2016: Vic Mars, Tyneham House, Alasdair Roberts and James Green.

Thanks to everyone who bought the Vic Mars album, the vinyl sold out very quickly so if you missed it there will be a second "Hollyhock" edition early next year. 500 hand numbered copies. Please sign up to the mailing list if you want to be informed when it is ready.

It is available digitally at: AMAZON // ITUNES // GOOGLE PLAY

The next release on Clay Pipe will be the re-issue of Tyneham House on 10" pale green vinyl with a handmade booklet. 300 numbered copies.

Following on from this in the spring, will be Alasdair Roberts and James Green's: 'Plaint of Lapwing'.

Independent Label Market

Thanks to everyone who pre-ordered  a copy of the Vic Mars album today, it is now SOLD OUT. If you are in London on Saturday I will have a few copies for sale at the Independent Label Market, Spitalfields. (Sharing a stall with WIAIWYA) If you want to reserve a copy to buy at the market drop me an email. If you are not in London please ignore any copies of the LP that may turn up on Discogs (I've tried extra hard to stop it from happening this time round) and wait for the reissue that will be out next year.

Digital Pre-orders of Vic Mars The Land and The Garden can be ordered here:

AMAZON // ITUNES // GOOGLE PLAY

 
 

Vic Mars - The Land And The Garden.

Vic Mars - The Land And The Garden. Pre-orders will be available from 23rd November 2015. Please sign up to the mailing list for a reminder. Release date 4th December 2015. It will also be available digitally across most digital platforms.

12" Vinyl LP, 300 hand numbered copies, reverse board mat cover, and printed inner sleeve with download code included.

SOLD OUT

 

 

Digital Pre-orders:

AMAZON // ITUNES // GOOGLE PLAY

Vic Mars is a Herefordshire born musician currently based in London, he has recently returned from spending over a decade in Nagoya, Japan. In 2008 he released the mini-LP 'Kanransha' on Kentaro Togawa's Symbolic Interaction label, and 2012 saw the Bandcamp released library music inspired, 'Curriculum For Schools And Colleges: Volumes 1 &2'.

In 2013 whilst still based in Japan but on a visit home, Vic was stuck by the reprints of vintage British Railway posters hanging in his brothers house. Back in Japan, homesick and inspired by his childhood memories of the Herefordshire landscape he started the initial recordings for The Land and the Garden, carefully piecing together string and Mellotron soundscapes using archaic tracker software, and recording direct to cassette tape. During this time he immersed himself in the music of British classical composers such as Gustav Holst, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, the minimalist work of Wim Mertens and 1970’s children's BBC soundtracks such as those by Freddie Phillips, and Vernon Elliot. 

In 2014 with the album half finished Vic moved back to the UK, and after a period of disruption where his equipment was still in transit, he completed the record in the spring of 2015.


This is hugely ambitious and beautifully realised, neo-classical electronic/organic chamber music with mellotron (and associated ‘natural’ tape hiss) at the centre of much of the action going on. This is the sound of memory – a psycho-geographical survey of his British homeland largely dreamt up when Vic was way out east in Japan. The Active Listener

Vic Mars delved into his thoroughly English past for this release, pulling in vintage British Railway posters, the composer Gustav Holst and, 1970's children's television programs. The aesthetic is so deeply imbued that he’s even the classic Faber & Faber typeface… So, The Land And The Garden is kind of like English hauntology but without the spooky aspect: in fact, these pieces are rather lovely.  Normans Records

A quietly stunning full length from Vic Mars on the ever-reliable Clay Pipe label. The Land and The Garden takes a bucolic look at modern composition, with enticing reed instruments and Moondog-esque percussive lines weaving an understated poignancy into the compositions. It's instantly involving, a record unboastful of its melodic and arrangement achievements and sitting somewhere between Pascal Comelade, the afore-mentioned Moondog's most melodic work and something somehow quintessentially British and nostalgic, in the best possible way. Monorail Records

 The first non bandcamp release from Hereford born musician Vic Mars gives the impression of what the still shadowed pastoral of Virgina Astley's of From Gardens Where We Feel Secure would sound like if reorchestrated by Belbury Poly. The Wire

New Prints

There are three new prints for sale in the Clay Pipe Shop. One based on the artwork for the forthcoming album from Vic Mars LP, and two others based on the artwork from the Sharron Kraus LP. 

Sharron Kraus -  Friends and Enemies, Lovers and Strangers.

Risograph* print on Munken Pure 170mg paper. 40 copies signed and numbered. A3

 £20 +P&P

Sharron Kraus -  Friends and Enemies, Lovers and Strangers.

Risograph print on Munken Pure 170mg paper. 40 copies signed and numbered. A3

 £20 +P&P

*Unlike digital or Gilcee prints Risogarph prints are not direct copies of the original image. Each colour is printed separately from black and white artwork, and because the Risograph inks come in just a few tones the colour pallet is limited. Risograph prints have a distinct lo-fi charm all of their own. 

 

 Vic Mars - The Land and The Garden.

Giclée Print on 310gsm Hahnemühle German Etching paper.  30 copies signed and numbered. 16"x12"

SOLD OUT

Vic Mars - The Land And The Garden

The next release on Clay Pipe will be Vic Mars - The Land And The Garden. Pre-orders will be available from 23rd November 2015. Please sign up to the mailing list for a reminder. Release date 4th December 2015.  It will cost £15.99

300 hand numbered copies, reverse board mat cover, and printed inner sleeve with download code included.        

 Vic Mars is a Herefordshire born musician currently based in London, he has recently returned from spending over a decade in Nagoya, Japan. In 2008 he released the mini-LP 'Kanransha' on Kentaro Togawa's Symbolic Interaction label, and 2012 saw the Bandcamp released library music inspired, 'Curriculum For Schools And Colleges: Volumes 1 &2'.

In 2013 whilst still based in Japan but on a visit home, Vic was stuck by the reprints of vintage British Railway posters hanging in his brothers house. Back in Japan, homesick and inspired by his childhood memories of the Herefordshire landscape he started the initial recordings for The Land and the Garden, carefully piecing together string and Mellotron soundscapes using archaic tracker software, and recording direct to cassette tape. During this time he immersed himself in the music of British classical composers such as Gustav Holst, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, the minimalist work of Wim Mertens and 1970’s children's BBC soundtracks such as those by Freddie Phillips, and Vernon Elliot.

In 2014 with the album half finished Vic moved back to the UK, and after a period of disruption where his equipment was still in transit, he completed the record in the spring of 2015.

Two Events

On the 11th Oct there will be a Clay Pipe special afternoon at the Hangover Lounge in their new home at The Betsey Trotwood, in Clerkenwell, London.  Sharron Kraus and Directorsound will be playing. There will be Clay Pipe DJs and a Pop Up shop selling Clay Pipe goodies which will include 'Market Only' copies of  the Thalassing and Hardy Tree CDs. + A FREE COPY of the above A3 poster for everyone who attends.

    

Following a series of events in North and West Wales, East Cornwall and Bristol, Caught By The River are excited to announce their return to the capital for a unique afternoon event at Bush Hall. The Caught by the River Social Club on Sunday 15 November will comprise music, film, talk, poetry, a fully stocked bar and a bookshop. Featuring a selection of our friends and contributors, including:

• Darren Hayman presents ‘Thankful Villages’.
A Thankful Village is a village where every soldier returned alive from World War I – Darren is currently visiting all 54 of these villages, making a piece of music and short film for each one. He will be providing a taster of both the films and music from this project.

• A rare live performance from July Skies.
July Skies’ classic much underheard debut album ‘Dreaming of Spires’ was first released in 2002. This month has seen the album released on vinyl for the first time. A Caught by the River classic. This will be their first London gig since god knows when.

• Richard Skelton in conversation with Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood.
Richard, along with his partner Autumn Richardson, runs Corbel Stone Press, taking a particular interest in landscape, the poetics of place, ecology, folklore and animism. Richard will be talking to Colin Greenwood about his new book, Beyond the Fell Wall, published by Little Toller Books in November.

• Poetry from Faber New Poet Will Burns and Martha Sprackland.
Named as one of the 4 Faber & Faber New Poets for 2014, Will Burns is our Caught by the River Poet-in-Residence. His pamphlet was published by Faber in October 2014. Martha Sprackland has previously won the Foyle Young Poet Award, and is Assistant Poetry Editor at Faber & Faber.

• DJ Frances Castle.
Based in North London, Frances Castle is a freelance illustrator. In 2011, she set up Clay Pipe Music, a boutique record label determined, in an age of anonymous downloads, to release beautifully designed and illustrated CDs and LPs. Clay Pipe specialises in releasing atmospheric music with a strong theme or sense of place.

Jon Brooks '52' Evening Edition.

The second edition of Jon Brooks '52' is available now. 

500 hand numbered copies, on beautiful reverse mat board with a download code inside the sleeve. 

This is exactly the same as the previous sold out edition except for the cover artwork.

SOLD OUT

However there are still a few copies available at: Experimedia (USA)
You can also download it directly from Jon's bandcamp page:
HERE

Jon Brooks returns to Clay Pipe after 2012's sell out 'Shapwick'. '52' sees Jon taking a gentle side step away from his Advisory Circle work for Ghost Box, into more personal and reflective territory. Inspired by his Grandmothers' house, synth-laden and atmospheric '52' contains 14 aural memories of the house and garden.

“... will you stop tearing up that newspaper? It’s making a mess down here”. I sat quietly

 and watched the pieces float from the mezzanine, through the railings, down to the floor
below. I was reminded of late autumn, when dried seed helicopters from the trees were
abundant - their free-flowing nature always a reminder of our life cycles. It was an early
meditation; something to help focus the restless mind.

Silence broke eventually. “They all come from Leafield. They head from there with the
purpose of making our lives difficult!”. I wasn’t entirely convinced, but I let it go. I thought of
their colonies, their families, the way they moved and went about their business - it was a
fascinating other world, where everyone looked out for each other. Always a lucky escape
for them, through the hum of a summer evening.

“Doctor of Philosophy. That’s what it means, it’s an abbreviation”. I wondered, as I pulled
another thick rubber band around the arm of the sofa. The structures I made seemed to
serve no purpose at all; they didn’t need to.

“... I’m resting up for the weekend”. I always noticed that. The pencil sharpener, the cuckoo
clock, everything in its’ place. The way the dust fell in the late afternoon sun. I wouldn’t
leave.

On the way back up the hill, we passed the three monkeys. “Do you think you’ll go to
college?”. “I think so”, I answered, not really knowing why I’d chosen that reply. The words
flutter-echoed through the stone and brick, in the heat of the day; all the way past Mr
Mulberry’s, Mrs Viner’s, Mrs Mouser’s.

SIDE 1

Morning Window

The Mezzanine

Fibre Optics

Pond i

Hothouse

All The Way From Leafield

December Trees

SIDE 2

The Back Room

Lichen

Walk In Store

Pond ii

Wax Lemons

Whispering Glass

End Of The Corridor

Sharron Kraus' 'Friends and Enemies; Lovers and Strangers'

Sharron Kraus' 'Friends and Enemies; Lovers and Strangers'  

SOLD OUT

12" LP, 500 numbered copies, reverse board mat cover, with fully illustrated booklet, and download code.

Sharron Kraus makes her debut on Clay Pipe Music with a collection of songs inspired by the Welsh folk tales of The Mabinogi. The idea for the album was first realised while she was living in rural Mid Wales.

“I started off writing the songs as a way of getting to grips with what was happening in the stories” She says,“Trying to understand things that at first seemed confusing to me, and quickly got sucked in to a strange and wonderful world. I fell in love with these stories whilst being mystified by them and the process of wrestling them into song form has been one of the most challenging and rewarding of my song writing projects to date.”

The stories collected in The Four Branches of The Mabinogi were written in the 11th Century but contain themes that remain relevant today: love and hatred; battles for power; loss, displacement and migration of peoples; magic and wonder.

The album is full of beautiful crystal clear melodies that enhance the intrigue of the tales Sharron is telling. Using harp, recorders and bowed dulcimer, as well as guitar and piano the songs manage to capture the atmosphere of the time and take the listener back to the magical places mentioned in the stories.

Sharron Kraus is a UK-based singer, musician and songwriter whose music though informed by the folk traditions of England and Appalachia has its own distinctive voice. Heralded as one of the strongest voices in English contemporary folk. She has recorded a collection of traditional folk songs, Leaves From Off the Tree, with Meg Baird and Helena Espvall of Philadelphia psych folk band Espers, but the majority of her work is self-authored.

Sharron has been featured in The Wire, Rolling Stone, fRoots, Uncut, The Sound Projector and Dirty Linen, and is one of the musicians focussed on in Jeanette Leech's Seasons They Change: The Story of Acid, Psych and Experimental Folk. She has appeared on Radio 3's 'The Verb', and recorded sessions for BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Shropshire, Freakzone on Radio 6, and independent radio stations across the US.

Sharron Kraus: vocals, guitar, recorders, bowed dulcimer, organ, percussion
Harriet Earis: harp

Nancy Wallace: vocals

Nick Palmer: piano

 

Hackney Record Fair

On 12th of April I will be at the Hackney Record Fair and will have pre-release copies of Sharron Kraus' 'Friends and Enemies, Lovers and Strangers' and Jon Brooks '52'.

Sharron Kraus - Friends and Enemies; Lovers and Strangers.

 The next release on Clay Pipe will be Sharron Kraus' 'Friends and Enemies; Lovers and Strangers'.

12" LP, 500 numbered copies, reverse board mat cover, with fully illustration booklet, and download code.

Pre-orders from April 13th 2015, Ships May 18th 2015.

Sharron Kraus makes her debut on Clay Pipe Music with a collection of songs inspired by the Welsh folk tales of The Mabinogi. The idea for the album was first realised while she was living in rural Mid Wales.

“I started off writing the songs as a way of getting to grips with what was happening in the stories” She says,“Trying to understand things that at first seemed confusing to me, and quickly got sucked in to a strange and wonderful world. I fell in love with these stories whilst being mystified by them and the process of wrestling them into song form has been one of the most challenging and rewarding of my song writing projects to date.”

The stories collected in The Four Branches of The Mabinogi were written in the 11th Century but contain themes that remain relevant today: love and hatred; battles for power; loss, displacement and migration of peoples; magic and wonder.

The album is full of beautiful crystal clear melodies that enhance the intrigue of the tales Sharron is telling. Using harp, recorders and bowed dulcimer, as well as guitar and piano the songs manage to capture the atmosphere of the time and take the listener back to the magical places mentioned in the stories.

Sharron Kraus is a UK-based singer, musician and songwriter whose music though informed by the folk traditions of England and Appalachia has its own distinctive voice. Heralded as one of the strongest voices in English contemporary folk. She has recorded a collection of traditional folk songs, Leaves From Off the Tree, with Meg Baird and Helena Espvall of Philadelphia psych folk band Espers, but the majority of her work is self-authored.

Sharron has been featured in The Wire, Rolling Stone, fRoots, Uncut, The Sound Projector and Dirty Linen, and is one of the musicians focussed on in Jeanette Leech's Seasons They Change: The Story of Acid, Psych and Experimental Folk. She has appeared on Radio 3's 'The Verb', and recorded sessions for BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Shropshire, Freakzone on Radio 6, and independent radio stations across the US.

Sharron Kraus: vocals, guitar, recorders, bowed dulcimer, organ, percussion

Harriet Earis: harp

Nancy Wallace: vocals

Nick Palmer: piano

 

booklet cover

interior booklet illustration

interior booklet illustration

Images from the booklet.