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The sonorous, gothic and psychedelic folk of Sharron Kraus is supported by a trinity of drone/ambience this Friday, at Wharf Chambers, Leeds. Stellar lineup, cheap entry, cheap drinks! FB event page here. Fingers x’d Gretchen from Guttersnipe will play tunes between sets, too! Artwork based on a drawing by the brilliant sabbatic draughtsman Johnny Decker Miller - used with permission.

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Heading over the bleak moors in a month to share a stage with Primitive Knot and Wyrding Module, two of our absolute faves. 

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Alchemical hand-bell of Rudolf II. Fabricated from the seven planetary metals by Hans Bulla, circa 1600. http://www.khm.at/objektdb/detail/91976/?offset=0&lv=list

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William S. Burroughs on the lost art of calling the toads... (via David Metcalfe)

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“In this issue... disappointment" - Mental Science Magazine must have been flying off the shelves! via IAPSOP's periodical archive - http://www.iapsop.com/archive/materials/mental_science_denver/

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The Horseman’s Word: 20-minute mix containing songs and reminiscences of horsemen  from the George Ewart Evans collection (via British Library sound archives), 70s TV show The Moon Stallion, and some harmonium improvisations and other bits and pieces! https://www.mixcloud.com/phillegard/horsemans-word/

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It had to happen sometime... scribed by Simon Erl at MVL tattoo co-op in Leeds.

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John Pilgrim and Folk Horror Revival proudly present ‘Swansongs’, Saturday 12th May, an evening of haunting music at the Black Swan Inn, York featuring Sharron Kraus, Hawthonn and Sarah Dean.

Tickets for Swansongs are available now £10 + small booking fee from – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/swansongs-tickets-44059576379 Event is likely to sell out so please book soon to avoid disappointment.

More information: https://folkhorrorrevival.com/2018/03/11/swansongs/

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Instruments for future albums: magic bells from 'Concerning the divine magic or cabalistic mysteries' - a compilation of magic mirrors, spirit bells & celestially animated statues. This English translation from the collection of the late Robert Lenkiewicz, hosted at Embassy of the Free Mind/Ritman Library:  http://embassyofthefreemind.com/nl/collectie/online-catalogus/detail/edd15a20-56ea-f2c7-24e2-e8e7b4777451/media/b2bcaa43-2ba4-30b2-6fdc-14146ddcf32f

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Read the Hawthonn interview at Folk Horror Revival: https://folkhorrorrevival.com/2018/04/12/hawthonn-interviewed/

@goblinmarket and I talk about the new album, the upcoming York gig, local gods, goddesses, Andrew Chumbley, dreams and trying in vain to make thighbone trumpets... “Cocidius and Verbeia are very much deities embedded in our northern landscape, and they derive their names from the meetings of two cultures: Roman and Celtic. In some ways, thinking deeply about this – and the political climate of our time – has forced us to revise our thoughts on religious syncretism and the bugbear of cultural appropriation. We want to distance ourselves from the idea of pantheons being nationalistic and tied up with rigid ideas of cultural identity, which have become increasingly toxic. We emphasise the highly syncretic nature of religion in the ancient world as a potential alternative, and one that does not dilute the power and individuality of deities by reducing them simply to interchangeable masks of pop-Jungian archetypes. On our track ‘Lady of the Flood’, we borrowed from the Graeco-Egyptian magical papyri, which are masterpieces of heady magical lore and symbolism, incorporating fragments of ancient Egyptian ceremonialism, Greek mythology and Gnostic cosmology into something that more visceral and powerful than its component parts.  In some ways, it is the Roman presence in England that also connects us to Egypt, and I find it fascinating that the English witch Andrew Chumbley incorporated so much Egyptian lore into his ‘Sabbatic Craft’, which at first glance seems very much rooted in the British landscape, but again yields work that is highly eclectic, but utterly spellbinding and aesthetically ravishing in its execution.”

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Totally neglected to mention that you can now listen to Red Goddess (of this men shall know nothing) via our Bandcamp page (and order CD/LP w/ complementary download). Very pleased with reception of this album so far - people have been saying some nice things. "Where some attempts at exploring the intersection of the metaphysical and eerie with the human body can feel rather Fisher Price Witch Outfit, Hawthonn's rigorous approach to researching their subject matter and the depth of emotional heft in the music makes this a deeply compelling record." - Luke Turner, The Quietus 

"... an unusual and sometimes challenging structure and arc, as pieces range from 3 minutes to 15 minutes and alternately resemble an ancient pagan ceremony; a seance, a vivid nightmare, or a funereal dirge [...] At their best, Hawthonn sound like temporally dislocated druids recording cryptic hymnals to the earth's less traveled places." - Anthony D'Amico, Brainwashed  “It's perhaps enough to evoke mystic imagery with spooky music, but, as evidenced here, Hawthonn fully studies and embodies its occult themes with academic rigor.” - Lars Gotrich, NPR Music

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We have a new track, debuting on NPR - listen here!  For pre-orders for the album (LP/CD): UK/EU & USA/ROW

“Some of the themes explored by Red Goddess are mugwort and dreaming, the witch as an ambivalent and wild woman, and the psychic flux of the menstrual cycle. The moon is a symbol that joins these themes together, and one that comes to the fore in "Lady of the Flood."

“The sounds that open the track were originally recorded in West Kennett Longbarrow: the "womb of the goddess" in contemporary pagan psychogeography. Layla and Phil carried out a series of wordless vocal improvisations using only vowel sounds and the resonance of the chamber. These recordings were then manipulated under the influence of composer Kristina Wolfe's spectral processing techniques. Wolfe has used these techniques, which break sound apart into individual spectral components, to affect her own music, which – like Hawthonn's oeuvre – is at once archaic and contemporary. As the timbres in our voices shift and distort they begin to sound like horns being blown: the horns of the moon, perhaps?

“The deep drone that arises from these unearthly sounds was synthesised by inter-modulating a series of oscillators tuned to various symbolic "lunar" frequencies, such as 3, 9, 13, 18 and 28 Hz. From these frequencies a deep drone emerges, with a slowly shifting overtone spectrum — a drone that seemed to evoke the mental image of a black, barren moon, slowly turning in space. Yet under its surface, water trickles through subterranean caves.

“The lyrics for the track were improvised around a translation of an ancient Graeco-Egyptian spell for prophecy, which survives only fragmentarily on a sheet of time-ravaged papyrus held by the British Museum (EA105881). The charm concerns Isis, given the epithet "Lady of the Flood," and Anubis:

“[...] to Truth [...] before you / incense [...] to the [...] your head [...] land [...] /look [...] above / these [...] Lady of the Flood (?)[...] [I]A IA OO [...] in truth [...] and we come into [...] above after the [...] Teach me. Show [...] Anubis of [...] [Spirit of] Darkness [...]

“The epithet "Lady of the Flood" links Isis to the Nile (where she hid her son, Horus), as well as to menstruation through the symbol of the annual flooding of the Nile. The invocation "to Truth" also resonates with Eleanor Morgan's observation that "some feminist critical psychologists argue that, in those moments [of the pre-menstrual phase], perhaps our usual self-censoring is ruptured and we're getting a window into our core issues – like some sort of hormonal truth serum."

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‘Eden’, from Hawthonn's Red Goddess (of this men shall know nothing) Pre-order LP/CD at https://grapefruitrecordclub.com/t/hawthonn Special deal for UK/EU orders to save on transatlantic shipping!

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Layla and I done made an album. You can read more, and listen to an exclusive track at The Quietus - also, pre-order links at the end (CD/LP/digital): http://thequietus.com/articles/24082-hawthonn-new-track-listen

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Hexadic III, reviewed! Thanks, Jennifer! This almost makes it sound like I know what I am doing! :)

Various Artists—Hexadic III (Drag City)

Hexadic III by Six Organs of Admittance

Ben Chasny’s card-based Hexadic system has shaped the sounds and rhythms of his last two albums, embedding an element of chance into a disciplined process to give him fresh insight and a way to break old habits. But Chasny always meant to share his system. He has written a book about it, overseen the manufacture of Hexadic card kits and dedicated a large part of his website and Bandcamp to it. Now with the release of Hexadic III, we get an inkling of what other artists can do with Chasny’s cards and formulas, in tracks that are not quite what we expect of them, nor on the surface all that similar to Chasny’s results.

Keep reading

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Some vintage Cthulhuiana from Black Moon Archives. How does a shoggoth relate to temperance? 'Hard to elucidate', apparently...

http://blackmoonpublishing.com/archives/assets/nr-6.pdf

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You might need a time machine to do that - the manuscript was written in 1346!!

Seals of Solomon, a treatise on sigils, the Shemhamphoresh, demons, Liber Juratus circle and Seal of God, etc… images from Berengarius’ Summa Sacrae Magicae. [Source]