The debut album from fiffdimension!
“Worth searching out coz this lo-fi singer/songwriter oddball has a unique take on the genre. He’s pissed off, a tad fucked up (as usual), but not full of lugubrious self-pity (as unusual) and is happy to get raucous & obnoxious in just the right kinda way.” – Chris Knox
Listen
About
Scratched Surface is a genuine 1990s teenage no-budget lo-fi post-punk singer-songwriter artifact from the Taranaki, New Zealand underground. It includes both electric and acoustic tracks1.
The title alludes to its status as a first effort from fiffdimension2, with much more to come (‘scratching the surface’). It also suggests scratches on a disc, reflecting the lo-fi production values and a slightly ‘damaged’ pre-millennial teenager outlook.
I didn’t come from a conventional musical background. Instead of learning to play cover songs first, I skipped straight to writing my own3. The musicianship is rudimentary, and the lyrics are full of youthful angst – but also self-aware humour and ironic detachment.
“One day I’m gonna be a star, but I can’t be bothered to practice my guitar.
I’m not gonna sing you a cover song, ’cause I’d only make it sound all wrong.
I got the ‘can’t play for shit and my voice is shot to hell’ blues”
The album also includes early forays into free improvisation, in tracks like King Street Boogie and Eat the Noise.
It was recorded on analogue reel-to-reel and cassette tapes, and self-released on CD-R. The online reissue includes download-only bonus tracks and previously unreleased material.
Credits
- Dave Edwards – acoustic and electric guitar, harmonica, vocal, lyrics
- Tim McVicar – bass (2, 12, 14), percussion (3), electric guitar (12, 13)
- Brett, Ross, Tammy, Dawn et al – percussion and vocals (15-16)
Recorded in New Plymouth, NZ, 1997-1998
Special thanks to Alastair Edwards, Keith Finnerty, Karl Taylor, Brian Wafer
Tracklist
| 1. | You Can’t Complain 06:01 |
| 2. | I Don’t Need You (to Grind Me Down) 02:07 |
| 3. | Fairystomper (no magick tonight) 03:13 |
| 4. | If I Don’t Be There By Morning (bonus) 04:31 |
| 5. | Conscious Flow (bonus) 05:38 |
| 6. | Dead Eyes 03:35 |
| 7. | The Ghost 03:18 |
| 8. | Little Miss Metaphor 03:05 |
| 9. | Killed in a Graveyard 05:59 |
| 10. | My Friend (bonus) 03:10 |
| 11. | Midwinter Night 02:47 |
| 12. | Yo Yo Song 03:08 |
| 13. | Cold Mountain Blues 10:38 |
| 14. | Rain Covered Window (bonus) 04:55 |
| 15. | King Street Boogie 04:51 |
| 16. | Eat the Noise 03:01 |
| 17. | Can’t Play For Shit Blues 04:51 |
Further listening
Acoustic yin / Electric yang – 2CD 1998-2023
The fiffdimension 25th anniversary 2CD features (shorter versions of) King Street Boogie and Can’t Play For Shit Blues. They are each shown as starting points for the next quarter century of evolution.
Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005 compilation
Tracks from Scratched Surface also appear on this compilation, that gives an overview of the early years.
Fairystomper (live 2023 version)
A noisy-as-ever electric romp through this Scratched Surface classic, 25 years later.
Live 1999
Raw solo postpunk live set, featuring songs from Scratched Surface and
The Marion Flow (Taranaki, 1999)
My second album, produced by Paul Winstanley and also recorded in New Plymouth. It showed higher production values and a stylistic evolution. It features more diverse instrumentation and arrangements, and a more complex & impressionistic lyrical approach.
Loose Autumn Moans (2003)
A sophisticated, romantic and melancholy (but still a bit abrasive!) song cycle. All acoustic, and complete with a string section (Mike Kingston, Sam Prebble).
Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856)
While Scratched Surface is the start of the modern era of fiffdimension, I discovered an older precedent: my great-great-grandfather (himself a young man at the time) had self-published a book of poems in 19th century Scotland.
Adapting his words to music is a major work-in-progress, that .allows a new ‘mature’ version of my acoustic style, and shows the early works, like Scratched Surface, in a new light!
Footnotes
- A starting point for the acoustic/electric duality theme.
. ↩︎ - “Fiffdimension” was a high school nickname that I reappropriated. “Fiff” is simply a deliberate misspelling of “fifth”, reflecting a lazy NZ rural accent.
It was originally conceived as a record label, rather than an artist name.
In more recent years, the odd spelling has made it a unique piece of intellectual property. It helps distinguish me from other guys named David Edwards (a common name).
↩︎ - Bob Dylan was a key early influence. I’ve never had any desire to cover his songs; instead, discovering him while at high school around 1994/95 marked a “year zero” that prompted me to start writing my own.
His early solo acoustic guitar and harmonica arrangements, lyric writing genius, distinctive voice, and use of both traditionalist (offering a starting point to appreciate folk music) and iconoclastic (‘going electric’) approaches, all made a lasting impression. These elements all appealed much more than any of the mainstream pop music I had previously heard (which had left me cold).
fiffdimension added a 1990s New Zealand twist – and soon diversified, as I began to listen more widely to music in general, and to meet other NZ artists. First I added elements of electric noise, free improvisation and avant-garde composition, and later on new influences from living overseas) ↩︎
fiffdimension 
4 thoughts on “Scratched Surface”