Moff Skellington Releases His 100th

Half Edge Records is pleased to announce the launch of Moff Skellington’s 100th release. It’s not a marketing landmark, nor a contrived celebration — simply the point the catalogue has reached after years of steady, idiosyncratic work.

Moff has never operated like other artists, and the archive reflects that. The hundred releases aren’t variations on a theme; they’re a long, branching record of one person’s creative logic, built without compromise, trend‑chasing, or external pressure. Moff’s music, which he calls Edoddi, has always been its own world, and this milestone makes the scale of that world clear. There are albums, EPs, podcasts, videos. artwork and other contrivances which are difficult to name. There are partnerships with others leading a broad selection of material. Within this impressive body of work there is the underlying theme of the practice of Eddodi and the celebration of its spiritual home, Abstercot.

Moff’s manifesto is simple and quite direct

“The chosen musical form is that of Eddodi, a species of folk music which celebrates the very individual and often skewed perceptions of the world engendered by modern life. Eddodi is a balance of the tragic, the absurd and the wistfully ordinary and not just a crack round the head with a pig’s bladder. Eddodi provides a refreshing alternative to the prescriptions and formulas of mainstream and “alternative” folk music. Eddodi philosophy: nothing is arbitrary. Make it up as you go along, it’s bound to be authentic!”.

I was introduced to Moff in 2009 through Julia Adamson at InvisibleGirl Records who released a series of his albums. A radio interview with him followed plus numerous gigs arranged and attended, including some in partnership with Ian “Moet” Moss and Loop-Aznavour. In 2014 the then German Shepherd Records began a fruitful partnership with Moff which has lasted until today with Half Edge Records.

For listeners who’ve followed the journey, this new release is another chapter in a body of work that has grown in unexpected directions. For new listeners, it’s a invitation to consider a collection where there is no correct entry point. The catalogue is a map with a hundred doors. Choose one and walk in. It is appropriate that todays release is the second in a two volume set of his earliest recordings, so in many ways we have come full circle.

Half Edge has been proud to support and release Moff’s work over the years, and reaching one hundred releases underlines why: the consistency, the imagination, and the refusal to repeat himself. This is not a catalogue built for algorithms or playlists. It’s built for people who enjoy discovering something that couldn’t have come from anywhere else. If this is your entry point you can see, for example, similarities with the work of Pere Ubu, Ivor Cutler, Captain Beefheart, and early Cabaret Voltaire with a liberal portion of outsider Folk Music. The instrumentation is unique, the delivery does not fit into any run of the mill genre categories, it is quite simply in a different continuum from other music.

Co-owner of Half Edge Records Ian Moss says “Moff Skellington is remarkable, from the moment I first encountered the man , his music and his visual compositions have astounded me , enthralled me , enthused me , amused me and delighted me , it has been a privilege to be associated with him and his art , for art with a capital A is what the man’s output undoubtedly is. He is unique and he is humble , generous and truly inspirational.”

The vast majority of the Moff Skellington albums are home recordings, on which he sings, talks and plays a variety of instruments, including accordion, melodica, harmonicas, whistles, guitar, huttyphone, stylophone, bodhran, jaw harp, kalimba, dulcimer, tenor horn, baritone euphonium, various percussion and elastic bands. The results are then mixed and mastered to create amazing collections of songs and poems. Artifice is restricted to the occasional appearance of a drum machine or a Stylophone, as, having grown up in the seventies, such instruments are very much part of Moff’s personal tradition. More recently Davy G has been applying his mastering wizardry to revisit a selection the albums. Today we also release Davy’s remix of Moff’s debut album.

Live appearances are rare and we are grateful to Paul Forshaw for capturing this 2018 show at The Peer Hat in Manchester.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the Moff archive, shared the music, and helped keep Edoddi alive. If you are new to this world or a fellow traveller why not check out one or more of his releases on Half Edge Records and enter the discount code moff100 to receive a 50% discount. This offer will last until July 17th 2026.

A message from Moff on this auspicious day “I’m still flabbergasted every time my music is met with enthusiasm. I spent a good thirty years behind locked doors, tinkering away at my artistic fool’s errand like some alchemist ignorant of even alchemy’s laws. But for the occasional sidekick, I fed off negative energy and the eye rolling disdain of Norms and Cools. Then... I discovered a city full of likeminded souls west of the Pennines. From Julia at InvisibleGirl, to Bob and Ian at their many endeavours, to my lovely labelmates, to Nick at the Peer Hat and Jo at Shangri-la, I’ve met with nothing but support and positivity. But the flabbergast is still there. Honestly folks, I don’t know what it is you see in Moff, but I’m so glad you do!”

Moff’s website including access to his artwork can be be found HERE

Here is a selection of the audio catalogue,