Bill Horist CD Release Party & Underwater Photography Immersion

Join us in a celebration of the release of "Substratum," guitarist Bill Horist's latest recording of idiosyncratic solo prepared guitar improvisations, courtesy of Right Brain Records.

For this special event, select photographs of Bill’s work will be on display and available for purchase, as will the Subtratum CD. Bill will play a live set, immersed in projections of many more of his underwater photographs.

Joining Bill for this evening is Undular Bore, the solo vehicle of electronicist, inventor and roboticist Troy Swanson. It is extremely fitting for these two to team up as Troy was one of Bill’s first friends and collaborators when he moved here in the mid-nineties - Troy appeared on Bill’s first solo record “Soylent Radio” (1996). Additionally Troy has his own vast experience in the sea as a designer and operator of underwater robots all over the blue world.

Saturday, September 21, 2024
At The Grocery Studios
3001 21st Ave S, Seattle 98144

Doors at 7:00p, show at 8:00p

Please carpool or take lightrail (5 min walk to The Grocery Studios), as street parking is limited.

About Sustratum

Released on both CD and digital formats with Seattle’s Right Brain Records, “Substratum” is Bill’s tenth solo recording and almost 100th overall. Recorded live at Jack Straw Cultural Center, this album highlights Bill’s distinctive approach to prepared guitar. Using an array of objects and effects, he takes the familiar 6-stringed instrument to entirely new sonic worlds. Inspired by Bill’s recent and profound captivation by the ocean environment, “Substratum” serves as a soundtrack for exploration of deep, hidden layers of reality. Bill is an internationally acclaimed experimental musician, and this album captures him at the top of his craft.

Regarding Bill’s fascination with the marine underworld, over the past decade he has become an avid scuba diver, award-winning underwater photographer, volunteer interpreter at the Seattle Aquarium and overall student of the sea. Reflecting this devotion to the ocean and its myriad strange and fascinating environments and denizens, all the photographs presented on “Substratum” were taken by Bill and represent but a few of the strange and surreal animals found in our local waters, the Salish Sea.

https://www.rightbrainrecords.com

About Bill Horist

Seattle guitarist, Bill Horist is an improviser/composer/performer in a wide array of genres including rock, jazz, contemporary chamber, avant garde, folk, new music and several subgenres within each. He has appeared on almost 100 recordings and has performed well over 1000 concerts throughout North and Central America, Europe, and Japan. Over the past three decades, Bill has collaborated with a long list of notable musicians from around the world including John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Stuart Dempster, KK Null, Matt Chamberlain, Chris Cutler (Henry Cow/Art Bears), Vidushi Sumitra Guha, Julie Slick (Adrian Belew Power Trio), William Hooker, Secret Chiefs 3, Eugene Chadbourne, Bill Rieflin (Ministry/Nine Inch Nails), Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins), Shazaad Ismaily, Six Organs of Admittance, Joe Morris, Climax Golden Twins, Haco, Illusion of Safety, Amy Denio, Uchihashi Kazuhisa, Steve Fisk, Marron, Reggie Watts, Anla Courtis (Reynols), Eyvind Kang, Paul Rucker, Wally Shoup, and Jessica Lurie as well as members of King Crimson, Can, Pearl Jam, Bad Brains, Acid Mothers Temple, Earth, The Boredoms, The Accused, Sunn0))) and many more.

His varied sound has earned him either full-time or periodic membership in bands as diverse as Master Musicians of Bukkake, Kinski, Afrocop, Nobodaddy, Phineas Gage, Axolotl, UnFolkUs, Zahir, Tablet (with DJ J Justice), Nervewheel, Siamese Fonz (with Plastiq Phantom), Ghidra, Rollerball and the Paul Rucker Ensemble in addition to extensive solo activity.

Horist has played in just about every type of venue from caves to arenas and his unusual approach to music has found him in equally unusual scenarios – from composing music using transatlantic freighters as instruments to appearing on “America’s Got Talent.” He also creates music for film, modern dance and video games (notably contributing sound to Warner Brothers hit “Lord of the Rings” game, “The Shadow of Mordor”).

Bill has received critical praise from dozens of both local and international periodicals including The Wire, Guitar Player Magazine and Alternative Press. He has also been the recipient of several local and regional grants for his work. In 2012, Bill was quoted and mentioned in a “short list of…individuals who have made notable contributions” to prepared guitar in the book “Nice Noise: Modifications and Preparations for Guitar” by Bart Hopkin and Yuri Landman. In 2005 and 2006, he was nominated for Jazz Artist of the Year and Guitarist of the Year respectively by the Seattle Weekly.

Bill lives in Ballard and teaches both conventional and unconventional guitar to all ages and levels of experience both privately and in schools from elementary- to college-level. He also teaches guitar/music at the Seattle World School, Seattle JazzEd and conducts an annual blind youth audio workshop.

Host or Publisher The Grocery Studios