Oneiric by Rural Tapes

 

 

Oneiric by Rural Tapes

LP/CD/DL 

Release 17/10/25. 

Pre-orders from Bandcamp and Greedbag

Read an interview with Arne on the Clay Pipe SubStack 

 

Clay Pipe Music is thrilled to welcome to the label Norway’s Rural Tapes - the alias of producer and multi-instrumentalist Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen.

His new record Oneiric is one for the dreamers - a trippy, cosmic aural experience of mostly instrumental music, recorded on analogue equipment at his Nygrenda Vev & Dur studio in rural Norway. Arne is also joined on two vocal tracks by long-time collaborators Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip) and Gary Olson (The Ladybug Transistor).

He says: “The word Oneiric refers to things connected with dreams. I've drawn inspiration from the strange, surreal, humorous, imaginative, and vividly colourful experiences that often unfold within them.”

“I have played with genres, sounds and timbres and put together pieces of music that I think could be the soundtrack to a dream sequence. I love the way a dream can be so bizarre and yet still feel so natural, and I can relate to that otherworldliness in the way I compose and put together musical pieces. Some songs have a clear structure, some have not, some are minimalist, some are maximalist, some are wistful and some are joyful, but I think all of them are quite colourful and playful.”

“I’ve taken inspiration from many different music eras and many different corners of the world, from quirky British music to French dream pop to the 60s New York tape music scene to ambient and psychedelic music. The music is created hands on using old analogue gear such as tape machines, dictaphones, tape echoes and more to colour the music and give the sounds the right textures. This way I feel connected to the music I make.”

Over the past two decades, Arne has established himself as a key figure in the Norwegian music scene. He has played in influential bands including I Was A King and Heroes & Zeros, and more recently has been releasing music and playing live with The No Ones — alongside Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey and The Minus 5, and I Was A King frontman Frode Strømstad.

He launched his Rural Tapes project in 2021 with a self-titled debut which established his reputation for inventive, forward-thinking music. He has continued to draw widespread praise across subsequent releases, including Inner Space Music (2022) and Contact (2024).

ACCLAIM FOR RURAL TAPES

“A level of its very own”
MOJO

"Consistently inventive"
Uncut Magazine

"Rural Tapes delights in the unexpected. At every turn, you encounter something new, something to be marvelled over. Kjelsrud Mathisen has said he wants this music to stand the test of time. It will."
The Independent

“A dreamy self-titled debut full of broad soundscapes... Melding smooth jazz with floaty puffs of synth, the album is both meditative and uplifting, the sort of soundtrack you might expect from a dream sequence in a 1970s film."
GQ Magazine

“A wonderfully woozy and captivating listening experience.”
Electronic Sound

" Norwegian maverick confirms his position as a master mood technician."
Prog Magazine

"Mathison’s musical pedigree makes Rural Tapes an intriguing musical journey of an album that takes in pulsating Krautrock, neo-classical moods and dreamy, proggy pop, all formed through an intuitive composition process."
Shindig Magazine

 

 

 

David Boulter - Whitby

10" Vinyl/CD/DL

Vinyl back in stock in Greedbag 

CDs available from Bandcamp and Greedbag 

 

David Boulter, best known as a long-time member of Tindersticks, returns to Clay Pipe Music with Whitby - an evocative mini-album inspired by the stark beauty and unsettling calm of England’s North Yorkshire coast. 

Unlike the familiar seaside towns of his youth - Great Yarmouth, Scarborough, Filey - Whitby held no particular memories for Boulter until he visited with his family in the summer of 2024. "I’m constantly inspired by my surroundings, or memories of them," he says. "Sat on an almost deserted beach, halfway between Whitby and Sandsend, it really hit me. The absolute beauty - and how alien it seemed. It was quite a stormy day: grey skies coming in off the North Sea, sun breaking through. The way the light hit the rocks, scattered across the beach; the waves crashing. Walking up to the ruined Abbey at sunset, again almost deserted. I imagined human life disappeared."    

That sense of stillness and natural drama became the emotional core of the album. "At a time when it seems we are pushing our planet to the edge, and the wars we rage continue, I felt such calm and connection to the landscape - and how simple beauty can be. The whale bones on the hill reminded me how we always take so much. But we can change."

As with much of his work, Boulter began composing in response to these experiences. On Whitby, the music takes on a more organic quality than his previous releases. While he initially made field recordings of the environment, he later chose to reinterpret them musically - using instrumentation to evoke the atmosphere of the coast: sitting on the beach, walking up by the Abbey, tracing the path of the old Cinder Track railway line.

The result is a quietly powerful musical meditation on history, landscape, and the enduring presence of nature.

Cate Francesca Brooks - Lofoten

 

Cate Francesca Brooks - Lofoten

LP/CD/DL + Enamel badge. 

450 hand numbered vinyl copies

Vinyl SOLD OUT

CDs via Greedbag & Bandcamp 

Digital only from: Cate Brooks 

____________________________________________________ 

 

 

There are imagined landscapes we all carry within us—dreamed, half-remembered, or just beyond reach. Lofoten, the new album by Cate Francesca Brooks on Clay Pipe Music, is a musical reflection on one such place.

Located above the Arctic Circle, Norway's Lofoten Islands are known for their dramatic peaks, open seascapes, and distinctive red fishing cabins dotting the shoreline. Though Brooks has never visited this remote northern region, it became an unexpected source of inspiration.

The project began when Cate listened to a narrated "sleep story" set in the islands. Intrigued, she researched the region and found herself drawn to its stark beauty. "I fell in love with creating an impression of somewhere I would probably never visit, but felt a real affinity with," she explains.

This ambitious album translates that connection into sound. Through carefully crafted electronics, melodic themes, richly layered textures and big production, Brooks captures the essence of Lofoten—its icy light, vast horizons, and profound quiet.

"The other thing that happened around the same time was the first lockdown here in the UK. I had taken the opportunity of having some extra time to learn a new (to me) method of synthesis; that of the Synclavier, which uses one aluminium wheel and an array of buttons to control every parameter of the sound.

"I took to it with intrigue and before I knew it, I had built up hundreds of original sounds, many of which were perfect for the textures I could hear in my head for Lofoten. So that (along with a Prophet synth and a TR-808) became the sound world."

Lofoten stands as an evocative testament to how music can transport us to distant places, transforming geographical limitations into imagined creative possibilities.

 

 

The Baker Fields - Independent Label Market

The Bakers Fields – Frankley My Dear

Mini CD in box

 

Second edition available Friday 23rd May via - Bandcamp

Clay Pipe will be at the Independent Label Market on Saturday 10th May 2025 with lots of rare back stock, new stock, vinyl LPs, enamel badges, prints, Mini CDs, Flexi discs and test pressings!

Please drop me an email if you are coming and would like to reserve an item. 

Clay Pipe Music invites you to take a journey through the Midlands countryside with Frankley My Dear – a new Mini CD housed in a handmade box from Andy Baker’s The Baker Fields. 

The 5-track collection takes its cue from a bicycle ride through Andy’s local area – past the duck pond at Lickey Hills, through Uffmoor Woods (named after the great Mercian King Offa, where a carpet of bluebells appears in spring), and on to Frankley Beeches, which overlooks Birmingham. On Bonfire Night, people gather here to watch a million fireworks across the city, and on quieter days, you might hear the call of a Yellow Hammer. The journey also takes in the old church in Romsley, named after St Kenelm, who was believed to have been murdered on the nearby Clent Hills.

Each track is infused with a fuzzy melancholy, melodic grace, and a gentle psychedelic undercurrent – music shaped by quiet lanes, half-forgotten landmarks, and the gentle passing of time.

Clay Pipe Music · 3. Did He Ever See The Bluebells

Clay Pipe Music · 5. St Kenelms Reverie

Micro Moon - Figure in a Landscape

 

Micro Moon - Figure in a Landscape

Limited Mini CD in bespoke printed cover

Available from Greedbag and Bandcamp

Clay Pipe Music is pleased to introduce London-based Anglo-Spanish duo Micro Moon - pianist/synthesist Isabel Pérez Castro and guitarist/synthesist Stephen Holbrook.

Their Mini CD Figure in a Landscape blends classical piano with rich electronic textures and melodies, taking you to diverse locations—from the sound mirrors of Romney Marsh in Kent to the atmospheric Fábrica da Luz, or 'light factories,' nestled in the Galician mountains of Spain. It’s a beautifully crafted sonic journey inspired by the various regions they have hiked and explored.

After discussing a musical collaboration for years, the couple finally started working together during the early days of the pandemic, experimenting with sound at home and teaching themselves production along the way. This lead to their debut project Public Health—a work inspired by an exhibition at the Wellcome Collection on historical public health initiatives, as well as Iain Sinclair’s book Living with Buildings and Walking with Ghosts. Iain allowed them to use some spoken text from the book for their track, City Rites.

Drawing on subtractive synthesis, drone music, the Radiophonic Workshop, and psychogeography, Figure in a Landscape sees the duo crafting immersive compositions inspired by real-world locations, transporting listeners into vivid aural environments.

A Dolby Atmos mix of Figure in a Landscape is on Apple Music.

Stagdale part 3

 

Stagdale part 3 is available  from the Clay Pipe Greedbag shop and The Hardy Tree Bandcamp.  

Frances Castle presents the third part of her graphic novel Stagdale, accompanied by a new soundtrack EP from her musical alter ego The Hardy Tree.

Stagdale Part 3, drawn and written by Clay Pipe Music founder Frances Castle, continues the story of Kathy and Max—two strangers, a generation apart, who both unexpectedly find themselves living in the isolated village of Stagdale.

When twelve-year-old Kathy discovers a wartime diary hidden behind the skirting board of the old cottage she and her mother are renting, she is instantly captivated. As she delves into its pages, she begins to suspect that the tale of the missing Stag Jewel - told to her by her new friend Joe - isn't quite what it seems. Could the diary hold the key to unravelling a mystery that's been buried for 30 years?

A special edition of the book will include a Flexi Disc featuring the title track “September 1975.” There will also be a limited reissue of the original Flexi Disc editions from Books 1 & 2. Additionally, Book 2 has been reprinted with a matt cover, so all three books in the series now have a more cohesive look.

 

Also available from Greedbag on the 29th November will be coaster sets based on the artwork for Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman's  Ash Grey And The Gull Glides On and Risograph prints of The Hardy Tree's All the Hours.

Clay Pipe will be at the Groovy Record Fayre

 

Clay Pipe will be at Jonny Trunks Groovy Record Fayre on the 2nd November at The Mildmay Club, London,  N16. Lots of hard to find back stock, as well as new releases, badges etc. Free entry from 10am. Hope to see you there.

The Hardy Tree - All the Hours

 

The Hardy Tree 

All the Hours

Release 6th Sept 2024

 Sold Out

The Hardy Tree, the musical project of Frances Castle, founder of the acclaimed Clay Pipe Music label, is pleased to announce the release of All the Hours as part of the Clay Pipe Mini CD series. This 20-minute composition beautifully captures the passage of a day, from dawn to dusk.

All the Hours was initially composed for a live performance at The Betsey Trotwood pub in London last February. The piece serves as the soundtrack to a slow-moving animation inspired by the cover art of The Hardy Tree’s previous album, Common Grounds. It takes listeners on a journey from night to day and back again, unfolding through delicate looped woodwinds and melodic soundscapes. The music was created using an Elektron Syntakt and an Elektron Digitakt, and the limitations and constraints of the instruments helped define the sound of the music.

Frances will be performing “All the Hours” on September 14th, 2024 at The Lexington on Pentonville Road in London, supporting Andrew Wasylyk and Tommy Perman. There will be CDs for sale at the event. Tickets.

Clay Pipe Music · All The H

ours - Radio Edit