Monday, 23 December 2019

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.

Tuesday, 4 June 2019

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.

Saturday, 25 May 2019

The Dee Day Do Mix!

It is the Dee Day Do! Celebrate Doctor John Dee with this new mix from the Wyrd Kalendar. With tracks from Damon Albarn, Roy Orbison, Pink Floyd, Arcade Fire, Elbow, Nick Drake, The White Stripes, Matt Berry, Black Sabbath, The Doors, David Bowie, Moon Wiring Club, Gavin Friday, The Velvet Underground, PM Dawn, The Cult, The Ruby Suns, Ivor Cutler, Rufus Wainwright, Scroobius Pip Versus Dan le Sac, The Dee Felicio Trio, X, Doris Day, Tir na nOg, Frank Zappa, Dolly Dolly, Soundhog, The Mortlake Bookclub and Mick Smiley. This mix also include extracts from Derek Jarman's "Jubilee", the Wyrd Kalendar and an interview with Peter Jimerson of the Fork Horror Revival.

Dee Day Do - The Dee Gallery by Andy Paciorek

The next event of the Dee Day Do is a look at the art of Andy Paciorek...

The sketches from "Presences" are those of faces he "saw hypnagogically on the edge of sleep at a time he had been reading The Book of Enoch and which he subsequentally associated with the Grigori - The Watchers ~ angels that Kelley and Dee communicated with."

Also included in this collection is a portrait of Dee from The Mirror Obsidian book project and a picture of Necromancers from the Strange Lands book.

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...

Monday, 20 May 2019

The Dee Day Do Online Festival - Saturday May 25th


Wyrd Kalendar and  Folk Horror Revival are joining forces to bring you a mini online festival in honour of the great Doctor John Dee. It was on this day that Doctor Dee royal astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I was able to look into the future using his scrying mirror.

Celebrate this event by joining in our special Dee Day Do!

Marvel at  Dr Dee's actual mirror at the British Museum in Jim Peters' special presentation!
Dance, jig and sway to the Wyrd Kalendar Dee Day do mix!
Watch A Dr Dee Documentary with fellow Dee fans!
Make your own Scrying mirror!

You can keep up with all of these events as they happen right here on the Wyrd Kalendar blog or on the Folk Horror Revival Facebook group.

While you wait catch up with all things Dee right here...

Sunday, 3 March 2019

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.

Sunday, 24 February 2019

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.


Wednesday, 20 February 2019

Nickanan Night will coming knocking soon...


Nickanan Night is a musical mix  from the Wyrd Kalendar celebrating all things Shrove. 
From the Bacon Butties of Collop Monday, to the Ginger Knocking traditions associated with Nickanan Night and the over consumption of pancakes – this promises to be a filling treat.

Sunday, 3 February 2019

Wander the Spectral Fields - Mix 3 - Chapters 27-39

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 third of four mixes dedicated to this new book. This mix explores chapters 27-39 through music, sound and key extracts, acting as an accompaniment or, if you will allow, an aural appendix.

 Buy the book here.

 Discover the delights of MacGillivray, Vashti Bunyan, Anne Briggs, The Owl Service, Audrey Copard, Watersons, David Cain, Howlround, Classroom Projects, Kate Bush, Jonathan Hodge, Roger Whittaker, Christopher Gunning, Pierre Arvay, John Williams, COI, Magpahi, Jane Weaver, Paper Dollhouse and The Eccentronic Research Council.

Monday, 7 January 2019

It’s January 7th! POUR A BUCKET OF WATER ON A MAN’S HEAD! (Then get back to work!)


January 7th is Saint Distaff’s Day!*
Traditionally this is the last day before we go back to work.
Men will burn the flax.
Women will soak them with water.
Then it’s back to work tomorrow!

*Please note Saint Distaff never existed. He was made up by weavers as an excuse to have one final party…

As the old hymn goes:
Partly work and partly play
Ye must, on St. Distaff's day;
From the plough soon free your team,
Then come home and fodder them;
If the maids a spinning go,
Burn the flax and fire the tow.
Bring in pails of water then,
Let the maids bewash the men.
Give St. Distaff all the right,
Then bid Christmas sport good night,
And next morrow every one
To his own vocation


Tuesday, 1 January 2019

Have you drunk "The Cream of the Well"?


Launch Day! The Wyrd Kalendar Album is Released



You can buy the album right here, right now...

WYRD KALENDAR

Released by Mega Dodo

Edited and curated by Chris Lambert
Mastered by Chris Sharp
Book written by Chris Lambert
Illustrations and artwork by Andy Paciorek
 
Available to buy from January 1st 2019 from Mega Dodo
CD and digital download
 
www.mega-dodo.co.uk
www.wyrdkalendar.blogspot.com
 
All profits from the sale of Wyrd Kalendar will go to Cancer Research UK.
 
Following the success of “Songs from the Black Meadow” in 2016 Mega Dodo and Chris Lambert are proud to present Wyrd Kalendar, a new Book and CD release. This will be released on January 1st the beginning of the next Wyrd year.
 
Wyrd Kalendar takes the year as its starting point weaving from dark and forgotten traditions stories and music to delight, disturb and escape into.
 
Artists from the England, Scotland, Ireland and Portugal were each given a month of the year and a story from the book (Wyrd Kalendar) as a starting point from which to create a vastly eclectic and evocative mix of genres that sweep from the worlds of Folk to Electronica via Psychedelic licks and lost Horror Soundtracks.
 
Each month is presented by a different artist.
January: Widow’s Weeds (lead by Grey Malkin formerly of The Hare and the Moon) give us their occult tinged hymn to that month in Song for January.
February: Electronic wizard Keith Seatman explores the strange world of the Three Day Girl forever doomed to experience the missing days of that truncated month.
March: Psych-Folk singer Emily Jones brings to life the words of her long dead ancestor in Waiting for Spring.
April: Psychedelic Queen of Spring - Crystal Jaqueline plays us all for fools as she goes Chasing the Gowk.
May: Ghost Box’s Beautify Junkyards charm us with their delicious and haunting May Day Eve.
June: Alison O’Donnell of Mellow Candle, Flibbertigibbet, Firefay and United Bible Studies teams up with David Colohan on her wasp celebration Deadly Nest.
July: Scarfolk collaborator and electronic ghost of Cold War Britain Concretismbrings to life A Fair by the Sea.
August: Icarus Peel explores lost love and yearning as he explores the words of the aching and humid The Weeping Will Walk.
September: Legendary Folk Rock duo Tir na nOg encourage us to raise a glass to Autumn with Columbine.
October: Wyrdstone explores the haunting rhythms of harvest in The Field.
November: The Soulless Party leave the Black Meadow to take us for a Dark November Drive.
December: The Rowan Amber Mill explore the darker side of Christmas with The Witch’s Lament.
The Year: The 13th track of the album is called Wyrd KalendarThe Mortlake Bookclub explore the world of the book and the year through their unusual aural game of Exquisite Corpse.
 
About:  Wyrd Kalendar – The Book
Open the Wyrd Kalendar and explore the year with eyes that are not your own…
 
Join Chris Lambert and Andy Paciorek as they guide you through the twelve months of the year weaving twelve tales of Magic, Murder, Terror, Love and the Wyrd.

Hold to the resolution in January…
Seek to do more with those missing days in February…
Avoid the madness of the March hare…
Become the fool in April…
Dance around Aunt May…
Protect and nurture the June bug…
Celebrate Grotto Day in July…
Fall in love and weep in August…
Let it all fall in September…
Prepare for the October harvest…
Avoid November sin…
Do not let December find you out…
 
“Gripping, sometimes terrifying but always surprising: this is the year described in the Wyrd Kalendar. Live it if you dare…” – Sebastian Baczkiewicz - Creator of BBC Radio 4’s “Pilgrim”
"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)
 
About:  Songs from the Black Meadow (Released by MegaDodo 2016)
“Songs From The Black Meadow is a deeply involving and atmospherically congruent undertaking, swathed in the beckoning hauntology of the fictitious-or-is-it Black Meadow itself.” – Record Collector
“Here’s a legend for a new kind of perception.” – DME
“Songs From The Black Meadow is a well-realized, immersive concept that will pull you in, and never let you go. It serves as an additional soundtrack for some damn fine horrors, and also stands alone as a weird, supernatural journey all its own.” – forestpunk
“Sometimes frivolous, sometimes chilling, let this be your entrance into one of modern acid folk’s most pervasive myths.” – Goldmine Magazine
Copyright © 2018 Mega Dodo, All rights reserved