No Mates Ensemble Playlist

in 2009 I moved into The Rat Palace, a studio in Hobart. Its been the epicentre of so many projects and I have shared the space with some amazing artists of all disciplines. I have hard drives full of jams from this time and will share a few over the next little while as a way of saying farewell to the space. This one is from August this year when myself ( Bass) and old band mates from an outfit called Hexfarm Dane Renshaw (Drums) and Phil Bywater ( Tenor Sax) found ourselves all in the same country for the first time in many years. So we dusted off some musical cobwebs one evening. The photo is of the last Ute load leaving the studio, Intonarumori strapped on the back - not quite sure where the next studio is yet !

Rat Palace Jams - Hexfarm 2022 #1

3rd track from Grundomma
Grundomma is myself and my brother Glenn Ward. It's been a few years since we actively made music together...but now seems like a good a time as any. We live a few 1000 kms apart across Australia so this a file swapping exercise. Pretty Fucken Colours features  samples from the documentary 'JIsoe"  - an hour long look at the life of legendary graffiti artist and train bomber Justin Hughes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp8ZNqaG-dE
Filmed in 2005 Its a fascinating look into disaffected Australian suburban life, street art and mental health. Thanks as always for stopping by. Grundomma salutes you : )

Pretty Fucken Colours

Then She Reaches For The Gun was a one off project, bringing together more than 50 artists from across the globe, releasing an album in late 2022 nomatesensemble.bandcamp.com/album/the-…ely-future But it was so much fun we are back for more.

The following artists collaborated on All The Dogs You Have Ever Loved Will Be Waiting For You In The Afterlife 

Dogs

Boogie
Brophy
Buddy 
Hancho 
Jack
Momo
Neska
Poldo
Senna  
Shyamsundara
Star

Oily (a cat)

Humans

Carolyn Wigston - Voice
Dane Renshaw - Drums
Garbage Truck Disco - Joyous Power Punk Outro
Hverheij- Electric Guitar 
Loop(c)y - Electric Guitar 
Paolo D’Emilio - Electronica
Robert Jefferson - Yamaha PSRE403 Keyboard, Melodica, Percussion 
The Windscale Blues Experiment - Clarinet/Flute/Soprano Saxophone
Thomas Bergheim - Bass Guitar
Timothy Korstad - Demonic Intro Left Channel
Tuonela - Demonic Intro Right Channel 
W:I:L-o’ the -wisp - Electric Guitar
Mat Ward - Arrangement/Marimba/Noise

All The Dogs You Ever Loved Will Be Waiting For You In The Afterlife

Then She Reaches for the Gun was formed in 2021 by Mat Ward. At its essence is sound collage, experimentation and the desire to merge and defy genres. Ward invites musicians, sound artists, poets and anyone interested to send him files to be used, abused and showcased ‘as suggested by the work’. They are not always musical but field recordings, spoken word, engine noises and drunken rants. Animals participate a lot too! The raw material is arranged one phrase asks for the next in an alchemical and intuitive process that will most often feature dozens of tracks weaving in and out of each other, colliding, harmonising, arguing and laughing along the way.

Both the aesthetic and the compositional methods use what Frank Zappa called Xenochrony - the mixing together of separately recorded and rhythmically opposing musical phrases to create polyrhythmic and polytempi compositions.The work also features fragmented story telling with the human voice (in many languages) appearing unannounced throughout the tracks offering up snippets of thoughts, conversations, jokes and existential angst. The absurdity of humanities desperate claim to have any real understanding of its place in the universe is revealed through the recorded follies and genuine emotions of the participants in these works. The project is a celebration of experimentation, chance, diversity and community. It pays homage to all musical tastes and genres whilst maintaining a sense of humour and irreverence that is needed to stay sane in the climate of early 21st Century contemporary culture.

I Am Never Freer Than When I Am With You features the following artists

Humans

Adam Meredith - Ford XD with XF front mods/Voice
Ambient Annie - Electronica/Field Recording/Voice
Andrew Harper - Field Recordings
Angostura Elwar -  2 x Behringer CRAVE analog synths/Yamaha P200 electronic piano 
Antonella Eye Porcelluzzi - Text/Voice
Ariad Music - Clarinet/Percussion/Piano
Axel Weiß - Electric Guitar/Robot Voices
Banalytic - experimental Electronics
Belial Pelgrim - Digital Strings/Electronica
Brendan Corey Benson - Electric Guitar
Carolyn Wigston - Voice
Chicago Word Brigade - Electronica
Dan Hewins - Bass Guitar
Dane Renshaw - Drums/Voice
Dani Kirby - Keyboard/Piano/Voice
Dylan Banks - Intonarumori/Voice
Frank Wilke - French Horn/Trombone/Voice
Garbage Truck Disco - Drum programming/Electric Guitar/Joyous Pop Punk
Glenn Ward - Electric Guitar/Skyhooks
Hakan - Moog Voyager XL
Hverheij- Drums/Electric Guitar/Synth
Johnny Python- Bass Guitar/Drum Programming/Electric Guitar/Text/Voice
JZsuperstar - Electric Guitar/Field Recordings/Keyboards
Lady ElectroTrek - Organ
Libby Laksmi - Jazzy Loops/Synth Bass
Loop(c)y - Electric Guitar
Malo Bernard-O’Meara - Drums
Maxx Black - Guitar/Ukulele
Minimal Drone Girl - Cat Wrangling/Field Recordings
Oberlin - Eurorack/Piano
Paolo D’Emilio - Electronica
Paul Miller - Electronic Percussion/Keyboards/Phat Electro Bass
Phil Bywater - Saxophones/Voice
Raul Mainer - DAW Programming/Heavy Metal
Robert Jefferson - Akai Rhythm wolf/GakkenSX-150 ll/Korg Kaosilator/Percussion
Rosin Dust - Violin/Field Recordings
Sarah Megahertz - Speedway Noise
Scratch Kelly - Beats/Electronica
Stan Magendanz - Electronica
Ten Atmospheres - Field Recordings/Synths
Texmex Shaman - Electric Guitar
The Windscale Blues Experiment - Clarinet/Flute/Saxophones
Timothy Korstad - Demons/Electronica
Thomas Bergheim - Bass Guitar/Electric Guitar
Tobias Schmitt - Electronica/Processed Organ/Text
Tuonela - Demons/Electronica
Vartch - Drones/Things/Trousers (not T-shirts)/Voice
Widar’s Spiritual Front - Electronica/Ms Pacman
W:I:L-o’ the-wisp - Bass Guitar/Electric Guitar/Electronica
Wivresse - Electronica/Voice
Zanshin - Acoustic and Processed Drums

Mat Ward - Arrangements/Bass Guitar/Double Bass/Field Recordings/Intonarumori/Marimba/Noise/Percussion/Piano

Dogs
Boogie
Brophy
Buddy
Hancho
Jack
Momo
Neska
Poldo
Senna
Shyamsundara
Star

Oily (cat)
And many cows from Milis, Sardinia

I Am Never Freer Than When I Am With You

digging trenches

From the annual Hexfarm get together where we fly/drive into a space for  a few days of improvising and laughing. This is from the 2024 sessions. The intro chaos somehow morphed into a piece Saxophonist Phil wrote many moons ago called Legacy(which itself was a massive vehicle for improv anyway). we sat with it for a few minutes : ) Looking forward to the 2025 get together. 
Hexfarm is   Dane Renshaw: Drums, Phil Bywater: Saxophones, Mat Ward: Bass

Hexfarm - (a Sort Of) Legacy

Gray Morning

Cast of Characters:

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Warwick four string fretless bass, vocals, lyrics, and seed idea
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums 
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– electric guitar 
Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark – clavinet and VST sax     
Llanpsych-- @llanpsych -- Tez – electric guitar, mix, and production
Eclectic Collective -- composition

This song started its life as one of a batch of bass lines Josh came up with around the New Year holiday. He recorded it to a rudimentary drum loop, which Ken replaced perfectly with his own beat. Stephen was up after Ken, adding his tasteful, foundational guitar you hear underlying the entire song. Not to miss out on the guitaring, Tez came up with the ethereal guitar fills that float around in there. Mark came after Tez with his textural wah clavinet, also adding the wonderful sax solo you hear in the middle. After it was done musically, Josh went back and wrote some lyrics and sang them, too.
  Once it was in the can, we asked Tez to do the honors of mixing it for us, which he did in his always expert fashion. 
  This is a fine example of the Eclectic Collective coming together to create a heartfelt song, based on a bass line seed.  We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Original lyrics by Josh Clary:

Sometimes I think about 
Things we used to talk about
Now I have to go without
Ever looking at your face x2
 
But I want you near me
Wish that you could hear me

What if we could ever reach
Out to the other each
But what would we say?
Is it just another routine day? x2
  
It makes my heart hurt bad
When I think of what I had
Now you’ve slipped away
Seems I saw you just the other day
 
Life can be really cruel
And I can be a fool
But I wish there were a way
I could hear what you would say

Loss - The Eclectic Collective

Planet Confusionn is a Jazz Fusion track and collaboration between myself and good friend John Corsaro. John sent me the track played as a single take, I then added everything else and mixed it, eventually producing what we have here. 
John is an incredible drummer and percussionist and it is my great honour to be able to join with him again on this track. The track was originally recorded around ten years ago.
Thanks for listening and hopefully get some enjoyment from doing so.
Alan

Planet Confusion

Planet ConFusion (Hamilton/Corsaro)

noxpox - isopflop

Check out afrozensecond's cool mash up: https://soundcloud.com/afrozensecond/two-space-junk-parts-collide

Space Junk

My tribute to David Lynch (RIP) and his film, Lost Highway. 

Also, man, am I digging the octave pedal for my bass! 

Influences: Daft Punk, DJ Shadow, Tricky

Dick Laurent Is Dead (a David Lynch tribute)

Remembering Us

Cast of characters:

The Beautiful Dark -- @thebeautifuldark -- Carl — VST orchestration, vocals, lyrics, and composition

K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken -- drums, percussion

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Warwick fretless four-string bass, Fender Precion four-string fretted bass, and Roland Phantom synthesizer

TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen– Tom Anderson Custom T model electric guitar

Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark – VST string arrangement

Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, mix, and production

 This song began as a musical letter written, composed, and sung by Carl to Eclectic Collective. Carl and Josh had been sniffing around each other's pages, admiring each other's work and collaborators. So Carl reached out with this friendly, uplifting song, as a gift to the band. 
  Ken was first in line, adding his awesome, driving drums to give us a heartbeat to build upon. Josh came along next and completed the rhythm section with his trusty four-string fretless bass. Stephen was next up to bat, adding his dynamic raspy guitar, which almost sounds like an electrified fiddle. Next up, Mark followed with his trippy synth and powerful strings to add to Carl's original composition. 

  We had it pretty much done sounding, but wanted to spice it up a bit, so we came up with the idea for a coda. Josh added his bass and synth for it, and Tez came up with the thrilling guitar part of it, as well. Tez also added the thrilling guitar intro, too. 
  Once it was in the can, we asked Tez to mix and produce it for us, which he did in his always expert fashion.

  This is the first song EC has done with Carl, but we know it won't be the last. We all admire him for his creativity, proficiency, and prolificacy. His page is worth a stroll, too, as it contains a lot of gems.

  We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Original lyrics by The Beautiful Dark: 

Hey Collective Seeds,

Let's work things out across that water
There's a cable under sea,
We can send all sorts of...
Music/Words/Sounds - It's insane!
Look Lads,
That's life in the fastlane!

So it's ones and zeros
Mine and yours and theres
We are all heroes...

Watching the fire,
From a distance we're warm
But not from their mire,
From this musical charm.
It's a bonfire,
An inferno.
Earth got plenty to turn off...

So we can sing to love
And we can play for more dove.
Let's combine our powers. Collective!
A Paddy/Yankee toasted sandwich

Tex festival streak
Psyched for more free
K2 to peak
Mistermark chimes ' found life fought
Give, You Entheogenic Psychonaught
Collective lands
Psyched for more free

Dear Collective - (Eclectic Collective and The Beautiful Dark)

Concept score made for Kimberly from the Street Fighter franchise. I do not own the rights to this music.

Shaolin Funk Beatdown!

Music and things that might sound like music by Mat Ward. Noise Art/A  Piano and Bass Duet with Dani Kirby/A 50 plus member Art Ensemble called Then She Reaches The Gun/Deep Research Into Luigi Russolo and his Intonarumori .. thats just the stuff I post regularly : ) Thanks to everyone thats ever stopped by. Music is The Best!

Repost page for Ultrasonic Pest Repellent.  This is where I will repost tracks and make playlists.

I Am Never Freer Than When I Am With You

No Mates Ensemble

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