© 2025 Matthew Ryals. All rights reserved.
Matthew Ryals (he/him) is a NYC-based synthesist and composer-improviser. Described as “a sonic explorer on the frontier of experimental music” (Plastic Mag), Matthew has been praised for treating sounds “as if they were alive, breathing” to create something “truly immersive and unforgettable” (Beats Per Minute).
Matthew has released three studio albums and a series of EPs on 3OP, SØVN, and dingn\dents, and will release a solo record on Infrequent Seams in Fall 2025 and a collaborative album with Jacob Sachs-Mishalanie on Oxtail Recordings in 2026.
An active performer as both a soloist and in group configurations, Matthew has performed internationally across Europe, Asia, and North America, and will be featured on High Zero Festival in Baltimore and Ex Nihilo Festival in Omaha in Fall 2025. He has collaborated with such artists as Madison Greenstone, Nava Dunkelman, and Stephan Haluska. Matthew received a 2025 Art Omi: Music Residency, 2025 Foundation of Contemporary Arts Grant, a 2022-23 New Music USA Award, and a 2021 IEA Electronic Media Residency.
A dedicated educator, Matthew teaches worldwide, including workshops for Art Science Connect at THE GRADUATE CENTER CUNY and an upcoming workshop at Indexical in Santa Cruz, CA. He also co-curates Artifact, a Brooklyn-based experimental music series that was awarded a 2025 Brooklyn Arts Council grant.
Contact
For worldwide bookings, collaborations, sound design, + other inquires, please get in touch.
For teaching inquiries, please check out my teaching page to learn more.
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Features
WGLT - Experimental music meets hip-hop for inaugural event promoting healing from mass incarceration
The Pantagraph - Matthew Ryals Generating Modular Synth Music for Normal Show
Shoutout LA - Meet Matthew Ryals | Synthesist, Composer, & Improviser
Wave Farm | WGXC Afternoon Show: Matthew Ryals + Stephan Haluska
Tome to the Weather Machine - Matthew Ryals - "etude no. 12 (take 2)"
Plastic Mag - Matthew Ryals Releases Next Installment In Generative Etudes Series
Beats Per Minute - Cassette Culture: June 2022
Tabs Out - Matthew Ryals - Voltage Scores
Blast Radio - Notable Broadcasts (Week of 1/17): Matthew Ryals
Tabs Out Cassette Podcast - Top 200 Tapes of 2021 Ep #173
CUNY Art Science Connect - Algorithmic Sound 9: Matthew Ryals
Fifteen Questions - Fifteen Questions Interview with Matthew Ryals
Tome to the Weather Machine - Interview: Matthew Ryals
Tome to the Weather Machine - Matthew Ryals: Days Like This
Last Day Leaf - Exclusive Track Premiere : Matthew Ryals – ‘Part of Me’
Tiny Mix Tapes - Matthew Ryals: Machine Memory
XLR8R - Matthew Ryals ‘We Could Make The Ride Better For Everyone’
Critical Masses - Matthew Ryals - We Could Make The Ride Better For Everyone
The Zender Agenda - Matthew Ryals (8/12/16)
Go Erie - Electroflux Welcomes
Cleveland Scene - Local Electronic Musician Matthew Ryals Releases Debut
Press Quotes
“A sonic explorer on the frontier of experimental music” - Damo Howard, Plastic Mag.
“He approaches these sounds as if they were alive, breathing, and he works in concert with each one to create something truly immersive and unforgettable.” - Joshua Pickard, Beats Per Minute
“Voltage Scores is full-blown cybernetic synth shocks and mirrors, unabashedly confident in the pleeping and plonking that it swaggers through.” - Matty McPherson, Tabs Out.
“He’s fast becoming a leading name in the sphere of generative composition using a modular synth.” - Damo Howard, Plastic Mag.
“Impromptus in Isolation is a bold, joyous tear through visceral free jazz, bucolic ambience, head-scratching sound design, and more” - Mike Nigro, Oxtail Recordings.
“On Impromptus in Isolation, he tackles the concept of diminishing realities and the differentiation between organic and inorganic connections.” - Joshua Pickard, Beats Per Minute.