Electronic musician and producer, activist and journalist, Mat Ward, will start 2022 by releasing a new album, titled ‘Why I Protest’, and we are psyched to exclusively premiere a single off said album here on Shouts.
Along with writing regular columns about protest music for Green Left Mat has dropped a few albums already. Mat’s debut solo release, a concept jungle album about financial markets, was released in January 2017. A chill trap album about Apple, made entirely on an iPad, followed the same year. On July 31, 2018, when Mars was closest to Earth, he released a lo-fi future bass album about Elon Musk. In 2019, he released a chill trap album about surveillance and Provocalz released his hip-hop EP G.O.D with all tracks produced by Mat Ward. In 2020, he released an acclaimed concept album about the media that blended future bass and drum and bass to come up with a new genre. In 2021, he released a future DnB album about the controversial mission to make humans multiplanetary.
Mat has been partaking in protests for many years and on his new album, he sings about the slogans he heard along the way and weaves field recordings from the protests into the future bass/drum and bass style. Besides exploring various issues on this album, that range from climate change and police militarization to fake news and political corruption, Mat is also exploring his own voice for the first time (his previous albums have been more instrumental or featuring guest vocals) making this album even more personal.
‘Strike Till We Win, Build Solar, Build Wind’ will be officially released as a single this Friday. It starts off with one of those protest sound bytes and then dives into a really catchy song that equally makes you want to dance as go out and partake in the sustainable energy revolution.
Listen to the exclusive premiere of ‘Strike Till We Win, Build Solar, Build Win’ below and follow more of Mat’s work via his webpage, https://linktr.ee/MatWard, and via his social media links: FB / Twitter / Instagram / Soundcloud: @matwardmusic.
To receive the album for free as soon as it’s released, simply download any of Mat Ward’s releases for free from his Bandcamp page. You’ll then be automatically added to his mailing list, from which you can unsubscribe at any time. To get his releases for free on Bandcamp, just enter zero as the amount you wish to pay. https://matward.bandcamp.com
‘Why I Protest’ release date: Friday, January 21, 2022 Genre: Future DnB / Indie Rap
‘Strike Till We Win, Build Solar, Build Wind’ by Mat Ward
