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.

Dee Day Do Doc!

I hope you had a Dee-licious lunch! Now before you have a slice of Soul cake and a cup of Dee settle down with this Channel Four Documentary - "Masters of Darkness - John Dee"  Let's watch it together! Tell us what you think below!

Dee Day Do! Make your Cut out and Keep Scrying Mirror!

It's the Dee Day Do!
Now before we break for a Dee-licious lunch it's time for some collective colouring! Wyrd Kalendar have made a special Scrying Mirror kit just for you! Get your best black crayons out!  

Tickets for the next corporeal Folk Horror Festival in Whitby are available to purchase here...

It's Dee Day!

It's Dee Day!
It's time for the Dee Day Do!

To launch this special day Phil Breach has written a poem just for Doctor Dee.

The Dee Day Do

Phil Breach

I met him down in Mortlake when the Sun stood still.

It's the Dee Day Do Day!

The Dee Day Do!

And we sang a Song of Summer on the Primrose Hill.

It's the Dee Day Do Day!

The Dee Day Do!

O how the morn was chill!

O he had such a skill!

But I swear that we did no ill.

It's the Dee Day Do Day!

The Dee Day Do!

In Enochian he canted at the Solstice sky.

It's the Dee Day Do Day!

The Dee Day Do!

And I heard the voice of angels as they made reply.

It's the Dee Day Do Day!

The Dee Day Do!

O let me testify!

O how the flames leapt high!

I saw the mighty angels fly.

It's the Dee Day Do Day!

The Dee Day Do!

We sang that Song of Summer with the Wingéd Choir.

It's the Dee Day Do Day!

The Dee Day Do!

And he told me of the founding of a great empire.

It's the Dee Day Do Day!

The Dee Day Do!

O it was his great desire!

O how he did inspire!

That morn at the Solstice fire.

It's the Dee Day Do Day!

You can listen to it here read by the Kalendar Host...

Nickanan Night - A Wyrd Kalendar Mix

This Shrovetide feast on the collop and the pancake before knocking on doors and running away as part of Nickanan Night! Let this be your soundtrack to eggs, flour, bacon and mischief.

As well as insightful words on Shrovetide from Jim Moon's excellent March folklore podcast (which you can subscribe to here), this also contains tracks by Spike Milligan, The White Stripes, The Medical Mission Sisters, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Dean Martin, The Doors, David Bowie, Top of the Poppers, Matt Berry, Rob Bravery, Bob Dylan, The Future Sound of London, Ivor Cutler, The Seahorses, The Honey Pot, David Arnold, Danny John-Jules, Sendelica, Rhett and Link, The Orb, Jaded, Dany Rosevear and Frank Zappa.

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.

Winter is Coming...

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 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 Autumn Mix is coming...

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 - May Artist - Beautify Junkyards

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 May is the incredible Beautify Junkyards who have created a track based on the month of May and the story "May Pole". Beautify Junkyards create very haunting beautiful songs as you can see from their first album released in 2013. It was their fantastic cover of Nick Drake's "From the Morning" from this album that first brought them to my attention.

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 The Beast Shouted Love... You can buy all of their albums here. Ensure that you do!

Spectral Fields - Mix 1

The Kalendar Host has been reading.

He has found himself lost in “A Year in the Country -  Wandering Through Spectral Fields” by Stephen Prince. This incredible work has inspired a new journey out of the Kalendar Heath and across these Spectral Fields to discover music, ideas, stories, folk horror jaunts, hauntological treats and nostalgic terror.

This is the first of four mixes dedicated to this new book. This mix explores chapters 1-13 through music, sound and key extracts, acting as an accompaniment or, if you will allow, an aural appendix.

You can buy the book here...

Discover the delights of the Albion Country Band, John Martyn, David Bowie, The Sally-Angie, Trader Horne, Demdike Stare, Howlround, Belbury Poly, The Advisory Circle, Hoofus, Lubos Fiser, Frog, Broadcast and the Focus Group, Jugg, The Soulless Party, The Rowan Amber Mill and Emily Jones, Magnet, Broadcast, Pulp, Sneaker Pimps, The Owl Service, Ultravox, Strawberry Switchblade and Nik Kershaw. As well as this you will be able to experience soundtracks from War Games, The Owl Service, The Changes, Sky, Penda’s Fen and many many more…

April - A Mix For Fools

To celebrate April Fools and Easter Day conjoining in disharmony enjoy the April  mix that contains extracts from "Chasing the Gowk" the April story for Wyrd Kalendar and explore some of our April discoveries here...

Beware the Fool.

As you wander the Kalendar Heath this month do not let the fool lead you astray. He will lead you a merry dance as you, the Gowk, lose yourself in a mysterious maze of musical magic.

Whilst Jon Neill and Chris Lambert bring to life extracts from Wyrd Kalendar story "Chasing the Gowk" you will be tricked and delighted by the likes of the Cocteau Twins, June Tabor, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, Frank Churchill and Larry Morey’s “Bambi” soundtrack, David Cain and Ronald Duncan, Fiona Shaw and T.S. Eliot, Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66, Patti Smith, Simon and Garfunkel, Aretha Franklin, The Divine Comedy, The Stone Roses, Prince, George Michael, A-ha, Supertramp, Genesis, Pat Boone, Sandy Rogers, Frank Zappa, Tom McRae, Loudon Wainwright III and Rufus Wainwright.

The Wyrd Kalendar Album - March Artist - Emily Jones

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 March is the incredible Emily Jones who has created a track based on the month of March and the story "The Crucified Hare". We worked with Emily Jones on Songs from the Black Meadow in 2016 in which she created the haunting "Dark Moss and Coldheart". 

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

On Saturday 12th May Emily Jones is running A Spring Symposium in Salisbury which will include performances from Lake of Puppies, Kemper Norton and Emily herself as well as many others...  In the meantime enjoy the current album from Emily Jones entitled "Autumn Eye". Once you have listened to that check out the album and wider experience of "The Book of the Lost" which the Active Listener reviewed a few years ago. Visit her website here and immerse yourself further...  Revel in the haunting brilliance of Emily Jones...

The Wyrd Kalendar Album - January Artist - Widow's Weeds

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 January is the mysterious folk horror band "Widow's Weeds"with a track called "A Song for  January." Widow's Weeds are the brainchild of Grey Malkin who steered the wonderful band "The Hare and the Moon" through magick mists and ghostly glades until they shuffled off this mortal coil in 2017.

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

In the meantime enjoy this album from The Hare and the Moon entitled "The Grey Malkin".