supravertical Matt Ratcliffe Wirksworth I was born in 1976 to a music loving family, my Dad a Bob Dylan fanatic, both brothers introduced me to Iron Maiden...........that was enough till I discovered John Coltrane! After a time I was given my first instrument a Yamaha Portasound keyboard with two inch keys, it had, weirdly, a synth section and ever since I was drawn to making sounds from scratch. Running parallel to this interest in sound and experimentation, has been a love of the music of Black America. I have been performing regularly in bands from funk, jazz, blues, rock and experimental music. I graduated from Birmingham Conservatoire in 2010 and have been a free lance musician and teacher, working across the United Kingdom in various projects. I currently have a keen interest in using music technology in improvised settings from free to groove and genre specific musics, but also continue my study as a pianist whilst expanding my ear and mind through the study of the Lydian Chromatic Theory of Tonal Organisation by George Russell. I am also keen to explore the implications of electronic music and synthesis on improvisation and group music.