Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak. The band's work has explored genres such as industrial, noise, dark ambient, and drone.
Thomas Ligotti is an American horror writer. His writings are rooted in several literary genres – most prominently weird fiction – and have been described by critics as works of philosophical horror, often formed into short stories and novellas in the tradition of gothic fiction. The worldview espoused by Ligotti in his fiction and non-fiction has been described as pessimistic and nihilistic. The Washington Post called him "the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction."
The A∴A∴ is a magical organization established in 1907 by Aleister Crowley, a Western esotericist. Its members are dedicated to the advancement of humanity by perfection of the individual on every plane through a graded series of universal initiations. Its initiations are syncretic, unifying the essence of Theravada Buddhism with Vedantic yoga and ceremonial magic. The A∴A∴ applies what it describes as mystical and magical methods of spiritual attainment under the structure of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, and aims to research, practise, and teach "scientific illuminism".
Albert Lancaster Lloyd, usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English folk singer and collector of folk songs, and as such was a key figure in the British folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. While Lloyd is most widely known for his work with British folk music, he had a keen interest in the music of Spain, Latin America, Southeastern Europe and Australia. He recorded at least six discs of Australian Bush ballads and folk music.
The Wall of Sacrifice is an experimental, dark folk album by Death in June. The original vinyl pressing, released in 1989, was limited to 666 copies. A CD version was released in 1990.
David Tibet is an English poet, artist and musician. He is best known for the musical group Current 93, which he founded and is the only consistent member of.
Ian Read is an English neofolk and traditional folk musician, and occultist active within chaos magic and Germanic mysticism circles.
Neofolk, also known as apocalyptic folk, is a form of experimental music blending elements of folk and industrial music, which emerged in punk rock circles in the 1980s. Neofolk may either be solely acoustic or combine acoustic folk instrumentation with various other sounds.
Frankie Armstrong is an English singer and voice teacher. She has worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement and as a trainer in social and youth work. Her repertoire ranges from traditional ballads to music-hall and contemporary songs, often focusing on the lives of women.
William Breeze, also known by his neo-Gnostic bishop title of Tau Silenus, is an American writer and publisher on magick and philosophy. He is the Sovereign Patriarch, or supreme governing cleric, of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.), the liturgical arm of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), of which he is the current Outer Head of the Order (OHO), also known as Frater Superior, as well as caliph, the order's international leader. In this capacity he is a leading editor of the occult works of Aleister Crowley, the founder of the philosophy and religion of Thelema, who is regarded as its prophet.
Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, also known as HÖH, is a musician, an art director, and allsherjargoði of Ásatrúarfélagið.
John Jacob Niles was an American composer, singer and collector of traditional ballads. Called the "Dean of American Balladeers," Niles was an important influence on the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, with Odetta, Joan Baez, Burl Ives, Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan, among others, recording his songs.
Swastikas for Noddy is a 1988 album by English music group Current 93. It charted on New Musical Express's Independent LPs chart in March 1988. It was originally issued simultaneously on CD and LP by Crepuscule Records' industrial subsidiary L.A.Y.L.A.H. Records and later reissued as a remastered CD by Durtro Records in 1994 under the slightly revised title "Swastikas For Goddy", the renaming being due to copyright infringement issues involving Enid Blyton's character Noddy. “I was obsessed with Noddy,” David Tibet recalled in a 2011 interview, in reference to the album. “I took a load of acid on the top of the house where Rose McDowall was living and I had a vision of Noddy crucified in the sky and it really impressed me… as you would expect. The next day I just went mad for buying Noddy. Before I’d seen him crucified I wasn’t any more interested in him than any other kid who’s read Noddy as a child. I was taking such a huge amount of speed at the time that I had a massive amount of energy so I just started hoovering around and would come back with bin-liners full of anything with Noddy on. Rugs, mugs, jugs, didn’t matter, bought it all, to the extent that I started wandering around London wearing a red Noddy hat with a bell on the end. Which was possibly not a good move to make in terms of fashion…”
All the Pretty Little Horses (TheInmostLightItself) is an album by English band Current 93. It forms the second part of the Inmost Light trilogy; the first being 1995's Where the Long Shadows Fall (Beforetheinmostlight) and the last being 1996's The Starres Are Marching Sadly Home (Theinmostlightthirdandfinal). Unlike its bookends, All the Pretty Little Horses is a full-length album. Like the earlier Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre, All the Pretty Little Horses contains several songs based on repeating melodic themes. Lyrically, the album revolves around the ideas of pain and death, specifically as reflected in Patripassianist philosophy, along with the overarching concept of the "inmost light", or soul. In contrast, the music itself is some of Current 93's most traditional, relying heavily on acoustic guitar. Exceptions appear in the form of two spoken-word tracks: the ominous, drone-based round "Twilight Twilight Nihil Nihil", and "Patripassian", backed mainly by a heavily treated loop of Carlo Gesualdo's Miserere.
"I Have a Special Plan for This World" is a longform single by the English band Current 93. The lyrics are taken from a poem of the same name by the author Thomas Ligotti and spoken by David Tibet. Additional sound treatments are credited to Current 93. The single was released on limited edition vinyl and CD in 2000 on David Tibet's Durtro label. There was an additional special release in February 2007, when three test pressings were made in black vinyl. These featured signed and personalized sleeves with gold ink drawing and hand written labels done in black ink.
James Blackshaw is an English, Hastings-based folk fingerstyle guitarist and pianist. Blackshaw primarily plays an acoustic 12 string guitar and has been compared to Bert Jansch, Robbie Basho, John Fahey, Jack Rose, and Leo Kottke. He has released albums on the labels Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, Barl Fire Recordings, Static Caravan, Digitalis Industries, Important Records, Tompkins Square, and Young God Records.
Elizabeth Hooijschuur, known by her pen name Freya Aswynn, is a Dutch writer and musician, primarily known for her activities related to modern paganism in the United Kingdom. She was an early exponent of a form of Germanic neopaganism centred on women and has influenced the international modern pagan community through her book Leaves of Yggdrasil. Aswynn was involved in the early neofolk music scene in London in the 1980s, when several musicians of the genre lived in her house in Tufnell Park.
Biota is an American experimental electronic music ensemble.
Death in June are a neofolk group led by English musician Douglas P.. The band was originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as a trio. However, after the other members left in 1984 and 1985 to work on other projects, the group became the work of Douglas P. and various collaborators. Over the band's four decades of existence, they have made numerous shifts in style and presentation, resulting in an overall shift from initial post-punk and industrial music influence to a more acoustic and folk music-oriented approach. Douglas P.'s influence was instrumental in sparking neofolk, of which his music has subsequently become a part.
Island is a studio album by HÖH and Current 93, released in November 1991 through Durtro. It differs from much of Current 93's output due to its prominent use of synthesizers and ambient music. Some of the compositions also appear on HÖH's soundtrack for the film Children of Nature. The CD release of Island includes humorous bonus tracks.
