Old Hairdressers, Glasgow, Feb 1st
Sat 1st February at The Oldhairdressers, Glasgow
Eddie Prévost, Silvan Schmid, Tom Wheatley Trio with Bill Thompson, Harry Irvine’s Big Fuss… AND a screening of the documentary film A BRIGHT NOWHERE: Journeying into Improvisation directed by Stewart Morgan Hajdukiewicz .
The film offers a candid look at improvisers who create music in the moment, free from the authority of a composer, score or conductor. The musicians focus entirely upon real-time collective exploration and as their compelling music unfolds the cameras take us to the heart of the action with revealing intimacy. Including interviews with a selection of musicians including John Butcher, Ute Kanngiesser, Marjolaine Charbin, Nathan Moore, Alan Wilkinson, Sue Lynch, John Tilbury and Eddie Prévost himself. There is also a glimpse inside the weekly London improvisation workshop established by Prévost in 1999, and readings by musician and author David Toop.
The film reaches a powerful finale with a concert by AMM, the pioneering improvising group co-founded by Eddie Prévost in the mid-1960s. This was the group’s final performance – named as a Concert of the Year 2022 in The Wire magazine – a combustible duet between Eddie Prévost and Keith Rowe incorporating samples of recordings by the group’s absent third member, John Tilbury.
Details and tix: http://www.theoldhairdressers.com/?events=eddie-prevost-silvan-schmid-tom-wheatley-trio-with-bill-thompson-harry-irvine
Mercury Over Maps 20, Canvas and Cream, Jan 16th
Mercury Over Maps returns at its new location in Sound East London: Canvas and Cream Gallery.
Mercury Over Maps 20 features 3 sets – a trio between Jackie Walduck (xylophone), Yoni Silver (bass clarinet) and myself (Moog guitar and electronics); a duo between Roma Agnihotri (distressed film) and whose body is this (laptop / pulsar sythesis), and a solo by Ian Stonehouse.
It’s going to be a very special night – please join us at the first MOM of the 2025!
More information: Mercury Over Maps
2024
Blackfriars Horse, Dec 13th, London
Adam Bohman (amplified objects), Adrian Northover (sax, electronics) & Kamura Obscura (voice &objects).
FEINE, scatterArchive
FEINE released on November 11th on scatterArchive. The release features one 23 minute track using Moog guitar, electronics and found objects recorded at Rearview Studios, London.
FEINE
An obsolete form of feign.
To give a mental existence to something that is not real or actual; to imagine; to invent; to pretend; to form and relate as if true.
Reviewed by the International Times
And the Sky Breaks Open, Ash International
And the Sky Breaks Open CD release, September 20th on Ash International. Featuring two tracks of solo Moog guitar, electronics and found objects recorded at Rearview Studios, London.
These works were recorded late at night during long solo improvisations. A small table lamp illuminated the Moog guitar laid flat on a table surrounded by assorted found objects and guitar pedals whose multicoloured lights blinked delicately in the near shadows. Time moved slower. A sense of stillness and solitude provided a quiet contrast to the sounds pulsating around the room. Each take made as if it were an actual performance, the rule being always to finish the set. As much about training the mind as discovering something new, nothing was premeditated before the first sound occurred, the end never final, always open. The pieces are meaningless in that way from the moment of their first unravelling to their final decay into silence. They are explorations of the material at hand, the objects on the table, a sound sensed but as yet undiscovered. The material, which includes the self, is thus met on its own terms in the fulcrum of improvising-composing-performing allowing what emerges to emerge.
Reviewed on Touching Extremes. Honest Music for Dishonest Times
Included in Touch’s Seven Related Releases for 2024 Seven Related Releases for 2024: and in Honest Music for Dishonest Times End of Year Round-up End of Year Round-up.
Something Different, Oct 20/21, Aberdeen
SOMETHING DIFFERENT is a free two-day practical workshop (Oct 20th and 21st) focusing on collaborative creative practice. Led by sound artist/composer Bill Thompson and dancer/choreographer Penny Chivas, the workshop is primarily oriented toward dancers/choreographers and composers/performers although other arts practitioners are welcome to apply. Over the two days participants will explore creative ways of working, collaborating and performing in ad hoc groups and contexts. Participants will need to be able to respond in real time to creative prompts (for example, musicians and sound artists need to bring an instrument/objects/live electronics) and Bill and Penny will offer both stimulus and ways to shake up our practices. All levels of practice are welcome, the only requirement is an open mind and willingness to experiment.
Apply here: https://sound-scotland.co.uk/news/something-different
Crooked Stem, October 9th, London
Mercury Over Maps 19, Canvas and Cream, Oct 24th
Mercury Over Maps has a new location in Sound East London: Canvas and Cream Gallery.
Mercury Over Maps 19th features 3 sets – a trio between Mark Wastell, Dominic Lash and myself; a duos between Sue Lynch and Paula Garcia Stone, and a solo by Paul Khimasia Morgan.
It’s going to be a very special night – please join us at the first MOM of the 2024 in its new home!
More information: Mercury Over Maps
Elsewhere
Elsewhere contains 19 one minute tracks submited to Ven Voisey as part of his Somewhere/Somewhere Else project 20 years ago.
Somewhere contained 20 one minute field recordings by 20 well known sound artists. The brief was to ‘reconstruct’ one of these into a new one minute work. These were subsequently released as Somewhere Else. My track was included alongside 20 other sound artists.
Rather than just reconstruct one track, however, I reworked all of the original field recordings.These were due to be released as a set but sadly this never came to pass. These, then, are those original reconstructed tracks that I submitted all those years ago.
I resisted the urge to remaster them, opting instead to preserve their original state. The artwork, in the spirit of the Somewhere Else, is a reconstruction of Voisey’s beautiful cover.
Details here.
Announcing CON-STRUCT mini-festival on 13 July 2024
RACHEL MUSSON / OLIE BRICE / WILL GLASER / PEOPLE LIKE US / ANIA PSENITSNIKOVA / DAVID TOOP / KHABAT ABAS / PHIL DURRANT / BILL THOMPSON / CATH ROBERTS / MARK WASTELL
King Alfred Phoenix
Ivy Wood
North End Road
London NW11 7HY
£12/£8 (concessions)
Pre-booking essential (limited capacity)
confrontrecordings.bandcamp.
Supported by The Wire: Adventures In Modern Music London.
night
night (original masters) [BHR AE 012]
night is the latest remastered archive release on Burning Harpsichord Records’ Subscription Service. The release includes three tracks from around 1999 – 2004 that were influenced by both lowercase and phonography music aesthetics: night, Xmass’99 and summer.
Details: https://burningharpsichordrecords.bandcamp.com/album/night
HORIZON
HORIZON [BHR 008]
HORIZON / NOZIROH was composed in 2020 using a single drum machine re-imagined as a bass synth.
The pieces were created using 8 temporally displaced identical tracks layered across each other to produce undulating timbres and evolving beating patterns.
The works are more minimal than much of my recent work reflecting the fact that they were originally composed for a minimalist drone label (now on long-term hiatus).
NOZIROH is HORIZON played in reverse.
https://burningharpsichordrecords.bandcamp.com/album/horizon
Tuscarora Ave
Tuscarora Ave on Burning Harpsichord Records. Featuring three tracks: two not-quite-verbatim 35+ minute long loops of Moog guitar (what else?) captured and processed through 7 different loopers and various guitar effects; and a third track made from the first two, combined, slowed down, reversed and subjected to further processing. It clocks in at over an hour. Although the pieces seem to loop exactly, and to a large extent they do, the melodic/harmonic material and effects processing vary subtly within each work reflecting those seemingly endless El Paso summer days that felt stultifyingly dull and repetitive at the time but in hindsight were rich with detail and adventure. https://
18.4.23
18.4.23 Released August 14th on Cafe Oto‘s in-house label OTOROKU. Featuring solo Moog guitar and electronics recorded live at Atonal Kat’s inaugural event Ear Walkers, Cafe Oto, April 18, 2023.
Intraspect VI, Guildford, March 12th
2023
Mercury Over Maps 18, Hundred Years Gallery, Dec 2nd
Mercury Over Maps returns to Hundred Years Gallery December 2nd for its 18th installment.
The evening features 3 sets – two duos: Jasmine Morris and Liam Dougherty, and Ian Stonehouse and Yoni Silver, and a final quartet formed by the two duos.
[The poster shows a former line up that changed due to last second complications!]
Please join us for the last MOM of the year!
More information: http://billthompson.org/aka_prof_lofi/mercury-over-maps-18
THREE PLUS ONE, Sound Festival, October 26th, Aberdeen
THREE PLUS ONE was formed in 2018 by Phil Durrant to explore Pauline Oliveros’ concept of ‘Deep Listening’ within drone-based improvised music. The group included Phil Durrant (amplified objects, modular-synth & electronics), Rhodri Davies (harp and electronics), Bill Thompson (Moog guitar and electronics) and Mark Wastell (tam tam & metal percussion). Since then THREE PLUS ONE has also included Phil Julian (electronics) and most recently Lee Patterson (amplified objects,devices and processes0.
All of these musicians have performed together in different combinations since the mid 1990s and share a deep affinity for Oliveros’s Deep Listening approach to improvisation and music making. For Oliveros, listening was of central concern – not only to music, but to life. For her, it was more than just hearing, it was active and gave ‘attention to what is perceived both acoustically and psychologically…It allows age, experience, expectation and expertise to influence perception.”
This evening’s concert will explore these ideas and others within a layered-based improvised context lasting approximately 45 minutes.
More details here.
Opensound, Sound Festival, Sept 14th
Free online workshop open to all composers.
Renowned sound artist and composer Bill Thompson leads an hour-long session on the principles of collaboration in creative work.
Here’s Bill’s description of the session’s content:
In this session I will discuss some common misconceptions about collaborative practice and share some ideas that might help you avoid or deal with these when they occur. I will also discuss some past projects that worked well and some that didn’t and what lessons I learned from them that you might find useful.
Thursday, Sept 14th, online, free: https://sound-scotland.co.uk/event/opensound-the-principles-of-collaboration-with-bill-thompson
Handmade Music Series with Xenia Pestova, September 7th, Belfast
Photo by Dawid Laskowski
Performing a new work for solo Moog guitar and electronics piece at the Handmade Music Series in Belfast. Xenia Pestova (objects) will be performing a duo with composer Ed Bennett (electronics). And the three of us will be performing a final trio to round out the night. Expect Moog guitar, electronics, objects and more!
Thursday, Sept 7th, 8pm, Accidental Theatre, Belfast
Details here.
Mercury Over Maps 17, Hundred Years Gallery, Sept 2nd
Mercury Over Maps returns to Hundred Years Gallery September 2nd for its 17th installment.
The evening features three solo sets: Roma Agnihotri and their stunning audio/visual work with distressed film, circuit bent soundtracks and digital manipulation, the excellent Pete Furniss performing a rare (and excellent) solo set with clarinet and electronics and myself performing new material for Moog guitar with a gluttony of live electronics.
Saturday Sept 2nd, 2023
Doors at 730, Music at 8, £8 donation
More information: https://billthompson.org/aka_prof_lofi/mercury-over-maps-17
fast+Dirty, Aberdeen, Aug 23-25
fast+Dirty returns to Aberdeen for 6 Scotland based early career choreographers & composers to work together in residency with renowned artists Ian Spink, Christine Devaney & Bill Thompson. This is an excellent opportunity to learn about cross-arts collaboration and to develop the connections between dance and contemporary classical music.
Find out more: bit.ly/FastDirtyResidency
Improvised Tron, TACO, August 13th
TACO! presents an afternoon screening of the 1980’s classic Sci-fi film TRON accompanied by an improvised sound track provided by artists Kate Carr, Matt Atkins, Cath Roberts, and Bill Thompson. Sunday, August 13th, 2-5pm, 2 Cygnet SQ, SE2 9FA. (Now Free!)
Five Improvisations on the Destruction of Opera
June 30 – July 2, Innovation In Music Conference (Edinburgh)
Performing a new work for Moog guitar and electronics at the InMusic23 conference in Edinburgh Napier University.
The conference theme is ‘You’re not supposed to do that’ with a focus on misuse and reuse; reimagining and repositioning; hybridisation and recontextualisation; and creating unique pathways and perspectives in music production, performance, technology and business.
Details: https://www.inmusicconference.com/
The Seen 20th anniversary, Hundred Years Gallery, June 17th
Performing as part of Mark Wastell‘s 20th anniversary of The Seen on Saturday June 17th at Hundred Years Gallery
Mercury Over Maps 16, Hundred Years Gallery, April 22nd
Mercury Over Maps returns to Hundred Years Gallery – Mercury Over Maps
The evening is a special audio/visual edition featuring 4 sound and video artists (Rob Flint, Blanca Regina, Ian Stonehouse and myself) following the score CROSSFADE PING-PONG by Rob Flint.
Expect lots of audio/visual works as artists respond to each other across two 40 minute sets.
More information: http://billthompson.org/aka_prof_lofi/mercury-over-maps-16
Ear Walkers, Cafe Oto, April 18th
Ear Walkers (Annea Lockwood, Xenia Pestova Bennett, Bill Thompson)
Atonal Kat is a new series of sonic soirees curated by Xenia Pestova and Ed Bennett. Join us for intense listening as we walk with our ears.
Xenia Pestova Bennett cultivates minute details, unpredictable processes and the gradual disappearance of sound inside a prepared piano in Annea Lockwood’s “Ear-Walking Woman”, then switches to cassettes, synths and dictaphones to launch her new album, “Atonal Electronic Chamber Music for Cats”.
Bill Thompson premieres a mysterious new work for Moog guitar, multiple pedals, plasma lights, radios and handheld fans to create an evolving sonic environment that nurtures active attention to each moment.
Details and tickets: https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/atonal-kat-presents-ear-walkers/
Drones, Phases and Alchemy
DRONES, PHASES AND ALCHEMY re-release, Burning Harpsichord Records
Originally released on Brent Fariss’s PorkBonEs label in 2002, this album features four tracks by Clark Crawford and one by myself. My contribution (Mysterium Drone) was performed with a Stratocaster guitar played flat on the ground with a looper and EBow (I hadn’t discovered tables at that point in my career). It was the first time my work as a solo guitarist had been featured on a release and serves as an early precursor to my current work with Moog guitar. Once the original short-run sold out, Crawford hosted the album on his website Cadaocao; he and Fariss have generously allowed me to rerelease it on BHR.
Incidentally, within the BHR catalogue this album has the the largest number of tracks by someone other than myself.
the gates ensemble – 16 october 03 re-release
the gates ensemble – 16 october 03 re-released, March 3rd on Burning Harpsichord Records
The gates ensemble was formed in 2001 to perform my composition Gates and remained together for several years.
This album is one of the few releases documenting our time together. Recorded live at Ballet Austin in Austin, Texas in 2003, it was released on spectral house that same year.
This re-release has been completely remastered from the original source recordings and includes a new bonus track based on the final improvisation (download only).
There are a limited number of the original CDr release available.
Available here.
INTRASPECT V – Guildford, March 23rd
Intraspect V | Thursday March 23rd | doors 6:30pm / music 7:00pm
Intraspect is an evening of experimental music featuring live electronics, acoustic and digital improvisation and live video.
This is the fifth anniversary of the series and will feature a special 90 minute performance of Bill Thompson’s composition Gates by a 9 piece ensemble from London as well as an opening live electronics set by Creative Music Technology students: No-Input, Cat!
No-Input, Cat!
Tautvydas Kuliešius – live electronics | Ben Mason – live electronics | Finn West – live electronics
Gates
Marjolaine Charbin – piano, objects, contact mics, voice | Phil Durrant – amplified objects, dulcimer stick & electronics | Angharad Davies – violin | Rob Flint – live sound and image | Paula Garcia Stone – field recordings & processing | Yoni Silver – Bass clarinet | Bill Thompson – Moog guitar, live electronic | Jackie Walduck – vibraphone & electronics | Mark Wastell – tam tam & metal percussion
Avant Garden Festival, London, March 19th
Performing at the Avant Garden Festival with Richard Sanderson on Sunday, March 19th. Featuring Richard on amplified melodeon and electronics and myself on Moog guitar and electronics.
Also performing: Steve Beresford, Charlotte Keeffe and Georgina Brett.
More info and tickets: https://fb.me/e/2uWNce6o5
BRÅK #36, Water Into Beer, Feb 18th
Saturday 18th February. 6.30pm
BRÅK #36 – A Series of Improv Nights at waterintobeer
Cath Roberts & Bill thompson
Tom Ward & Rachel Musson
Colin Webster & Verity Lane
Entry is one Bank of England note on the door.
More informations: waterintobeer.co.uk
Mercury Over Maps 15, Hundred Years Gallery, Feb 15th
Mercury Over Maps returns to Hundred Years Gallery –Mercury Over Maps
The evening will feature solo live electronic sets by Lucia H Chung and myself, and the trio 3BP (Adam Pultz Melbye, Paul Stapleton and John Bowers)
More information: http://billthompson.org/aka_prof_lofi/mercury-over-maps-15
2022
Interview in The Sound Projector
I discuss my work with the Moog guitar and recent Blackout release on Ash International in the current print issue of The Sound Projector. Copies available here: https://www.thesoundprojector.com
Reflections (2004), Digital Release, Dec 14th
Reflections (2004) released December 14th on Burning Harpsichord Records.
Based on several weeks recording made in Aberdeen, the installation featured hours of treated and untreated field recordings installed across 6 speakers in the artist led gallery Limousine Bull.
The release is from archival recordings of the original installation, remastered as part of Burning Harpsichord Records subscription service.
A shorter render is available as pay-what-you-like with a longer render also released for £6. Both come free with a paid subscription.
More info available here: Reflections (2004)
And via the newsletter: Burning Harpsichord Records Newsletter
Lume, Hundred Years Gallery, Dec 9th
Performing a duo with Cath Roberts at an upcoming Lume event at Hundred Years Gallery. Matt Fisher & Dee Byrne, and the Olie Brice String Project are also performing. More information at https://lumemusic.co.uk/
Untitled Bass Piece no 1, Dec 2nd
Untitled Bass Piece No. 1, Burning Harpsichord Records, Dec 2nd.
Written in 2002 for bassist Brent Fariss, the work is for any number of contrabasses including solo. This release features a multitrack version recorded over several days and mixed by Bill Thompson.
Subscribers receive two bonus tracks: a solo performance recorded live in concert by bassist Thomas Helton and a recorded excerpt from a sound installation version by sound artist Mark Ragsdale.
Available on Burning Harpsichord Records, December 2nd.
October, Nov 4th,
Burning Harpsichord Records’ seconc subscription release – October is now available to subscribers and purchase on Burning Harpsichord Records.
Considered as a follow up to august/september, October differs in that it was recorded as a single take improvisation and arranged, mixed and mastered over 10 years.
The work explores field recordings, live electronics, deep bass / high frequencies and noisy electronic textures over an expansive 58 minutes.
Featuring Brent Fariss on Moog synthesizer and no-input mixing desj and myself on live electronics and field recordings.
Free for paid BHR subscribers or available for purchase on Burning HarpsichordRecords
DRONE-BASED IMPROV, Iklectik, Nov 2nd
I’ll be performing with Phil Durrant, Mark Wastell Kate Carr, Paul Garcia Stone and video artist Rob Flint on Nov 2nd at Iklectik Arts Lab as a further development of our drone based tribute to Pauline Oliveros (originally performed at Cafe Oto in 2018). Email for details.
21st Century Guitar Panel, Guildford, Oct 8th
I’ll be participating in a panel discussion on the upcoming book 21st Century Guitar at the next International Guitar Research Center event at the University of Surrey in Guildford. Several other contemporary guitarists will be presenting work throughout the weekend. More information at IGRC Event October 2022
august/september Re-release Oct 7th
Burning Harpsichord Records’ first subscription release – august/september – with Brent Fariss is now available to subscribers.
For others, it will be available to purchase on Burning Harpsichord Records on October 7th.
The album was composed, performed and recorded by Bill Thompson and Brent Fariss in 2006 and features live electronics, field recordings and contrabass. The new release has been completely remastered but otherwise is true to the original.
Additionally a few remaining copies of the original CDr release have been discovered and will be available for purchase on October 7th.
Visit Burning Harpsichord Records for more information.
Burning Harpsichord Subscription & Sampler
Burning Harpsichord Records Archive Subscription is now live.
It includes monthly downloads from a 20+ year long archive of unreleased compositions, installations and improvisations, out of print works, recordings of live performances, demos and alternative versions, videos and other subscriber exclusive content and much more.
Check out the free Subscription Sampler for a preview.
More information Burning Harpsichord Records Subscription
Mercury Over Maps 14, Hundred Years Gallery, Sept 3rd
Mercury Over Maps returns to Hundred Years Gallery –Mercury Over Maps
The evening will feature three sets: a solo Cath Roberts, and duos by Bill Thompson and Yoni Silver, and Greg White and Emily Collinson.
More information: http://billthompson.org/aka_prof_lofi/mercury-over-maps-14
fast + Dirty, Aberdeen Aug 23 – Oct 30th
A special edition of fast + Dirty returns to Aberdeen with Ian Spink and Bill Thompson over several months working with a selection of artists for the Sound Festival and Dancelive Festival.
Open call for 6 Scotland based early career artists of choreographers & composers to work together in residency to create scores that will be presented at DanceLive and Sound Festivals.
In collaboration with Citymoves Dance Agency, we’re pleased to offer this development opportunity for 6 early career choreographers & composers to work in residency during August in Aberdeen.
Selected applicants will work together collaborating and creating under the facilitation of Ian Spink and Bill Thompson.
The artists will work in a multitude of groupings throughout this initial studio time and settle into ones of their choosing; be it solos, duets or other.
More information here.
New Release: Asarco Towers
Asarco Towers continues the Blackout project initiated in 2020 and released on Ash International:
https://ashinternational.bandcamp.com/album/blackout
The compositions are constructed using material drawn from an archive of sounds collected over a 20 year period; any sounds used in these compositions are permanently removed from the archive, eventually resulting in a ‘blackout’.
Due out on Ash International August 19th.
More information here: http://billthompson.org/aka_prof_lofi/blackout-2-previews/
21st Century Guitar book (Interview)
I discuss my work with the Moog guitar with John McGrath in his upcoming book 21st Century Guitar on Bloomsbury Publishing: “A Field of Reactivity”: Moog Guitar and Experimental Systems – Interview with Bill Thompson
Quiet Ascent
Quiet Ascent is the first double Moog guitar album.
Featuring 2 tracks of improvised music by Bill Thompson and Matthew Sansom using Moog guitars only.
Includes bonus download track, In Convergence (48:49) from the live performance at the Ivy Arts Centre, 16 Sept 2016.
Available as a limited edition cassette and download.
Intraspect IV, Guildford, March 17th
Performance, Improfest, Feb 28th
Performing a solo Moog guitar set (online) at Improfest, Jan 28th.
More details here.
Mercury Over Maps 13, Hundred Years Gallery, Feb 26th
Mercury Over Maps returns after a 2 year hiatus with its 13th installment at Hundred Years Gallery –Mercury Over Maps
The evening will feature three sets: a duo between Bill Thompson performing the 2nd edition of Blackout with Ian Stonehouse providing live visuals), a solo by Ed Bennett (live electronics) and a solo by Jenn Kirby (live electronics).
More information: http://billthompson.org/aka_prof_lofi/mercury-over-maps-13
Performance, Cafe Oto, Jan 11th
Performing a duo with Yoni Silver at Cafe Oto, Tuesday Jan 11th, 8pm. Also performing as a trio are Phil Durrant, Mandhira De Saram and Daniel Thompson.
More info here.