20 April 2025

Matt Clark & Mark Wastell

Matt Clark is a guitarist and improviser based in SE London.

His work sidesteps traditional notions of harmony and melody, instead exploring the random and unexpected within improvisation around twelve tones, and the sonic possibilities of unorthodox techniques.

Mark Wastell is a versatile improvising musician who has played a central role in the British improvised music scene for over a quarter of a century.

Martin Hackett & Keisuke Matsui

Martin Hackett is a member of Oxford Improvisers and the Muzzix collective in Lille, France. He has been playing improvised music of one sort or another for as long as he can remember, for the past thirty years largely devoted to an obsessive exploration of the Korg MS10 synthesiser.

Keisuke Matsui was born in Kyoto, Japan and now lives and works in London, he performs on electric guitar, cello, electronics, objects on albums with other central figures in the British experimental music scene. He plays regularly with the London Improvisers Orchestra, Eddie Prévost’s Workshop group and collaborates with many players on the London improvisation scene.

John Butcher, Dominic Lash & Emil Karlsen

Born in Brighton and living in London, John Butcher is a saxophonist whose work ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback, unusual acoustics and non-concert locations. He is well known as a solo performer who attempts to engage with a sense of place.

Dominic Lash is a freely improvising double bassist and electric guitarist who the Free Jazz Collective has called an “exceptional creative musician”. He also both writes and performs composed music and, as an academic, researches and writes about film.

Emil Karlsen is a Norwegian improvising drummer currently based in the UK. Described as “a real force on the UK improvised music scene”, he’s establishing himself working the span from free improvisation to free jazz. Occupied with the exploring timbral possibilities of the drum kit, he performs with Phil Wachsmann, John Butcher, Phil Durrant and Maggie Nicols to mention some. Apart from being an active performer, he’s central in the revitalisation of the historic Bead Records.