{"id":19209,"date":"2019-07-04T01:02:18","date_gmt":"2019-07-04T00:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/?p=19209"},"modified":"2019-07-08T01:23:33","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T00:23:33","slug":"folk-horror-revival-urban-wyrd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/2019\/07\/04\/folk-horror-revival-urban-wyrd\/","title":{"rendered":"Folk Horror Revival: Urban Wyrd"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"urbanwyrd1.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cover art by Grey Malkin.<\/em><\/p>\n

The folk horror revival wasn’t really a revival as such, it was more an identifying of trends which hadn’t been noticed or named before, the grouping together and labelling of which created a sub-genre ripe for further exploration. Over the past few years I’ve done my share to promote this loose affiliation, but I confess to feeling a lack of interest of late. Or rather, I’m less interested in its current manifestations. Genres in any medium have a tendency to follow a growth pattern which eventually arrives at mannerism and stereotype; something that was fresh because it was new (or rediscovered) is pushed through repetition into formula.<\/p>\n

One of the exciting features of the first flourishings of Hauntological music in 2005\/06 was the absence of a discernible formula. The areas of interest, and their hybridisation, were unpredictable, especially the first few releases on the Ghost Box label. Folk horror was incorporated into the Ghost Box project from the outset but it was never the sole concern. The debut album from Belbury Poly, The Willows<\/em>, contains a range of references to rural horror, with a title lifted from Algernon Blackwood, and two tracks referencing Arthur Machen. But another of the tracks refers to Pauwels & Bergiers’ unique and influential occult study, The Morning of the Magicians<\/em>, while the cover design is styled like an educational paperback from Pelican books, or an Open University prospectus. Belbury may be an old village with strange customs but it’s also home to a modern polytechnic. Elsewhere on the label, Pye Corner Audio operated at a remove from the folkiness, unsurprisingly when Martin Jenkins’ music is wholly electronic. The first Pye Corner Audio album on Ghost Box, Sleep Games<\/em>, featured a typical mid-century housing estate on the cover; many of the track titles\u2013Experimental Road Surface<\/em>, for example\u2014are closer to Kraftwerk than Blood On Satan’s Claw<\/em>. The late Mark Fisher was credited inside with “cover concepts and research” which may explain the quotes from JG Ballard, French anthropologist Marc Aug\u00e9, and theory fictioneer Reza Negarestani. The final track on Sleep Games<\/em>, Nature Reclaims The Town<\/em>, suggests the triumph of the wild but urban concerns dominate the album.<\/p>\n

\"urbanwyrd2.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cover art by Jackie Taylor.<\/em><\/p>\n

Metropolitan horror and urban strangeness is the theme of Urban Wyrd<\/em>, a two-volume anthology of new writings edited by Andy Paciorek which provides a welcome counterbalance to the over-ploughed furrows. This is a companion volume and sequel to Field Studies<\/em>, a collection which featured my essay about the plays for theatre and television by David Rudkin. My contribution to the new collection, Phantoms and Thresholds of the Unreal City<\/em>, is a discursive meander through the streets of Paris, New York and San Francisco, threading together the lives and works of a disparate group of writers, artists and photographers: HP Lovecraft, Eug\u00e8ne Atget, Robert W. Chambers, Max Ernst, Berenice Abbott, Roger Caillois, Fritz Leiber and others. My original intention was to write solely about Atget’s celebrated views of Paris but, as is often the case, one thing led to another and I ended up with something that’s more about the metamorphosis of cities and architecture by writers and photographers, and what their transformations may suggest to us.<\/p>\n

The huge contents list for both books follows below. Both volumes are available from Lulu here<\/a> and here<\/a>, and at a reasonable price considering the page count. Books like this are always good for indicating further avenues of exploration. I’m looking forward to going for a wander.<\/p>\n

Folk Horror Revival: Urban Wyrd \u2013 1. Spirits of Time<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2022 Foreword
\n\u2022 Urban Wyrd: An Introduction by Dr Adam Scovell
\n\u2022 Spectral Echoes: Hauntology’s Recurring Themes & Unsettled Landscapes by Stephen Prince
\n\u2022 Quatermass and the Pit: Unearthing Archetypes at Hobb\u2019s End by Grey Malkin
\n\u2022 The Haunted Generation: An Interview with Bob Fischer
\n\u2022 On a Thousand Walls: The Urban Wyrd in Candyman by Howard David Ingham
\n\u2022 Protect and Survive: Dystopian Drama \u2013 A Jolly British Apocalypse by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 The Bad Wires: Reflections on The Changes by Grey Malkin
\n\u2022 The Hands of Doom: A Short Perspective on Divine Intervention by Leah Crowley
\n\u2022 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Adventure of the Spiritualist Missionary by Jim Peters
\n\u2022 A Tandem Effect: Ghostwatch by Jim Moon
\n\u2022 Interview with Stephen Volk
\n\u2022 The Cookstown Ghost: Poltergeist Phenomenon in Urban Ulster in the Nineteenth-Century by Jodie Shevlin
\n\u2022 The Last Key That Unlocks Everything: Ghost Stories by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 A Very Urban Haunting \u2026The Echo of Noisy Spirits by Jim Peters
\n\u2022 These Houses Are Haunted: Supernatural Dwellings in Film by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 The Photography of Carmit Kordov
\n\u2022 Wyrd Technology by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Voices of the Ether: Stone Tapes, Electronic Voices and Other Ghosts by James Riley
\n\u2022 Urban Witchcraft by Darren Charles
\n\u2022 Video Nasty: Moving Image in The Ring and Sinister by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 An Interview with Richard Littler \u2013 Mayor of Scarfolk
\n\u2022 The World Falling Apart: Jubilee by Stuart Silver
\n\u2022 Doll Parts: Marwencol by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Chocky: The Haunting of Matthew Gore by Grey Malkin
\n\u2022 The Sun on my Face: Demon Seed by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 The Photography of Sara Hannant
\n\u2022 A Hive Mind: Phase IV by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Wired For Sound: The Auditory in Horror by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 \u201cWe Want You to Believe In Us, But Not Too Much\u201d: UFOs and Folklore by S. J. Lyall
\n\u2022 A Space Flower: Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Under The Skin of the Man Who Fell To Earth by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Silent Invasions by SJ Lyall
\n\u2022 I Am Not A Number: The Prisoner by Stuart Silver
\n\u2022 All For the Hunting Ground: Wolfen by S.J. Lyall
\n\u2022 Urban Wolves by Richard Hing
\n\u2022 Reclaiming the \u201cf\u201d word. A conversation between The Black Meadow\u2019s Chris Lambert and Pilgrim\u2019s Sebastian Baczkiewicz
\n\u2022 Sounds from a Haunted Ballroom: The Caretaker by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Uncanny Valley: Spielberg\u2019s A.I. by Damian Leslie
\n\u2022 Sounds and Visions: MKUltra, Number Stations, Hallucinogens and Psychological Experiments in Film by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Concrete, Flesh, Metal, Blood: The Worlds of Ballard & Cronenberg by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 The Eternal Snicket by Professor Phillip Hull (From an interview with Chris Lambert)
\n\u2022 The Voice of Electronic Wonder: The Music of Urban Wyrd by Jim Peters
\n\u2022 Age of the Train: Rail and the Urban Wyrd by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Mind The Doors: Death Line by S.J. Lyall
\n\u2022 Step Away From The Meat: The Midnight Meat Train by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Evil Dream: Q The Winged Serpent by Scott Lyall
\n\u2022 These Cities are Ours: Notable Kaiju in Cinema by Richard Hing
\n\u2022 Wild Rides: Taxis in Cinema by William Redwood
\n\u2022 The Photography of Jackie Taylor<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Folk Horror Revival: Urban Wyrd \u2013 2. Spirits of Place<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Foreword
\n\u2022 Urban Psychogeography by Stuart Silver
\n\u2022 Spirit of Place by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Through Purged Eyes: Folk Horror and the Affective Landscape of the Urban Wyrd by Karl Bell
\n\u2022 Glasgow’s Occult Ancient Geometery: The Obsessions of Ludovic McLellan Mann and Harry Bell by Kenneth Brophy
\n\u2022 Post-Industrialism and Industrial Music by Simon Dell
\n\u2022 Towering Infernal: The Inner City in Contemporary Horror Films by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 God Will Forgive Them: Dead Man\u2019s Shoes by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Phantoms and Thresholds of the Unreal City by John Coulthart
\n\u2022 Holy Terrors – Whitby: An Interview with Mark Goodall
\n\u2022 The Burryman of South Queensbury: The Past Within the Present by Grey Malkin
\n\u2022 Saturnine: An Urban Meander by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Devil\u2019s Bridge: The Satanic Rites of Aclam by Bob Fischer
\n\u2022 Urbex, Haiyko and the Lure of the Abandoned by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Wyrd On-screen: Urban Fears and Rural Folk by Diane A. Rodgers
\n\u2022 Spontaneous Shrines (Flowers Taped to Lamposts) by Howard David Ingham
\n\u2022 Between Two or More Worlds: The Urban Mindscape of David Lynch by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Suburbia by Richard Hing
\n\u2022 Welcome to The League of Gentlemen \u2026 You\u2019ll Never Leave by Jim Peters
\n\u2022 A Search for Aberdeen\u2019s Lost Treasures by Peter Lyon
\n\u2022 Scovell & Budden: Greenteeth by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 The Photography of Neddal Ayad
\n\u2022 City in Aspic: Don\u2019t Look Now by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Bricks and Stones in The Pool of Life by Cat Vincent
\n\u2022 The Trumptonshire Trilogy by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 The Derive of Doom by Chris Lambert
\n\u2022 Iain Sinclair: Spirit Guide to the Urban Wyrd – Interviewed by John Pilgrim
\n\u2022 Review: Concretism \u2013 For Concrete and Country by Chris Lambert
\n\u2022 Shadow of the Cities: The Weird and the Noir by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Black and White Dreams: An Interview with K.A. Laity
\n\u2022 Occult Detectives: An Interview with John Linwood Grant
\n\u2022 The Art of Andy Cropper
\n\u2022 Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 The Photography of Peter Lagan
\n\u2022 Involute of Space \/ Time: An Interview with Will Self
\n\u2022 High Weirdness: A Daytrip to Hookland by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Cyclopean Ruins and Albino Penguins: The Weird Urban Archeology of H.P. Lovecraft\u2019s At The Mountains of Madness by Kenneth Lymer
\n\u2022 Sordid Smoke Ghosts: The Worlds of China Mi\u00e9ville by Colin Hetherington
\n\u2022 The Magic Kingdom: A Conversation with Walter Bosley by John Chadwick
\n\u2022 The City That Was Not There: \u2018Absent\u2019 Cityscapes in Classic British Ghost Stories by Anastasia Lipinskaya
\n\u2022 York: Albion\u2019s Capital of the North by Oz Hardwick and John Pilgrim
\n\u2022 Urban Folklore: An Interview with Diane A. Rodgers
\n\u2022 Gripped: The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz by Howard David Ingham
\n\u2022 Place of Light and Darkness: Durham by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Athens of the north: Edinburgh by SJ Lyall
\n\u2022 Service Station to Station by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Miles Away: Hush (2008) by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 Sorcerers\u2019 Apprentices and Industrial Witches: The Uban Wyrd as Magick in Leeds. West Yorkshire by Layla Legard
\n\u2022 Black as Sin: Possum and Spider by Andy Paciorek
\n\u2022 The Apartment Trilogy by Andy Sharp<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Previously on { feuilleton }
\n\u2022 A Year In The Country: the book<\/a>
\n\u2022 Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cover art by Grey Malkin. The folk horror revival wasn’t really a revival as such, it was more an identifying of trends which hadn’t been noticed or named before, the grouping together and labelling of which created a sub-genre ripe for further exploration. Over the past few years I’ve done my share to promote this … Continue reading “Folk Horror Revival: Urban Wyrd”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,42,51,29,22,26,3,16,18,23],"tags":[7810,3319,5256,1032,7174,265,1822,8496,5418,172,122,1405,112,4222,3048,4661,5471,2915,9250,4317,67],"class_list":["post-19209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-books","category-cities","category-electronica","category-horror","category-lovecraft","category-music","category-occult","category-surrealism","category-work","tag-andy-paciorek","tag-belbury-poly","tag-berenice-abbott","tag-china-mieville","tag-conan","tag-david-lynch","tag-eugene-atget","tag-folk-horror-revival","tag-fritz-leiber","tag-ghost-box","tag-kraftwerk","tag-mark-fisher","tag-max-ernst","tag-pye-corner-audio","tag-quatermass","tag-richard-littler","tag-robert-w-chambers","tag-roger-caillois","tag-the-league-of-gentlemen","tag-the-man-who-fell-to-earth","tag-the-prisoner"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pq7rV-4ZP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}