Exploring somewhat deeper, there is also the undeniable mystique that has surrounded the language of the shipping forecast since it captured the imagination of the public upon its’ inception. Amongst the deepest leagues, there is a third language; something very ephemeral and non- verbal. The way the concept of sailing makes us feel; what it means to us personally. Looking out to the middle distance, watching a lone boat on a calm sea- what goes through your mind? This album explores those emotions and offers a few possible answers. Cate Brooks, 2022. 01. Waves & Knots 02.Sea Kites 03. Easterly Four or Five 04. Tug Boat 05. Light Vessel Automatic 06.Inshore Waters 07. Mid December 08. A Surface Like Glass 09. Maritime
Search Results for:
CLAY PIPE MUSIC
Exploring somewhat deeper, there is also the undeniable mystique that has surrounded the language of the shipping forecast since it captured the imagination of the public upon its’ inception. Amongst the deepest leagues, there is a third language; something very ephemeral and non- verbal. The way the concept of sailing makes us feel; what it means to us personally. Looking out to the middle distance, watching a lone boat on a calm sea- what goes through your mind? This album explores those emotions and offers a few possible answers. Cate Brooks, 2022. 01. Waves & Knots 02.Sea Kites 03. Easterly Four or Five 04. Tug Boat 05. Light Vessel Automatic 06.Inshore Waters 07. Mid December 08. A Surface Like Glass 09. Maritime
The catalyst for Memories of Earth was the 2019 Moving to Mars exhibition at London’s Design Museum - which created a simulation of a future Martian settlement. For Rothon this triggered recollections of a childhood fascination with space – fuelled by the moon landings, visits to the London Planetarium and being taken aged six to see Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. “I recall it as a time when a science fiction-style future seemed just around the corner,” he says. He cites as another influential experience the landmark Cybernetics Serendipity show at the ICA, which featured collaborations between artists and scientists: machines were shown alongside artwork in a spirit of postwar optimism for the positive power of new technologies. “I actually remember very little about it other than it was very noisy and somewhat scary!”
Memories of Earth reflects a spectrum of emotional responses to the idea of space travel – from the optimism and wonder of those childhood dreams to the sense of disconnection, isolation and loss we might feel on a one-way trip to Mars... or beyond. The final, bittersweet track brings us back down to earth with a sense that perhaps it’s caring for our own planet that should be our priority.
Musically Memories of Earth draws on a varied palette of influences including early prog, electronica and European film soundtracks. This diversity of styles flows together to form an album that’s coherent but full of surprises. It also benefits from vocal contributions by acclaimed US musician Johanna Warren and actress/chanteuse Claudia Barton, who wrote and performs the words for the title track – a paean to Earth’s “soft, green bacterial surface”; its “deep, wet, blue mysteries”...
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: I bloody love Clay Pipe, and this new D Rothon release is a prime example of why. Brimming with the sort of soft focus haze I love in my instrumental music, 'Memories Of Earth' is a beautifully rich journey, part jazz part ambient and entirely brilliant. As ever, it's a buy-on-sight from me.TRACK LISTING
1. Apeman, Spaceman
2.Cybernetics Serendipity
3. Eight Million Miles High
4. Aquarius Rising
5. West Of The Moon
6.The Stars Below Us.
7. The Ghosts We Bring
8.The Spaces Between
9. Further From Home
10. Memories Of Earth
The inspiration for Yarmouth came when David, arrived a day early for a show at the Arts Centre in Norwich, and made an impromptu visit by train to the seaside town where had spent his childhood holidays.
In a year when most of us have been unable to travel, Yarmouth offers an escape to summers past. It recalls the saturated colours of a John Hinde postcard in musical form. With a sound palette based around an old 1970’s Lowrey organ, flutes, violin, vintage tape echo and a Premiere vibraphone, it captures a dreamy side of Yarmouth. Sun- drenched childhood memories, long shadows on the sand, the sound of seagulls and waves breaking on the shore. The magic of the fair - the entrance guarded by a huge mechanical giant, club in hand, while the roller coaster rattles overhead on a backboard of painted mountains peaks. As the sun goes down, noise drifts out from the amusement arcades, and neon flickers on Marine Parade, lighting up the fountains in candy floss colours.
“As I stepped off the train, the weight of time passed hit me. I was overwhelmed by a sense of sadness and loss. As I walked along the streets, looking for Trudy’s, I didn’t expect her, but I did find the house. Slowly, as I recognised buildings, streets, memories. I began to smile. I hadn’t lost anything. Great Yarmouth had changed. So had I. But the warmth of those sunny childhood summers was still there.” David Boulter 2020
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: There is nothing in this world that would make me miss a Clay Pipe release, and this one was CLOSE. One of the best labels around, i'm absolutely sure this will be amazing. Get in while you can!TRACK LISTING
1. Across Sea To Sand
2.The Flower Clock
3 Looking For Trudy
4. Marine Parade
5. Sandcastles
6. The Milk Bar
7. Rusty Old Pedal Car
8. Across Sand To Sea Crab Claws
9. Roller Skates The Tower Ballroom
10. The Morning Mist
11. See Saw
12. Knickerbocker Glory
13. Roller Coaster Ride
14. The End Of The Pier
“This record started with Edward Thomas’s poem Adlestrop and a chance visit to the village that it takes its title from. I wanted to see the station, but found it was no longer there, all that remains is the old platform sign Adlestrop, now part of a local bus shelter. However as I walked around the village I was struck that; “all the birds of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire” were still singing away - like ghosts from Thomas’ verse.
Visiting Adlestrop spurred me to get hold of a copy of the Beeching Report which, in Appendix 2, lists all the services and stations recommended for closure in the 1960s. The names read like an epic British poem, from halts to branch-line stops and stations and singular terminals for public schools, mines, ferries and even an asylum. There’s Ravenscar where a resort was planned but got no further in its construction than the station, and a hotel - the grid marked out for the roads never laid. Bethesda, a short branch line from Bangor up towards Snowdonia, was used for slate and passengers and is now just a quiet green valley, Christ’s Hospital on the old Cranleigh Line, opened with seven platforms to cope with the daily flood of pupils attending the famous school nearby which never came as it was a boarding school. Many of the stations have vanished, with just fields and car parks left in their place, some are repurposed as houses, or shops, or abandoned as artefacts of a lone-gone industrial past.
Armed with a digital recorder, and with a copy of Beechings Report as my guidebook I made notes and recordings on my travels around the country, and used them as the starting point for a set of pieces that try to capture the fading layers of history, in the areas where the stations had once stood making sure each track retains something of the real place within them. Back in my studio I reacted, improvised, and crafted musical responses to each station, trying to capture the ghosts and former lives of the stations and their imprint on the present.”
Gilroy Mere is Oliver Cherer who trading as Dollboy, Rhododendron, and Australian Testing Labs as well as his own name has meandered his way through the backwaters of left of centre English folk, ambient and electronic music, issuing numerous albums of original music to much critical acclaim via highly regarded boutique labels such as Static Caravan, Second Language, Deep Distance, Polytechnic Youth, and Awkward Formats
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: All of the :gesticulates everywhere: chaos meant I missed out on the first pressing of this but THANKFULLY, the good folk at Clay Pipe are doing a repress, and we're getting some! If you've not heard Gilroy Mere before, you're in for a treat. Gorgous, pastoral soft-focus synth music infused with the sensibilities of rural folk and heady ambience. A gorgous and perfectly balanced mix of wonderfully applied compositional skill and warming whimsy.TRACK LISTING
1. Appendix 2
2. The Age Of The Train
3. Adlestrop
4. Bethesda In The Rain
5. End Of The Line (Aldeburgh)
6. Just A River
7. The Cranleigh Line
8. Torver & Coppermines
9. Christ’s Hospital
10. Black Dog Halt
11. Ravenscar
12. Star Crossing