A New Year - a new project : ) 
Grundomma is myself and my brother Glenn Ward. Its 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. The first track "Flying" features Glenn on rhythm programming, synths and sampling and yours truly on Basses and glitchy noise stuff.. this will no doubt change with each future track. Thanks as always for stopping by. Grundomma salutes you : )

Flying

Dylan and I picked up the threads of this improv project after a few months break to pursue other things. Since #1 post a year ago ( https://soundcloud.com/no-mates-ensemble/duet-for-bass-guitar-and-a-huge-pile-of-crap1) the project has expanded - sometimes we don't even use a huge pile of crap but just the physical architecture of where we are set up ( look out for duet for Bass guitar and an empty warehouse), sometimes its a mini pile of crap, sometime 'no input'.. anyway the vibes the same - make some stuff up : )

Duet for Bass Guitar and a Huge Pile Of Crap#2

Hexfarm is

Phil Bywater - Saxophones/Flutes
Dane Renshaw - Drums
Mat Ward - Bass Guitar/Vox

Track 2 from Hexfarm - who meet once a year to jam for a couple of days then head back to their various corners of the world : )

Cost/Benefit Erection - Hexfarm

Occasional collaborators as a duo and as part of Aporia  - https://soundcloud.com/no-mates-ensemble/aporia-1
Softlands - Guitar/Ebow/Synth/Music Box
No Mates - Bass/Glicthy Noise/Piano

Late, Then Never - Softlands/No Mates Ensemble

One of the first people I met on this platform was the wonderful Societe Cantine. He listened with open ears and offered indepth thoughts on my music and sparked conversation and experimentation. He, himself a mind-blowing sound artist, has released a  string of albums over the last decade that still sing with originality and genre breaking optimism. We danced round the edges of collaboration for a longtime, adding little bits of sound to bigger projects or producing video. Just before COVID hit the world we finally met in Paris - I had so much talk about, as did he.. like children we struggled with face to face language; his english is good, my french is terrible : ) We decided that we should finally start collaborating in depth and this is the first piece - conceived and played with, back and forth during lockdown COVID times. Naturally enough we titled it Language Gap after our initial stumbling meeting. It got an honourary mention in the 2023 One Minute Radio Festival and through that has been played all over the world . Fardeau Losange (as he now known) and I are working now, very slowly on some sort of album - it will take forever, but its almost secondary to the friendship that has grown around the music we have listened to, written and shared on this platform.   https://societecantine.bandcamp.com/album/lopacit-des-interlignes

Language Gap (Fardeau Losange/Mat Ward)

Dedicated to Jello Biafra :)

Hexfarm is

Phil Bywater - Saxophones/Flutes
Dane Renshaw - Drums
Mat Ward - Bass Guitar/Vox

Track 3 from Hexfarm - who meet once a year to jam for a couple of days then head back to their various corners of the world : )

Drink Wank Cry - Hexfarm

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.
This track features the following Artists :
Angostura Elwar -  2 x Behringer CRAVE analog synths/Yamaha P200 electronic piano 
Ariad Music- Clarinet/Percussion/Piano
Axel Weiß- Robot Voices 
Dane Renshaw -Drums
Loop(c)y - Electric Guitar 
Paul Miller - Electronic Percussion
Robert Jefferson - Akai Rhythm wolf/GakkenSX-150 ll/Korg Kaosilator
Ten Atmospheres - Field Recordings/Synths
Mat Ward - Double Bass/Noise/Arrangement

Then She Reaches For The Gun - Feather Hunt

a live cut from our recent Rat Palace Sessions Album Launch. The piece is an improvisation based on a track from the album - which of course is also an improv.  So we are going down the rabbit hole here performing improvs based on improvs, each time changing into something slightly different.

Kirby/Ward LIVE - thumbs

Aporia is an ongoing Internet collab project based around the piano/bass duo 'KIrby/Ward'. Occasionally we capture something at rehearsal that we send to dummer Dane Renshaw (Japan) and guitarist Bruce Musser (U.S.A) to add their respective talents too. Its usually pretty spacious and dreamy : ) This time however the piece we sent out was really busy and instead of trying to pare it back we thought fuck it lets go full hog and make it super busy. So we asked Guitarist Axel Weiß (Germany)and Saxophonist Phil Bywater (Australia) to join the party. So The sextet was born. Of note is that none of the players heard any other parts of the work other than the original Piano/Bass recording, and in the  case of the Saxophones poor Phil didn't hear anything at all! I just used some work he had sent me. So all those nuanced interactions are complete sonic chance. as always Aporia may or may not record more music

Aporia #3 (Sextet)

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.

Que feras tu quand tu m’auras perdue?
(What will you do when you have lost me?) features the following Artists :

Angostura Elwar -  2 x Behringer CRAVE analog synths/Yamaha P200 electronic piano 
Antonella Eye Porcelluzzi - Text/Voice
Ambient Annie - Electric Guitar/Electronica/Voice
Axel Weiß - Electric Guitar
Dane Renshaw  - Drums
Oberlin - Eurorack
Paul Miller - Keyboards
Phil Bywater - Saxophones/Voice
Scratch Kelly - Beats
Texmex Shaman - Electric Guitar
Vartch - Tone Drone/Voice
Mat Ward - Bass Guitar/Arrangement

Then She Reaches For The Gun - Que Feras Tu Quand Tu M’auras Perdue?

Sardinia Sketches: Water #1

Geese Night time ( nightmare)

Cows Night Time

Sardinia Sketches: Cows - Daytime

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 Soul Craves Oblivion features the following artists:

Andrew Harper - Field Recordings/Dripping Tap
Ariad Music- Piano
Banalytic  - Chaos Intro
Bellai Pelegrim - Chaos Intro
Chicago Word Brigade - Chaos Intro
Dane Renshaw  - Drums
Glenn Ward - Electric Guitar
Frank Wilke - Voice
Håkan Skeneby - Chaos Intro
Johnny Python - Zappaesque Guitar Quartet
JZsuperstar - Circus Music
Libby Laksmi - Synth Bass  
Paolo D’Emilio - Chaos Intro
Phil Bywater - Tenor Saxophone
Raul Mainer- Chaos Intro
Stan Magendanz - Chaos Intro
The Windscale Blues Experiment - Soprano Saxophone
Timothy Korstad - Guitar/Text/Voice
Thomas Bergheim - Chaos Intro
Tobias Schmitt- Text
Widar’s Spiritual Front - Chaos Intro
W:I:L-o’ the-wisp - Chaos Intro
Wivresse - Text/Voice
Zanshin - Drums

Mat Ward -  Arrangement/Electric Bass/Field Recordings/Marimba/Noise 
Neska and Senna - Sniffing, Walking and Licking My Face

Then She Reaches For The Gun - The Soul Craves Oblivion

Recorded  12 October 2024 at Casa Bagnolo, Milis Sardinia. A performance for processed field recordings and improvised Bass Guitar. Written during my Nocefresca residency and performed as part of the AMACI Giornata del Contemporaneo festival 2024

Conversazioni Difficili con il Mare LIVE

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.

Flashing My Vagina At Koalas features the following artists:
Ambient Annie - Electronica
Ariad Music - Piano
Belial Pelgrim - Digital Strings
Brendan Corey Benson - Electric Guitar
Carolyn Wigston - Voice
Chicago Word Brigade - Electronica
Dane Renshaw - Drums
Frank Wilke - French Horn
Hakan - Moog Voyager XL
Hverheij- Voice 
Johnny Python- Rocking Outro
Paolo D’Emilio - Electronica
Paul Miller - Keyboards
Sarah Megahertz - Speedway Noise
Scratch Kelly - Electronica 
Ten Atmospheres - Field Recordings/Synths
Thomas Bergheim - Electric Guitar
Tobias Schmitt - Processed Organ 
Widar’s Spiritual Front - Ms Pacman Slasher Sounds
Zanshin - Processed Drums

Mat Ward - Arrangement/Noise/Voice

Then She Reaches For The Gun - Flashing My Vagina At Koalas

2024 has seen Dani and I getting to play in a room that just happens to have a full size grand piano. Its called the Organ room due to it housing a 200 year old pipe organ but we have kept our dirty little hands of that instrument. Over summer we are going to select a bunch of these improvs for a new album to celebrate our time in this fantastic place

Kirby/Ward Organ Room Jam #12

Ambergris
Ambergris is a 30 minute live performance based upon a 3-minute composition commissioned for the exhibition Apologue Isle, shown at Contemporary Art Tasmania in October and November 2024. The performance combined an extrapolated version of the original composition ( built from field recordings) with improvised bass guitar. Big Thanks to Andy Hutson for commissioning my piece and for creating Apologue Isle
 
Live footage of Ambergris - https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1035385453
Apologue Isle Website - https://www.apologueisle.com/

Apologue Isle
An apologue is a moral fable, often using animals or non-human entities as the primary drivers of narrative.  The ‘apple isle’ was a nickname given to lutruwita/Tasmania to highlight the importance of the state’s apple export industry; with the first apple trees being planted by colonist William Bligh in 1788. These trees mark the beginning of industrial agriculture and extractive industry, and their subsequent impacts on the landscape and original inhabitants of lutruwita.   From these converging starting points, Apologue Isle aims to reframe the human perspective and create new stories that propose a world inhabited not by humans battling nature, but a complex, entwined system of objects, beings and space.  After many conceptual iterations, the project eventually began as an invitation. Five writers were asked to create a new story, with two simple requirements: it must refer to the natural world, and at least one character must be non-human. These stories were then transformed into sets, puppets were built, music composed and narration recorded.     The project unfolded like a surrealist exquisite corpse, each person building on the work of the one before, whilst retaining creative control over their own work. This aimed to enhance a sense of trust between collaborators through the giving over of ownership and acceptance of the other’s intent. 
The result is five unique stories, told through an unexpected array of characters, that reflect on what it means to live in our world at this moment in history. And alongside these stories is a burgeoning community of creative individuals, brought together through the shared ideas and ethics of the project.

Apologue Isle - Ambergris (Live Snippet)

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

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

A new track from the New album....https://nomatesensemble.bandcamp.com/album/i-am-never-freer-than-when-i-am-with-you     
Daiphanousness features the following artists

Adam Meredith - Voice/Ford XD with XF front mods
Ariad Music - Piano
Axel Weiß - Synth
Banalytic - Hybrid Modular, Digital, Analogue Sounds
Belial Pelgrim - Digital Strings
Chicago Word Brigade - Electronica
Dane Renshaw - Cymbals
Dani Kirby - Voice
Frank Wilke - French Horn
Glenn Ward - Electric Guitar
Loop(c)y - Electric Guitar
Oily - Meows/Squeaky Toy
Paul Miller - Phat Electro Bass/Keyboards
Raul Mainer - Drum Programming
Rosin Dust - Violin
Scratch Kelly - Beats

Mat Ward - Arrangement/Digital Orchestration

Diaphanousness

Caligo Paean is a 1 hour long sound piece installed on river front property in the town of Franklin, Tasmania as part of the exhibition "When The Fog Clears". It formed part of the Ten Days on The Island Festival March 2025. The intro features the Nocefresca Choir - an impromptu group formed of artist residents I met in Sardinia in 2024. The group (none of us singers) were asked to vocalise in an ancient roman antechamber on a field trip by Sardinian Composer Gaia Aloisi. I recorded it on my zoom for hopeful future use - and here it is making up the intro to this 'song of praise' to the goddess of fog, mystery and chaos. 
The work was installed in several locations across the property including a stack of subs under an old bus, in the main exhibition space and in an abandoned shed some 40 metres from the main area (pictured). The speakers were tuned quite differently depending on their location and the sound was not delay corrected with the result of each mini-installation merging with each other in odd sonic ways  - kind of calling the listener from one spot to another. The the work features field recordings, percussion, piano, bass guitar and Intonarumori as well as this special one off choir : ) 
Big thanks to everyone involved!!
Official press release below. 
Every day, the mists of the Huon Valley perform a seductive dance, gently obscuring and revealing contours of the fertile land and waters. Situated in The Watershed Franklin, When The Fog Clears features six artists from lutruwita / Tasmania exploring the region’s iconic mists through a variety of mediums including installation, sculpture, illustration, sound, and video. 

Developed exclusively for Franklin, this exhibit extends from the waterfront itself into the chambers, kilns, and rafters of the shed, inviting visitors to consider fog as an atmosphere that can cloak us in unexpected ways.

Featuring:
Amber Koroluk-Stephenson
Nadège Phillipe Janon
Joshua Santospirito
Rosie Hastie
Mat Ward
Ursula Woods

When The Fog Clears is curated by Loren Kronemyer and Produced by Constance ARI

This project is supported by Arts Tasmania and presented in partnership with Ten Days on the Island.

Caligo Paean (Intro)

As part of the Ten Days On The Island Festival, Tasmania in April 2025 The Intonarumori Trio got asked to perfrom at The opening of "When The Fog Clears" ( in which I had a sound installation exhibited). This little snipper is from the warm up rehearsal, recorded in a vast open room  with concrete floor and ceiling the sound played and bounced around. We haven't played togather for a bit over a year so it great to shake off the dust here before hitting the festival - and that bang at the end is the sound of an Intonarumori snapping a string !! Some live recordings of Ten Days On The Island will be be uploaded in the coming weeks. VivA Russolo : )

Intonarumori Trio - Prelude To A Festival

A new track from the New album.... https://nomatesensemble.bandcamp.com/album/i-am-never-freer-than-when-i-am-with-you
Contemporary Eyebrows features the following artists 
Banalytic - Noise
Chicago Word Brigade - Electronica
Cowbells - The Cows of Milis, Sardinia
Dan Hewins - Bass Guitar
Dane Renshaw - Drums/Field Recordings
Dani Kirby - Counting/Piano
Dylan Banks - Outside with Beer
Fly Nightmares - Post Punk Prog
Hverheij- Modified DD
Lady ElectroTrek - Organ
Maxx Black - Ukulele
Oberlin - Eurorack
Paul Miller - Keyboards
Raul Mainer - Heavy Metal
Rosin Dust - Violins
Stan Magendanz - Electronica
Timothy Korstad - Electronica
Thomas Bergheim - Electric Guitar
Wivresse - Voice
Zanshin - Processed Drums

Mat Ward - Arrangement/Intonarumori/Not Counting or In Tune

Contemporary Eyebrows

A Small Nothing Across The Horizon ( Brass-Lines/No Mates )

LIVE @ VISUAL BULK  Dani Kirby/Mat Ward/Matt Warren

Opening track by Phil Bywater from Hexfarm's first and last CD  "wall of Taste" 1995

Phil Bywater - tenor sax    dane Renshaw - drums       mat ward - bass

Cross Purposes

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

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!

Popular tracks by No Mates Ensemble