For a curated compilation, see águas brilhantes: 2018-2022
fiffdimension vol4, a compilation made in my early 40s and first few years living in the Wairarapa (and side trips to Fiji). It explores the influence of my Scottish, English and Portuguese pākeha settler ancestors, who had lived nearby, and my new smalltown life.
“We go from bossa nova rhythms to folk to RIO to indie to, what is interesting listening if nothing else, a dog howling along to a banjo […] It is unusual to find someone playing so confidently in such diverse areas and anyone into independent music will certainly find something on here to enjoy.”Kevin Rowland
For full playlist, see 2018-2022 – Playlist by Dave Edwards | Bandcamp
2018
The
Other Islands: 2012-2018 compilation
received some career-best reviews:
“The 20 song album covers traditional Javanese and Balinese gamelan, Asia-Pacific folk music, free jazz, and free noise…. If you have an open inquiring mind and love hearing a variety of sound, this is excellent. – Darryl Baser, muzic.net.nz“
The last five (of the 20) tracks were recorded in 2018 – each in a different genre:
* a new Indonesia-inspired electro-acoustic collaboration with Emit Snake-Beings
* a solo acoustic song written by my great-great-grandfather
* a Wairarapa psychedelic country folk jam with Nat da Hatt
* a Wairarapa free noise electric drone with Campbell Kneale, maestro of the genre
(an excerpt from our full-length noise duo album, A Ton of Feathers)
* and concluding with a Fijian folk song, inspired by my visits to Fiji in 2016 and 2018
By this time I’d turned 40 and, driven out of Wellington by the absurdity of the NZ housing market, moved to the Wairarapa –
the Electricka Zoo played in Featherston, our last gig to date:
Escape Velocity (Live 2018) The Electricka Zoo
Campbell Kneale & Dave Black: A Ton of Feathers
I also began to experiment with animated visuals:
and, on the other hand discovered an ancestor who had come to the Wairarapa long before me, and who would inspire a next major project…
Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856)
In 1856, my great-great-grandfather John Collie (1834-1893), of Boyndie, Scotland, published a book : Poems and Lyrics
“T’were a noble sight to see the mighty men of old, who bled that their countries might be free from the tyrants’ fatal hold – yet I’d deem it a nobler sight by far to behold the sons of the harp & lyre!“
John Collie (1834-1893)
I started setting some the poems to music – along with some of his other descendants: my nephews Hans and Rhys Landon-Lane, my niece Celeste Rochery, and my sister Megan Edwards-Rochery .
The project took until 2025 to complete (for now).
2019
Live 2019
A return to solo acoustic performance, and my first live-streamed internet gig, at Wairarapa TV
Ruasagavulu (Fiji)
by Dave Black & Snake Beings
Made in Suva, Fiji, November 2019 – with Dr Emit Snake-Beings
– tropical avant-garde instrumentals for keyboards, ukulele, dholak, duduk, harmonicas, DIY kitchen gamelan, and video.
“So easy to get totally lost in this music, recommend for helping with your inner peace”
– Andi Verse
2020
The pandemic hit!
John Collie‘s poem ‘Solitude‘, written in 1856 and recorded in 2020, featured on Campbell Kneale’s
Psi-solation: a global compilation of music made in lockdown
“Something about this global pandemic is inspiring people to create and/or curate art on a massive scale…. and this compilation, being offered for free/name-yr-price, is indeed M A S S I V E.” – Howard Stelzer
Dave Black solo EP: Glimpses of Utopia
2021
The Troubled Times:
Return of the Sun;
[…]
Started as a duo with Antony Milton in Masterton, NZ
2022
State Highway 2
A Second Sun
Masterton band ft Antony Milton , now a trio with David Heath on drums;
Negentropic Diatribes – w/ James Robinson
and a multimedia spoken word + improvised music collaboration with award-winning painter James Robinson ; (a semi return to the style of my solo albums from 20 years prior)
“I like it as a intunal thoughtthread outloud with phrases that wriggle with sounds that wobble. Dave Edwards is quite good at this… and its to his professional and integrity driven playful collaborative openness that arts breathe in the smoggy clutter of the dense forest of synthetic posed narratives. Hmm, good on you guys – may th gods be with you”
James Robinson
and an album of
fiffdimension 