about them! And if that’s not enough to whet your appetite, the gig sees another opportunity to hear those lovely Little Kicks lads this month! Enjoy

Viking Moses are a strange beast of a band/Man. The darling of the London alt-folk scene, though ‘not quite folk, not quite soul’, Viking Moses is known for his story telling genius and shows that often require audience participation. Having played with Cat Power and Devendra Banhart (who included him on the now semi-legendary The Golden Apples of the Sun compilation), Viking Moses is a must for all fans of freak-folk and Dolly Parton.

A man that requires absolutely no introduction. Malcolm Middleton, no longer just known as one half of Arab Strap, has earned himself a place as one of the most prolific and important Scottish singer songwriters of the time.

Enchanting us with his melancholic yet life affirming acoustic balladry from critically acclaimed new album ‘Waxing Gibbous’ (which will apparently be his last solo effort for a while), and with support from the Pictish Trail, this is one gig that you definitely don’t want to miss.