March - A Live Reading of "The Crucified Hare"

 

"The Crucified Hare" is the March set story from "Wyrd Kalendar. 

This is a live reading from March 27th 2021. 

Written and performed by Chris Lambert

February - "February the 31st" - A reading by Kate Abery

 

Kate Abery reads "February the 31st" from various exotic locations in and around Dubai. "February the 31st" is taken from "Wyrd Kalendar".

Decorate your milk pail! It's Kit Dressing Day!

It is August the 4th.

The sun is shining.

The cattle are lowing.

And you the hearty milk-maid are ready for the kit-dressing.

You have your best kit (pail) and you have wound intricate twigs of willow around the handle and the sides.

Into these you insert flowers, silk and muslin ribbons and other trinkets.

Then you join the procession to the willow tree.

The Kit dressing ritual of August 4th is the inspiration behind the Wyrd Kalendar story "The Weeping will Walk" which you can purchase here.

This also inspired Icarus Peel to create this tune for the August track of the Wyrd Kalendar album.

Review of Wyrd Kalendar - Album and Book - The Sunday Experience

In his review of the Wyrd Kalendar  project Mark Barton describes the Wyrd Kalendar album as "an immaculate set that gathers together thirteen like-minded alchemists operating in the disciplines of folk, psych and hauntology". 

He praises the various wonderful artists throughout for example describing Wyrdstone's track as "touchingly drifting n’ dreamy" and Rowan Amber Mill's track as"utterly beguiling."

Of the book he says: "a collection of ghostly prose recanting tales of bewitchment and sorcery from an ancestral past long forgotten yet whose ancient hand still reaches from the shadows to today, captivating and creepy..."

You can read the two part review here and then the second part here...

You can still buy the digital album and book. All profits for the album go to Cancer Research. Profits for the book go to Wildlife Trusts.

Divining Moments - Alison O'Donnell and David Colohan - June Wyrd Artists

Join Alison O'Donnell and David Colohan (aka United Bible Studies), our Wyrd Artists for June for two performances this month in the UK! You can catch them at the Babar Cafe as part of Weirdshire on Thursday 27th June and at the Leigh on Sea Folk Festival on June 30th.

They created an incredible piece of music "Deadly Nest"  for the Wyrd Kalendar album inspired by the story "June Bug".

You can hear it and buy the album here.

4 Star Review from Shindig Magazine for Wyrd Kalendar Book and Album

 We are very pleased to share the 4 star review from Shindig Magazine for the Wyrd Kalendar Book and Album.
They said:
"The etching-like pen-and-ink illustrations by Paciorek, the founder of the Folk Horror Revival project and its Wyrd Harvest Press publishing offshoot, perfectly capture the uncanny imagery of the tales, as do the 12 tracks on the accompanying CD..."
"...this package represents a thriving literary and musical counter-culture."
Keep it Wyrd!
You can buy the book here.
You can buy the album here.

Wrap up warm - The Winter Mix Is Here...

Join the Kalendar Host this Winter for a delicious collection of wintry treats. Words from Wyrd Kalendar, Darren Charles and Howard Ingham mingle with music from the likes of The Incredible String Band, Pentangle, Moon Wiring Club, Tir na nOg, Keith Seatman, Sleeps in Oysters, Cleo Laine, Haushka, Sean Wesche, Atomic Rooster, Medieval Babes, Belle and Sebastian, Frank Zappa, Simon and Garfunkel, Aztec Camera, Family, Joy Division, Muddy Waters, Timo Hanninen, Panu Aatilo, David Cain, The Chills, The Fall, Vashti Bunyan, Wayne Slawson, John Williams, White Stripes, Gustavo Santolalla, Sigur Ros, Caravan, Kate Bush, The Tea Party, Danny Elfman, The Mamas and the Papas, Animal Collective, Pete and the Pirates, Gorillaz, Grouper, The Impressions and The Divine Comedy.



Buy the Wyrd Kalendar book.

Buy the Wyrd Kalendar Album.

Wyrd Kalendar - The Book and CD together at last

Mmmmmm tasty Wyrd Kalendar goodness... the CD (currently on pre-order) and book are both available to buy... yum - good aural and visual Folk Horror eating all the year round...

Proceeds from the sale of the book go to Wildlife Trusts. You can buy it here...

Proceeds from the sale of the CD go to Cancer Research UK.You can buy it here...

Winter is Coming...

The Wyrd Kalendar Album - Year Artist - The Mortlake Bookclub

Last year we prepared for the publication of the book Wyrd Kalendar...

This year we are making ready an album of  the same name...

This new album will contain 13 tracks - 12 of which will be related to the stories from the book and the month of the year. The album will be released by the very groovy Mega Dodo (who released Songs from the Black Meadow in 2016). All profits from the album will go to charity.

The artists have been given a month each, a copy of the linked story and Andy Paciorek's picture to give them a starting point and away they go!

We are very proud to reveal that the artist for special bonus track The Year are hauntological ritualists The Mortlake Bookclub who have created a track based on the whole year and all of the various stories contained within The Wyrd Kalendar...

The Mortlake Book Club were and are; Antony Ralph Wealls, Darren Charles, Grey Malkin and Melmoth The Wanderer. All tracks were begun by individual members of the Bookclub and, inspired and directed by the surrealist parlour game Exquisite Corpse, were then added to by the others without knowledge of what each was contributing.

'You know what the problem is with modern music? There’s not enough secret societies, gathering in the shadows to make deliciously dismal sounds, which they then unleash upon a world which… well, you can fill in your own blanks. And it’s about time we said enough is enough. About time we joined the Mortlake Bookclub. Who may be a bunch of avid readers who meet every Wednesday night in a corner of southwest London, to discuss the latest Scandinavian murder mystery. Or may not. Because all we really know about them are four unrepentant slabs of echoing dissonance and mystery that find the middle ground between folk, electronics and the ghostly sounds of shortwave radio, and then stir them into something that sounds nothing like any of them. Spoken word tells stories that you may or may not want to listen to, and the night rides in on wired electric broomsticks. And the cowled and darkened figures, bookclubbers one and all, drift out of unearthly earshot as the final echo turns the page, and yes. Your bookmark did just bite you.' (Dave Thompson, Goldmine Magazine)

More information about the album and our other monthly artists will be released throughout 2018...

While you wait check out the creeping horror that is Mysteriorum Libri Quinque.

The Wyrd Kalendar Album - December Artist - The Rowan Amber Mill

Last year we prepared for the publication of the book Wyrd Kalendar...

This year we are making ready an album of  the same name...

This new album will contain 13 tracks - 12 of which will be related to the stories from the book and the month of the year. The album will be released by the very groovy Mega Dodo (who released Songs from the Black Meadow in 2016). All profits from the album will go to charity.

The artists have been given a month each, a copy of the linked story and Andy Paciorek's picture to give them a starting point and away they go!

We are very proud to reveal that the artist for December is psych-folk band The Rowan Amber  Mill who have created a track based on the month of December and the story "Santa Claus and the  Witch".

Since 2007 The Rowan Amber Mill have been purveyors of Woodland Folkadelica/alt-Folk. Releases include: "folk devils & moral panics", "midsummers" and "Heartwood". The Book of the Lost (with Emily Jones). Silent Night Songs (with Angeline Morrison).The folk horror collection Harvest the Ears. The synth album Follows Shortly (as Making Tea For Robots). They are half of Rowan:Morrison. They also appear on a plethora of compilation albums.

More information about the album and our other monthly artists will be released throughout 2018...

While you wait check out the incredible lost soundtrack to "The Book of the Lost".

Wyrd Kalendar Album Available for Pre-Order

The Wyrd Kalendar Album is now available for Pre-Order!  All profits go to Cancer Research UK.

With music from Widow's Weeds, Keith Seatman, Emily Jones, The Rowan Amber Mill, Tir na nOg, Beautify Junkyards, Alison O'Donnell, The Mortlake Bookclub, Wyrdstone, The Soulless Party, Concretism,  Crystal Jacqueline, Icarus Peel. Details here...

The Wyrd Kalendar Album - November Artist - The Soulless Party

Last year we prepared for the publication of the book Wyrd Kalendar...

This year we are making ready an album of  the same name...

This new album will contain 13 tracks - 12 of which will be related to the stories from the book and the month of the year. The album will be released by the very groovy Mega Dodo (who released Songs from the Black Meadow in 2016). All profits from the album will go to charity.

The artists have been given a month each, a copy of the linked story and Andy Paciorek's picture to give them a starting point and away they go!

We are very proud to reveal that the artist for November are electronica hauntolgists The Soulless Party who have created a track based on the month of November and the poem "All Saint's Day".

The Soulless Party venture forth on their quest to explore (and colonise) the analogue universe. They released their EP “Exploring Radio Space” in March 2011, and followed up this up by creating the album 'Electronic Encounters'. Working with other artists, this album was a tribute to the movie 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'

The Soulless Party went onto create the critically lauded "Tales from the Black Meadow" an expansive work that has so far spawned an album, documentary, book and play. 

Read the Starburst Magazine review here.

More information about the album and our other monthly artists will be released throughout 2018...

While you wait check out the wonder that is Tales from the Black Meadow.

The Wyrd Kalendar Album - October Artist - Wyrdstone

Last year we prepared for the publication of the book Wyrd Kalendar...

This year we are making ready an album of  the same name...

This new album will contain 13 tracks - 12 of which will be related to the stories from the book and the month of the year. The album will be released by the very groovy Mega Dodo (who released Songs from the Black Meadow in 2016). All profits from the album will go to charity.

The artists have been given a month each, a copy of the linked story and Andy Paciorek's picture to give them a starting point and away they go!

We are very proud to reveal that the artist for October is psych-folk guitar wizard Wyrdstone  who has created a track based on the month of October and the story "The Field".

Wyrdstone is the work of multi-instrumentalist Clive Murrell.
Psych-folk guitar / ambient / drone sounds inspired by the beauty and myth that surrounds the English countryside.

His incredible music evokes a mythical landscape of mist, moors, trees and spirits hidden in the furrows and dells.

His first release Cuffern is a thing of real beauty and elegance. This was followed by the incredible Potemkin Village Fayre which The Active Listener described as "an album of rare creativity, beauty, wonder and emotional impact."

More information about the album and our other monthly artists will be released throughout 2018...

While you wait check out the wonder that is Potemkin Village Fayre.

The Wyrd Kalendar Album - September Artist - Tír na nÓg

Last year we prepared for the publication of the book Wyrd Kalendar...

This year we are making ready an album of  the same name...

This new album will contain 13 tracks - 12 of which will be related to the stories from the book and the month of the year. The album will be released by the very groovy Mega Dodo (who released Songs from the Black Meadow in 2016). All profits from the album will go to charity.

The artists have been given a month each, a copy of the linked story and Andy Paciorek's picture to give them a starting point and away they go!

We are very proud to reveal that the artist for September are the prog-folk legends Tír na nÓg  who have created a track based on the month of September and the story "Ashley and  Ashley".

Tír na nÓg is a phrase from Gaelic mythology which translates into ‘land of eternal youth’. Tír na nÓg is also the name that Sonny Condell and Leo O’Kelly adopted when their musical paths fortuitously crossed in 1969. The resulting mix was a magical potion of rich and varied sounds and idioms that was unique and completely different to anything else on the music scene at the time.

They are a hugely influential folk band responsible for the psych-folk classic albums such as Tír na nÓg, A Tear and a Smile, Strong in the Sun and their BBC Radio 1 sessions from 1972 and 1973.

They have continued to gig ever since and have produced several very fine Live Albums including Live at the Half Moon released by MegaDodo.

Their most recent album is "The Dark Dance" which Prog Magazine described as "an acoustically mounted piece of great refinement, on a record often embellished by strings and moments of eastern promise'’

More information about the album and our other monthly artists will be released throughout 2018...

While you wait check out some fantastic tracks from their live album...

The Wyrd Kalendar Album - August Artist - Icarus Peel

Last year we prepared for the publication of the book Wyrd Kalendar...

This year we are making ready an album of  the same name...

This new album will contain 13 tracks - 12 of which will be related to the stories from the book and the month of the year. The album will be released by the very groovy Mega Dodo (who released Songs from the Black Meadow in 2016). All profits from the album will go to charity.

The artists have been given a month each, a copy of the linked story and Andy Paciorek's picture to give them a starting point and away they go!

We are very proud to reveal that the artist for August is the deeply groovy psychedelic god Icarus Peel who has created a track based on the month of August and the story "The Weeping Will Walk".

Icarus Peel has been leading West-country psych sensations The Honey Pot and writing songs for Crystal Jacqueline for several years. Somehow, he's also found time to record several solo albums including Tea at My Gaffe, Sunflower Army and Sing!!. His first two albums have distinct flavours of their own. Tea at My Gaffe is a collection of mainly shorter, idiosyncratic songs with an obviously English flavour, while Sunflower Army blends a big rock sounds with a more rustic feel.

His most recent album is "The Window On The Side of Your Head". Released by MegaDodo this work contains a sound that is "deep, groove ridden and loud."


 Check out and buy his earlier work here at MegaDodo
More information about the album and our other monthly artists will be released throughout 2018...
While you wait check out some fantastic tracks from this earlier deeply groovesome work...

The Autumn Mix

Join the Kalendar Host this Autumn for a delicious collection of harvest treats. Words from Wyrd Kalendar, Darren Charles and Howard Ingham mingle with music from the likes of Matt Berry, Moon Wiring Club, Nick Drake, Ivor  Cutler, Heslington Primary School, John Barry, Beth Orton, Bridget St. John, Emil Richards, Tricky, Bobby Darin, Mark Barnes, Francoise Hardy, The Dandy Warhols, The Vines, Jon Hopkins, Strawbs, Pulp, Jeff Buckley, Gene Moore, Hi Tension, Pink Floyd, Nat King Cole, Lee Hazelwood, Lonesome Wyatt & the Holy Spooks, Pacific, New Model Army, The Overlanders, Barbara Streisand, The Kinks, XTC, Moondog, Cleaners from Venus, Donna Summer, Kirsty MacColl, God is an Astronaut, Allah Las, Airhead, Forest, Frontier Ruckus, Small Faces, The Spotnicks, Reverend & the Makers, David Cain and Autumn.

Buy the Wyrd Kalendar book here. 

The Wyrd Kalendar album is coming soon...

The Wyrd Kalendar Album - July Artist - Concretism

Last year we prepared for the publication of the book Wyrd Kalendar...

This year we are making ready an album of  the same name...

This new album will contain 13 tracks - 12 of which will be related to the stories from the book and the month of the year. The album will be released by the very groovy Mega Dodo (who released Songs from the Black Meadow in 2016). All profits from the album will go to charity.

The artists have been given a month each, a copy of the linked story and Andy Paciorek's picture to give them a starting point and away they go!

We are very proud to reveal that the artist for July is the darkly chilling Concretism who has created a track based on the month of July and the story "Grotto Day". Concretism creates fascinating and haunting work that explores a half-remembered 1970's landscape of Nuclear Power stations and Rabies Warnings. It is a beautiful and disturbing world that is well worth getting lost in.

His most recent album is "For Concrete and Country". Released by Castles in Space this work is astonishing and deeply evocative of the grey brutalism of an imagined apocalypse.


 Check out and buy his earlier work here...
More information about the album and our other monthly artists will be released throughout 2018...
While you wait check out some fantastic tracks from this earlier chilling work...

Scream Magazine Review of Wyrd Kalendar! - "If you like your scare fare laced with imagination, surprise, and plenty of spine-tingling moments, I cannot recommend this enough"

Scream Magazine - Available online, internationally and from the shelves of WHSmith.

Superb news from the World of Wyrd Kalendar  this month with a lovely review in Issue 49 of Scream Magazine.

This four star review really captures the feel of the book and its rich variety:
"There's a story here for all horror tastes, from the understated to the gruesome and everything in between."
"Those with a fondness for horror's rich folk heritage will find plenty to enjoy here, but what's most impressive about Wyrd  Kalendar is how both Lambert and Paciorek have captured the spirit and mood of each month in their storytelling."
"If you like your scare fare laced with imagination, surprise, and plenty of spine-tingling moments, I cannot recommend this enough."
Kieran Fisher - Scream Magazine Issue 49 July/Aug 2018 (pp 94-95)

The Wyrd Kalendar Album - June Artist - Alison O'Donnell

Last year we prepared for the publication of the book Wyrd Kalendar...

This year we are making ready an album of  the same name...

This new album will contain 13 tracks - 12 of which will be related to the stories from the book and the month of the year. The album will be released by the very groovy Mega Dodo (who released Songs from the Black Meadow in 2016). All profits from the album will go to charity.

The artists have been given a month each, a copy of the linked story and Andy Paciorek's picture to give them a starting point and away they go!

Last year we prepared for the publication of the book Wyrd Kalendar...

This year we are making ready an album of  the same name...

This new album will contain 13 tracks - 12 of which will be related to the stories from the book and the month of the year. The album will be released by the very groovy Mega Dodo (who released Songs from the Black Meadow in 2016). All profits from the album will go to charity.

The artists have been given a month each, a copy of the linked story and Andy Paciorek's picture to give them a starting point and away they go!

We are very proud to reveal that the artist for June is the incredible Alison O'Donnell who with David Colohan has created a track based on the month of June and the story "June Bug". Alison O'Donnell is an incredible artist who most recently worked as a solo artist on her recent climb sheer the fields of peace album an incredible piece of haunting folk. She has also collaborated very successfully with Firefay and United Bible Studies on various albums.

Alison is a singer, musician, writer of songs & soundscapes. She is a collaborator in a number of bands across folk, trad, alternative & cross genres. Her long career goes back to Mellow Candle as a teenager. She is a student of United Bible Studies. Her songs are meaningful and frequently pastoral and poetic, sung with passion and heart.

Check out her earlier work from 1977 with Flibbertigibbet...

More information about the album and our other monthly artists will be released throughout 2018...

While you wait for the Wyrd Kalendar to arrive do check out the wonderful sounds of Climb the Sheer Fields of Peace. You can buy all of her albums here. Ensure that you do!