Doors 3.30 | music 4pm | £10 cash
James O’Sullivan – is a London- based experimental guitar player and improvisor who employs a playful but meticulous approach to the instrument through the bringing-together of physicality, resonance, detail, and dynamics. He seeks to co-create a rich, layered, and engaging music that entwines the excitement of the moment with a creative, focused exploration, so as to shape an enduring document of the guitar’s potential.
His interest in improvisation, recording and performance has led him to record and perform across the UK and internationally, both solo and with numerous improvised music groups. More longstanding arrangements include Muster, a duo with Dan Powell (electronics), a duo with Paul May (percussionist), the improvising trio Found Drowned, and a string of collaborative releases on the Aural Terrains imprint. He has released three solo albums, feedback couple, released in 2011, IL Y A, in 2017 and Lovely Error in 2022. More recent releases include Repetition Disguises, an electric guitar duo with Nathan Moore, and CHORD, with Ross Lambert, Nathan Moore, and Eddie Prévost.
Alan Newcombe – was a member of the London Musicians Collective in the mid 80’s. But he mainly was part of a fluid grouping of musicians over a ten-year period playing a range of uncategorisable genres – the music was always spontaneous. Performances included definitely the last free improv gig in Railton Road before the Brixton riots. In the past few years, he returned to live playing and has been involved in MOWO, Skronk, the London Improvisation Workshop, Babble&Squeak, No Computers, and the 50/50 project. Recent gigs in the past year include a quartet with Eddie Prevost, Dominic Lash and NO Moore, a nonet curated by James O’Sullivan, and duos with Chris Hill and Keisuke Matsui. Just over a year ago he played in a trio with Paul May and James O ’Sullivan.
Chris Hill – is an improvising musician, sound artist and event promoter. Based in London he regularly plays with the London Improvisers Orchestra, Eddie Prévost’s workshop group and many others on the London scene. More recent collaborations and releases have been with Phil Morton (Project 50:50), Matt Atkins (Map & Territory; Moonside Tapes, 2023), Stephan Barrett (Dawn and Soil Bound: MRM 75, 2023), Microtonal Music (Moonside Tapes, 2023) and Ed Shipsey with whom he records as Egg & Crisp (Suckle Time; Astral Sewage, Epiphany No.1, 2023).
discountgnostic.bandcamp.com
Jonathan S Griff is an electronic composer/instrumentalist from London. A founder member of post punk trio Approaching Footsteps, he studied piano with Howard Riley and has composed for film and the Studio G library. More recently he has recorded for the Ambient Zone label and is releasing new music in 2024.
Julian Woods is a guitarist, bassist, arranger and composer, currently studying for an MPerf in Jazz Performance at Guildhall School of Music in London. He has recently performed at popular London venues such as the Vortex Jazz Club and Cafe OTO, and is involved in a wide variety of projects, including with Maggie Nicols, Steve Beresford, Phil Minton and other acclaimed improvisers.
Driven by his eclectic tastes, the techniques Julian has recently been exploring include microtonality, free improvisation and polystylism. In 2024, Julian released ‘Every swing has a silver roundabout’, which explores all of these techniques. The track is the first release of his new Berlin-based trio with Philipp Gerschlauer and Diego Pinera.
In 2022, Julian released his debut single onto streaming services, his reimagining of a Charles Ives quartertone piano work, arranged for two electric guitars and performed by himself and guitar virtuoso Ant Law. This won 3rd place in the International Microtonal Guitar Competition and received praise from Grammy-winning guitarist John Schneider and others.
Tansy Spinks is a multi-disciplinary artist intrigued by sounds, materiality and live improvisation. She has performed extensively at home and abroad and exhibited nationally and internationally. Her photographic work, (which includes many commissions for record companies and publishers), is in collections such as The Museum of Fine Art, Houston and the National Media Museum, Bradford and her videos can be found in the Wellcome and BFI libraries. She has a PhD in Sound Art, (LCC), MA in Photography (Royal College of Art, London), BA in Fine Art (Leeds Polytechnic) and is a Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music (violin playing and teaching). Her recent book, Sound Art and Music: Philosophy, Composition and Performance, (co editors, Dack and Stanovic), features an essay on site-associative, live, sound-making strategies. She is also a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Middlesex University, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and External Examiner and guest lecturer at many universities in the UK.
website: https://tansyspinks.com
This afternoons performance will also include Jordan Muscatello (bass) and Keisuke Matsui (cello).
