News

29/08/09

A couple of years in the making, English Heretic's Tales of the New Isis Lodge is here! Undoubtedly the finest and deepest EH album to date. I drew the cover and contribute to the Rite of Kepra track. More info here.
 
02/06/09
It's been a while, but hopefully worth the wait! The vinyl reissue of The Pyrognomic Glass, ably handled by Memoires of an Aesthete is now here! Comes with a 28-page chapbook ruminating on the myth and magic of dew with some knowing nods to 17th century alchemical types like Eiraneus Philalethes and John Heydon.

Here's the blurb, limited copies on the distro page or else email Phil Todd:
The Xenis Emputae Travelling Band is Mr. Phil Legard of the hallowe'ed borough of Yorkshire, England. He has been hard at work since 2001 making psychedelic folk-concrete inspired by the psychogeography and mythology of various secret regions of the British countryside. XETB has released plenty of CDRs and tapes over the years (all limited editions, long sold out etc etc) but, aside from one track on a Cold Spring Records CD, nothing at all in a "posh" format - something we at Memoirs thought we should do something about. We are, after all, classy folks and that. Mr. Legard is also a writer on various occult and esoteric matters, his most recent publication being a contribution to the new translation of The Consecrated Little Book Of Black Venus (Waning Moon Publications). He also has several other music projects, most notably The Neon Death Slittes and Pneumatic Consort. He is also, for his many sins, a frequent collaborator in Ashtray Navigations.

The Pyrognomic Glass was originally released by us as a ltd. ed CDR back in 2005. By popular demand it is back, this time on vinyl, and including Abital - or Conferences with the Genii of Nocturnal and Diurnal Dew in vii Chapters, a beautifully-printed 28 page chapbook by Mr Legard, most profitable to students of Natural Philosophy.

Also there's a nice half-page article about XETB in the latest edition of Zero Tolerance!

More coming soon, including new Larkfall Press chapbooks!
08/08/08
The first XETB double cdr is now available from Ikuisuus!

The Crooked Pool compiles two discs of hitherto unreleased soundings from March 2007 to March 2008. It was recorded among cliffs, moors, streams and woods while seeking convocation with the genii locorum of the Yorkshire moors. The Crooked Pool contains eleven psychogeographic explorations with harmonium, recorder, flute, psaltery, violin and guitar.

80 minutes of wordless hymns, death dirges and quiet rustic meditations. This will be the 18th XETB release.

Ordering info and sound samples here.
 

09/04/08

Another English Heretic gig - this time on the last day of the 2008 Termite Festival, most probably at the Common Place, Leeds on the 20th of April. More information here.

Also a new Neon Death Slittes release! The Grim War of Chaos Magick is a 3" tribute to Hawkwind, Silver Apples and Throbbing Gristle. Mercilessly loud! 50 copies, on Andy Jarvis' great First Person label. I also have a few copies - £3 each... email me if interested!
 
07/03/08

I will be half of English Heretic as we celebrate the Mithraic festival of Taurobolium on the 20th of March. The event is ticket only, presumably free, but contact the English Heretic box office if you're interested. The gig will be at the Carpenters Arms, 105 Kings Cross Road, London. More info here or here.

Keep your eyes open for a XETB double CD in the next few months!
 

14/01/08

The publishing side of Larkfall returns! First release is Psychogeographia Ruralis, a 28 page, 21x14cm chapbook discussing the relation between landscape, music, the genii locorum and imagination.

Limited to 50 copies, each coming with a unique psychegeographic image. £3.50 - a little more than I'd hoped, but printing cost more than anticipated! Available here.
 

11/09/07

A couple of bits and pieces. Rory Hinchey was kind enough to interview me over the 'phone for a one and a half hour feature about XETB on his Collective Voice radio show, broadcast last Thursday. You can download it as a podcast here, or see the playlist here. I'm afraid I do rather 'um' and 'ah' a lot - a long night with the twins meant I wasn't at my most lucid!

I'm also pleased to announce that the first English translation of (pseudo-)John Dee's Libellus Veneris Nigro Sacer, alias Tuba Veneris, will be published this winter by Waning Moon Publications. Translated from the Warburg manuscript by Terri Burns and Nancy Turner, it is illustrated by Jeffrey S. Kupperman and Darlene. This edition includes a lengthy essay by Terri as well as supplementary material by Vincent Bridges, and an article by myself that speculates on the sources of the text. The work will be limited to 256 copies, hand-bound in quarter green goat leather and copper covered paper. More information is available here.

Coming soon, new XETB!
 

21/08/07

The John Barleycorn Reborn compilation should be released jointly by Cold Spring and Woven Wheat Whispers before the end of the month. It contains a XETB track, along with submissions from friends like English Heretic, Alphane Moon and Far Black Furlong. To celebrate the release I've added an mp3 release of an old XETB ep - the Goat Willow 3". You can download it on the recordings page.

In other releases, English Heretic manifest another tangental tantrum involving some collaboration with myself, along with a significant contribution from Johann Wlight - his first recording in some time. Visitor Guides: Your Passport to the Qliphoth, a 60 minute CD and e-book is available from the English Heretic gift-shop.

Finally, apologies to artists still waiting on copies of the Reynardine compilation - they'll be on their way shortly, slightly delayed due to various factors, including the birth of twins!
 
12/07/07

A couple of little bits of news. First, XETB plays a rare gig on the Sonic Henge stage at Thornborough Festival this Sunday evening. Line-up will be myself, Rhid Williams, Phil Todd and Mel Delaney, and possibly a couple of others, doing our own take on the ancient English hymn Edi Beo Thu Hevene Quene.

Second, there's another XETB interview, this time at Deep Water Acres webzine. Many thanks to Kevin Moist for asking me to do this.
 

30/04/07

Four new releases! First, on Larkfall, is the Reynardine compilation. 14 tracks by 13 folk/drone/experimental-type artists. The second Larkfall release is Grotto Grove and Shrine by The Pneumatic Consort, a collection of improvisations from 2006 centred around woodwind instruments, voice and harmonium, recorded around Lelant, Barden Fell, Ilkley Moor and Leeds. Look at the recordings page for a full track-listings and samples.

Today is also the official launch of the Oneiros label, a Larkfall offshoot, which will release various musics that don't exactly fit the Larkfall aesthetic. First is a three-way split between Ashtray Navigations, Sonic Temple Assassins and The Neon Death Slittes. 20 minutes by each artist. NDS bring ropey guitar duels and half-learned, third-hand rock & roll riffs. STA provide 5 tracks of sci-fi rockabilly, vaguely reminiscent of Suicide. Ashtray (in this incarnation Todd & Legard) play some ridiculous primitive boogie with violin caterwauling, followed by a wall of murky fuzz and heavy grease. The second Oneiros release is Valerio Cosi's Freedom Meditation Music Vol. II - the sequel to his recent release on Students of Decay. A very varied album from the talented Italian musician, which sways between fusion, cut-up/tape-loops, motorik rhythms, free improvisation, minimalism and ends with some beautifully fuzzy noise… both these releases are available on the distribution page, in an edition of 100 copies each.

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