Diffused Dead Icon Inspires Hobbyist To Exceed Entry Level Building Skills is the first track from a new project called "Then She Reaches For The Gun". Its inspiration is two fold: Firstly its a homage to some of the stuff i grew up listening to like Mr. Bungle and other noisy bastards where anything goes, and often in quick fire succession and secondly its a chance to work with an never ending stream of talented musicians that i have known for years either in real life Australia or via the Internet. Each track will no doubt change depending on who has sent me what. On this particular little thing we have the following personal
Dane Renshaw ( Australia/Japan)   - Drums
Primaloops (Australia)                      - Drums/Percussion
Frank Wilke (Germany)                     - Trumpet
Paul Miller(U.S.A)                              - Keyboards
Dani Kirby (Australia)                       - Piano
Juan A Miñana (Canary Islands)      - Electronics
Phil Bywater                                         - Tenor Sax
Carolyn Wigston                                  - Voice
Glenn Ward                                          - Guitar
Neska Wigston                                     - Barking/Growling
Me                                                         - Bass Guitar/Noise/arrangement

The process is simple, I collect a bunch of random recordings from people and then see what i can arrange from it. Nothing subtle here, just huge noisy fun : ) I am open to anyone that thinks they might like to be part of this mess. Drop me a message and i will send you my email. The only criteria is that i wont be using samples from TV/film/other music etc, so just original stuff played on instruments, field recordings, stupid drunk conversations etc. Thanks to everyone involved, i am having a ball

Diffused Dead Icon Inspires Hobbyist To Exceed Entry Level Building Skills

Hi and welcome to the 2nd track from my new project "Then She Reaches For The Gun". Firstly I wanna say BIG BIG thanks to all the people around the world that have sent me files to be part of this ongoing fun… I am currently working on track 3 and all the recent recruits will feature in that.

 “All Roads Lead To the Carpark” was finished before the callout so it’s line up is the same bunch of crazy talent as track One except for Carolyn Wigston stepping down from vocals and the formidable Paolo D’Emilio taking her place with a little rant in Italian and English about speaking in Italian and English : ) Neska Wigston is also having a rest from barking duties : )

The project’s inspiration is two fold: Firstly its a homage to some of the stuff i grew up listening to like Mr. Bungle and other noisy bastards where anything goes, and often in quick fire succession and secondly it” a chance to work with an never ending stream of talented musicians that i have known for years either in real life Australia or via the Internet. Each track will no doubt change depending on who has sent me what. 

All Roads Lead To the Carpark features 

Paolo D’Emilio (Italy) - Vocals
Dane Renshaw ( Australia/Japan) - Drums
Primaloops (Australia) - Drums/Percussion
Frank Wilke (Germany) - Trumpet
Paul Miller(U.S.A) - Keyboards
Dani Kirby (Australia) - Piano
Juan A Miñana (Canary Islands) - Electronics
Phil Bywater - Tenor Sax
Glenn Ward - Guitar
Me - Bass Guitar/Noise/arrangement

If you would like to be part of this…….

The process is simple, I collect a bunch of random recordings from people and then see what i can arrange from it. Nothing subtle here, just huge noisy fun : ) I am open to anyone that thinks they might like to be part of this mess. Drop me a message and i will send you my email. The only criteria is that i wont be using samples from TV/film/other music etc, so just original stuff played on instruments, field recordings, stupid drunk conversations etc. Cheers!

All Roads Lead To The Carpark

30/04/21 marked 136 years since Luigi Russolo was born in Portogruaro, Italy. As part of world wide celebrations my Intonarumori played a 90 minute improvised set for 3 Intonarumori and Voice. This is a small excerpt. Always found it notoriously hard to capture this band on tape live ( thats a project for next year with a really good engineer)the frequencies go right through yr blood and weird harmony appears as if by magic... on tape its a bit more of a mooshy blah!  anyeays hope u find some fun in this sonic soupy seance stuff : )

LIVE Intonarumori Trio -Ritual for Russolo's Birthday

Hi and welcome to the 3rd track from my new project "Then She Reaches For The Gun". Huge thanks to all the artists involved. This track features quite a few new people! Its humbling that so many people want to be part of this madness : ) 

The project’s inspiration is two fold: Firstly its a homage to some of the stuff i grew up listening to like Mr. Bungle and other noisy bastards where anything goes, and often in quick fire succession and secondly it is a chance to work with an never ending stream of talented musicians that i have known for years either in real life or via the Internet. Each track will no doubt change depending on who has sent me what. 

This track is titled Fuck Them, They Can Find Their Own Fucking Roadkill To Fuck 

 (This is a quote from Dani Kirby at rehearsal one evening last year when discussing the complex relationship between performing musicians and the general public.)

It features 

Dane Renshaw - Drums
Primaloop        - Drums/Percussion
Gonzalo Serrano - Electronic Drums
Frank Wilke - Trombone
Electro Trek - Voice
Dani Kirby - Voice
Timothy Korstad - Voice
Paul Miller - keyboards/Voice
Fake Stereo Machine - Field Recordings
Axel Weis - Guitar
TexMex Shaman - Guitar
Brendan Corey Benson - Guitar
Chicago Word Brigade - Electronica/Keyboards
Martin Pozdrowicz - Organ
Raul Mainer - Field Recordings 
Wüst - Electronica/Keyboards
Me - Bass Guitar/Noise/arrangement

If you would like to be part of this ongoing project

The process is simple, I collect a bunch of random recordings from people and then see what i can arrange from it. Nothing subtle here, just huge noisy fun : ) I am open to anyone that thinks they might like to be part of this mess. Drop me a message and i will send you my email. The only criteria is that i wont be using samples from TV/film/other music etc, so just original stuff played on instruments, field recordings, stupid drunk conversations etc. Cheers!

Fuck Them, They Can Find Their Own Fucking Roadkill To Fuck

Been listening to A lot of John Zorn over the last couple of months so this is very much inspired by his work. Woodwind and Brass Quintet with Piano and too much Drumming.

Spider Race (for John Zorn)

In Varese the Mayor thought it would be a wonderful idea to install a Piano in the underpass of the main train station for the public to play and 'beautify the neglected space'. I agree - a great idea, and intimidated as i was by some amazing players I heard whenever I passed through I thought I better have a little play : )

Live Public Piano Improvisation - Varese Stazione Subway

The Rat Palace is a Hobart based studio/collective, it actually doesn't have many rats theses days...just artists.This track features Piano,Mallets and Trombone and hopefully sounds a bit like the Rat Palace looks and smells

The Rat Palace

Degeneracy - LIVE  Dani Kirby/Mat Ward

Winter Solstice LIVE@ Rosny Barn/DARK MOFO (Dani Kirby - Keys/Voice Mat Ward - Bass)

A little snippet of a gig we did for the ongoing SoundKlub crew; who have been putting on experimental music events in my hometown for more than a decade. Apologies to Dani Kirby as this piece is less of a duet and more a study of me being a soundhog and playing more or less a bass solo over her keyboard and vocal work.

LIVE@Studio65 - Dani Kirby/Mat Ward ( BASS STRANGULATION)

In 2018 i  was part of a competition to remix broken orchestral instruments... needless to say i didnt win but it top fun.... More info below from the found sound nation website. Also i now have the library of all the samples if any one wants them let me know and I will send them - got everything from micro second one pitch solo instruments through to ensembles lasting for half a minute also ........

Found Sound Nation, in collaboration with Symphony for a Broken Orchestra, has meticulously recorded the sounds of over 800 of broken instruments in an effort to inspire the public to ‘adopt’ these instruments and raise funds to repair and return them to public schools throughout Philadelphia. For these recording sessions, we invited great musicians from around Philadelphia to improvise on damaged horns, flattened fiddles, splintered double bases, padless saxophones, leaky clarinets, and busted-up snares and created a sample library of hundreds of ‘wounded’ but magnificently unique instruments.

Pre Dinner Drinks

I haven't written in Finale for so long.. so it was about time to have some fun and explore the impossible music that only a computer can allow you make. the first in a series of imaginary duets for a bunch of instruments i little or no real skill with at all. : )

Imaginary Duet #1  for Piano and Percussion

New work for an exhibition in Jan 2020... In Italy working on my Russolo studies in particular his quest to 'spiritualise' sound and use it as a path for the transfiguration of perception, in effect using noise to open channels for supernatural communication. For this he used his ensemble of Intonarumori. As my Intonarumori are way too big to fly to Italy I had been thinking about my own ways of using sound to (poetically)communicate with Russolo and through the study of Pythagorean and Kabbalistic number theory have invented my own formula for 'spiritualizing' sound. This recording is the result of a 1 hour field recording taken at the grave of Russolo then manipulated according to the occult number strategy I devised. I see it as an 'evocation' of listening to his spirit... an imagined communication across time through the mediation of noise.

Spirit Evocation Luigi Russolo

BANDCAMP LINK>>>>> https://kirby-ward.bandcamp.com/album/joy-as-a-threat

Joy As A Threat is the latest full length album by Dani Kirby ( Piano/Keyboards/Voice ) and Mat Ward ( Bass Guitar ). The album was recorded live at MONA in the cathedral like space of the Nolan Gallery and incorporates the unique sonic atmosphere of the venue. The room acts as an omnipresent third voice in the recording, shaping the musicians playing as the sounds bounce and decay in unpredictable ways back and forth across the space. The six improvised tracks cover endless musical territory ranging from the ultra minimal vocal driven opening piece 1620 Faces through the post- classical eclecticism of And There We Were Tall all the way to the feedback drenched dronescape of Entrails On The Floor. Dani Kirby and Mat Ward would like to thank Ivan Johnston for engineering, mixing and mastering the album, Carolyn Wigston for allowing us to launch the album at PROOFSPACE. David Campbell for design and production and Brian Ritchie for providing us access to the Nolan Gallery at MONA.

NEW ALBUM RELEASED - Joy As A Threat . Dani Kirby/Mat Ward

We dont really have many "songs" or even permanent sketches that we flesh out live. Most gigs its all off the cuff. so its nice and odd for us to present an actual song with a title that we kind of play the same notes/riffs when ever w do it. Invented on a freezing night at an outdoor festival a couple of years ago .. warning - potential stoner rock like fuzz bass lines : )

New Album title track - JOY AS A THREAT

Happy New Year to everyone - for the first time in years I went overseas without working on a project  YAY - just a holiday so i kept the internet at arms length for a change and enjoyed the food, romance  and sites of Paris... and then i got married !  Carolyn and I were waiting forever for our plane home and there just happened to be a bright red public piano in one of the waiting lounges... so i embarrassed myself in front of the Parisians... i look forward to catching up on all of yr music as I am now home. All the best for the up coming year : )

Charles de Gaulle Airport -Live Piano Improv

Movement 11 from my 2020 exhibition 'La morte mi troverà vivo' (death will find me alive). I dont know where to start or finish with the story of this piece - if you want the long version please go to bandcamp https://nomatesensemble.bandcamp.com/album/la-morte-mi-trover-vivo  there 3 essays on the exhibition in the notes and of course the whole work which is 90 minutes long. This piece for Intonarumori was the starting point for the show, written and recorded to be played at Luigi Russolo's grave as a form of 'calling ' to his spirit. La morte mi troverà vivo is a kind of sonic seance where i composed music as an evocation and used occult number theory to manipulate field recordings to capture what i term an 'imagined response from the spirit world'. The work was made in Italy July/August 2019 and exhibited in Hobart Tasmania in Jan/Feb 2020. I will post visual links and more info at a stage, though of course its a sound installation (i managed to get the whole room to softly rumble with speakers installed out of site in the walls and under the floor)so there isn't heaps to see. :) Thank you all, sorry to ramble !!

Piece For 3 Intonarumori (La morte mi troverà vivo  - mov. 11)

Movement 2 from my 2020 exhibition 'La morte mi troverà vivo' (death will find me alive). The whole piece can be found on bandcamp  or my website including catalogue essays and photos/video 
https://nomatesensemble.bandcamp.com/album/la-morte-mi-trover-vivo  
https://www.matward.net/la-morte-mi-trover-vivo
Childhood Garden is built from a field recording taken at the childhood home of Luigi Russolo in Portogruaro and was one of three pieces i took to and played at Luigi Russolo's grave as a form of 'calling ' to his spirit.

Childhood Garden-Portogruaro (La morte mi troverà vivo -mov.2)

2nd Piece in a small suite based on field recordings taken in the 19th Arrondissement on Paris in early 2020. This work uses manipulated field recordings taken in and around the Cité De La Musique  a beautiful building both inside and out featuring a museum of instruments, archives and state of the art concert halls.

Cité De La Musique (Paris - 19th Arrondissement #2 )

Part 3 of a small suite using field recordings captured in the 19th arrondissement of Paris in January 2020... also Part 1 of a new project that looks at the harmonic possibilities of human speech.. i have always been fascinated by the rhythm of conversation and this new project developed from manipulating spoken word pieces. The original text was provided by Cy Bianne who some of you may know as Société Cantine on Soundcloud/Bandcamp. It was written by Pierre Charras about the inspiration Francis Bacon found for his paintings on a beach one day. The recording has been heavily manipulated to create melodies, harmonies and textures from the raw words. Eventually I am going to attempt to build a choir with spoken word pieces in as many languages as i can find (i may approach some of you for reading!). This track is pretty rough, just a start i guess. also if you want to hear some really imaginative music i highly recommend you check out Cy's page or bandcamp. He writes amazing stuff   https://societecantine.bandcamp.com                                                                          https://soundcloud.com/societecantine

La Plage Était Un Vaste Village Dont Il Était L'idiot (Paris 19th Arrondissement part 3)

Been writing a lot of slooooooow music lately, so this was a circuit breaker. And an excuse to check out the latest free notation software options as i cant really justify paying for  Finale or Sibelius as I dont write much stuff like this these days. This software is called musescore - was one of the better ones i played with; easy to navigate but of course with 'free' comes some pretty rough sampled instruments. Okay back to the slow stuff and thankfully the restart of rehearsing in person now the lockdowns are easing : )

Imaginary Duet #2 for Piano and Percussion

After what seems a life time I have found my way back to the kitchen ! sorry for everyone I invited around to eat... its been more than a year between courses!  so finally 'dinner' is served   - another course in the food themed series built from The Broken Orchestra sample collection as curated by Found Sound Nation. They have recently released an album showcasing some incredible music written using this sample collection check it out here.... https://fsnrecords.bandcamp.com/album/suites-for-a-broken-orchestra
More info.....

In 2018 i was part of a competition to remix broken orchestral instruments... needless to say i didnt win but it top fun.... More info below from the found sound nation website. Also i now have the library of all the samples if any one wants them let me know and I will send them - got everything from micro second one pitch solo instruments through to ensembles lasting for half a minute also ........

Found Sound Nation, in collaboration with Symphony for a Broken Orchestra, has meticulously recorded the sounds of over 800 of broken instruments in an effort to inspire the public to ‘adopt’ these instruments and raise funds to repair and return them to public schools throughout Philadelphia. For these recording sessions, we invited great musicians from around Philadelphia to improvise on damaged horns, flattened fiddles, splintered double bases, padless saxophones, leaky clarinets, and busted-up snares and created a sample library of hundreds of ‘wounded’ but magnificently unique instruments

Dinner (is finally served)

Well we are a little rusty... been the longest time since Dani and I simply did some improvisation.. so here is a rough few minutes recorded even rougher the other night after a session at the wonderful Hobart artspace 'Proofspace' where we have been fortunate to use as we write a new score for the beautiful and poignant silent movie " The Smiling Madame Beudet"... With luck we will get to perform the movie at sometime in the future! Felt great just to make some shit up for the first time in ages : )

Dani Kirby/Mat Ward - Proofspace jam#1

The wonderful Frank Wilke has recently sent me a bunch of files for a new big project involving a heap of great musicians. As a warm up to this new project, and for a bit of fun I put together this little thing. Always a great pleasure to work with Frank : ) check out his stuff @brass-lines

Another Round Of Happiness - with Frank Wilke

Soundscape constructed from field recordings captured whilst exploring the Parco Regionale della Murgiua Materana last year just outside Matera - A unique and ancient landscape with multiple levels of history everywhere.

Matera #3 (Torrente Gravina)

A real pleasure to be part of the 2020 Unconformity Festival based in Queenstown Tasmania This year Dani and I, along with 8 artists from around the globe were asked to re-score an old Sci-Fi movie as part of Unconformity's UNTV live night. Naturally enough all activities were via the Internet this year and the show was broadcast on October 17th 2020 There is almost no info about the 1926 film Dani and I were given other than the year it was made. I cant even find any info on the production company etc... If you would like to see the film I have it here on Vimeo. So thrilled to be involved in festivals re-inventing themselves in these strange times  https://vimeo.com/469587954

A Trip To The Moon (1926) Dani Kirby/Mat Ward

A month or so ago I did a remix of a wonderful track by Ughten... but there was something missing so have been mucking around for a little while and came up with this version. Here is some info on Ughten......
Ughten is collaboration between two friends Chase Rockwell and Electric Supply Station.
A friendship spanning 25 years built on music, dancing and confusing the minds of people we meet.
Ughten is created by the simple melodies and ideas crafted by Electric Supply Station being torn apart and reimagined by Chase Rockwell.
Collaboration with no limits.

Great fun to work with, big thanks for asking me onboard. You can find them here.... https://soundcloud.com/user-682883093

Similarity of Uniqueness by Ughten ..Remix#2 by No Mates

Dance of the Deserted Spaces is composed using field recordings taken from four different locations across the globe after the Covid-19 outbreak resulted in mass public lockdowns. The sonic character of these places shifted dramatically once stripped of the dominance of human activity and previously hidden aural worlds built from nature, automated machinery, the reverberation of open space and the earth itself revealed themselves.
The piece takes these ‘background’ sounds and give them a stage of their own to dance, converse, expand and exist independent from their relationship to human presence. These normally unregistered noises evolve rhythmically and harmonically in an autonomous celebration
of sound itself.
The idea developed from my last night on duty at the museum I work for in Tasmania, Australia. With the museum suddenly closed indefinitely to the public I walked from gallery to gallery shutting down all but the most basic power and lighting systems and listened as the empty
building revealed a new sonic atmosphere of gentle creaks, air-conditioning and essential plant mechanics. There was a sense of spirit emitting from the vacant architecture and the ever working
but unchampioned infrastructure the allowed these places to be habitable.
The sounds of the museum were recorded that night and form the raw material for Dance of the Deserted Spaces along with field recordings sent to me from a deserted intersection in Brooklyn, the empty auditorium of an international school in Yokohama and the entrance to the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in Paris.
Ideas of dystopia, harmony, freedom, tension and evolution are explored as the global sounds come together in defiance of cultural classification, revelling in the peopleless space and time.
Life and energy beyond the reductive parameters of humanity and society are given a platform to create a celebratory noisescape of the omnipresent sounds the secretly surround us.

Dance Of The Deserted Spaces

Feeling very lucky to be involved in this recent festival project. Link to website at the bottom of this info. There is a lot to this one! The short version is under the guidance of Composer Madeleine Flynn myself and 6 other musicians performed a beautiful work on two different rivers in my home state of Tasmania during the MONA FOMA 2021 festival. The instrumentation included horns, strings, sirens/fog horns, intonarumori and many other sound and trad instruments as well as a beautiful and moving text from Theresa Saintly. Here is a small summary from the program guide. ...
Relay / Country Remembers Her Names

Madeleine Flynn, Tim Humphrey with Theresa Sainty

A slowly unfolding relay of land and sea signals echoes across our fair island, opening and closing the festival. Foghorns streamed from Low Head, boat horns, sirens, experimental intonarumori instruments, palawa kani (the language of Tasmanian Aboriginal people), bagpipe streamed from Queenstown, and other sound-making apparatus call each other over land and water, and ask us to reflect on where we are. From wukalina / Mount William and pilawaytakinta / Low Head, to Queenstown, Launceston and nipaluna / Hobart.  

You will hear the work projected from a moving vessel meandering close to shore. In Launceston, listen from the banks of kanamaluka / Tamar River around Riverbend Park, Royal Park and Seaport. In Hobart, listen from the banks of the Derwent around the Hobart foreshore, to Long Beach, Sandy Bay, and on the eastern shore between Howrah and Bellerive. 

The full story and list of all involved (there was lots live stuff streamed to the vessel as well as the onboard musos) can be found here
https://www.relaysound.art/

relay//country remembers her names

A small excerpt from a recent Expanded Cinema project by Dani Kirby ( Keyboards/Voice) and Mat ward (Bass), presented Live at MONA FOMA festival 2021 in Hobart, Tasmania. 
Project Synopsis/Media release....

The Smiling Madame Beudet
Germain Dulac, 1923

Kirby/Ward present the the latest chapter in their ongoing investigation both the history of sound in the era of silent cinema and the pioneering role female artists played (most often overlooked) in the avant garde. They have written and will perform a new score for voice, piano and bass to accompany Germain Dulac’s ground breaking 1923 film The Smiling Madame Beudet.
The Smiling Madame Beudet is credited as the first Feminist movie. The protagonist Madame Beudet is trapped in a suffocating marriage with her only escape being music and the fantasy that she lives in a different world. Her husband is domineering, boorish and frequently pretends to shoot himself (sometimes in front of guests) to taunt and belittle her. Far from portraying Madame Beudet as a victim it casts her as a heroine who, rather than submitting to a life of cruelty, seeks to assert her desires and free herself from the bonds of domestic misogyny.
Dulac uses groundbreaking cinematic artistry to embellish and add detail to both the narrative and the investigation of sexism and gendered roles through techniques such as super-imposition, ultra contrasting of focus, slow-motion, repetition of shots, abstraction and extreme camera angles. These techniques powerfully enforce the Dulac’s desire to show both the oppressiveness of the situation and the absolute need for an imagining of a better life.
The compositional approach focuses on highlighting the sub-text and philosophical underpinnings of the film with emphasis on the meta-narrative behind the protoganist’s story - which is a timeless critique of marriage, gender and sexism. Cinematically this is expressed through Dulac’s focus on Madame Beduet’s internal world as she moves between the disparity of escapism and reality. It is her complex voice and thoughts, as a metaphor for the broader issues of the film that Kirby/Ward bring to life through a dynamic score that incorporates multiple genres ranging from ultra minimalist melody all the way to deafening sub-bass drone.

The Smiling Madame Beudet LIVE Dani Kirby/Mat Ward

Music and things that might sound like music by Mat Ward. Band stuff - mainly Piano and Bass Duet at the mo, Intonarumori Stuff - exploring the strange world of Luigi Russolo with homemade machines and vocals, Digital orchestral/ensemble stuff, noise stuff, live stuff, experimental stuff and stuff with other people. So yep lots of stuff : )If you like to collaborate I am always keen to try new things. Cheers Mat

No Mates Ensemble

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