by Dave Edwards (aka Dave Black) and collaborators,

1856

Poems & Lyrics by John Collie

John Collie (1834-1893)

a 19th century epic acoustic work-in-progress

adapted from the book, written in Scotland in 1856, by my great-great-grandfather,

and set to music along with some of his other descendants.

“If aught can claim a spirit’s admiration, Sure it must be this beautiful creation.” – John Collie (1834-1893)

(& meanwhile in electric mode):

Spastic Rhythms vol1

Ruasagavulu

by Dave Black & Snake Beings

Made in Fiji, 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

Glimpses of Utopia

Palette-cleansing Dave Black solo electric guitar improv.

[send us your review]

John Collie‘s poem ‘Solitude‘ also features on

Psi-solation: a global compilation of music made in lockdown

From Featherston NZ and around the world, capturing the moment the world as we knew it ended, curated by Campbell Kneale.

“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 Seltzer

Live 2019

Solo acoustic set plus an interview, live streamed from Wairarapa TV

“Great skills and a refreshing rebirth of a beatnik sensibility, this is folk the way folk should be” – Andi Verse

2012-2018

Other Islands: 2012-2018

vol3 – made in New Zealand, Western Australia, Fiji, Indonesia and Okinawa , by Dave Black with The Winter, The Electricka Zoo, Snake Beings, Nat da Hatt, Campbell Kneale, Gamelan Padhang Moncar, Gareth Farr and Gamelan Taniwha Jaya

“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. – muzic.net.nz“

The Electricka Zoo

The duo of live electronica by the Digitator, and Dave Black on bass and electric guitar (2017)

“A totally original, mind warping album that smacks you across the face with big sound…. I salute anyone that makes a whole album out of EDM post-punk avant-garde rock / jazz, reggae, Balkan, [and] Portuguese music” – http://www.muzic.net.nz

Ngumbang

Our first collaboration with the even more legendary & underground artist Snake Beings (2015)

[send us your review]

Free improvisations that swerve from acoustic folk/blues with hints of Asian, Celtic, and Balkan influences, to electro-acoustic soundscapes, abstract dissonance, and pots & pans percussion. By Dave Edwards, Mike Kingston, and Simon Sweetman (2015).

[send us your review]

2005-2012

Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012

vol2 – made in New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Mongolia, and Japan, by Dave Black with Ascension Band, The Winter, Nat da Hatt, Wellington’s Most Famous Orchestra, and Cylvi M

“Experimental and avant-garde…. There is a clear passion, and a commitment to pushing the boundaries… This will challenge your perceptions of what constitutes music and open the mind to new possibilities of sounds that surround us – muzic.net.nz“

The Winter: 2011

Acoustic trio improvisations on banjo, ukulele, clarinet, piano, guitar, harmonica and percussion by Dave Edwards, Mike Kingston, and Simon Sweetman (2011)

[send us your review]

First Time Around: East Asia

Field recordings, sketches, soundscapes and stories from South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Mongolia, by Dave Black and Cylvi M (2008)

[send us your review]

First Time Around: South Korea

Field recordings, electro-acoustic ethnography, Asian industrial soundscapes made in South Korea, by Dave Black and Cylvi M (2007–2008)

[send us your review]

South Island Sessions

Steampunk folktronica from an alternate 19th century, by Dave Black with Cylvi M, Hayden Gifkins, Matthew Thornicroft and Frey (2006)

[send us your review]

After Maths & Sciences

An Australian novel for the ear, recorded in Melbourne VIC and Gosford NSW, by Dave Black with Cylvi M, Mike Kingston and Francesca Mountfort (2005-2006)

“There are New Zealand artists working in this medium (Montano, Seht, Audible 3) combining concrete poetry, field recordings, found-sounds and electro-acoustic manipulations to sit as aural wallpaper, but Dave Black’s debut release (and a re-birth, if you like, for David Edwards) is an actual document – as much a post-modern piece of Performance Journalism as it is a static batch of “songs” or tracks, After Maths & Sciences is a pleasing challenge of an album. It lives up to the cliché of presenting something new with each listen,”– Simon Sweetman

Ascension Band: Evolution

Award-winning electric symphony for post-punk big-band – by organist/conductor/arranger Nigel Patterson (The Black Seeds, The Manta Rays, Fly My Pretties), guitarist & organiser Dave Edwards (fiffdimension, The Winter), and over a dozen musicians including Ryan Prebble, Bell Campanita, Warwick Donald and more on guitars, basses, drums, electronics, keyboards, trumpets and vocals (2005)

“The 50-minute piece of music, broken down into six movements, was performed live over a few nights for the Fringe Festival in 2005; the group taking out the Best Music Award.

“It was stunning. Discordant guitars were choked, drums clattered and crashed, voices mingled with percussion and keyboards – but this form of free-improvisation had a structure to it. It had movement, it had a plan. It was a great beast of a song that writhed and wriggled and often managed to run downhill, away from the players – in the best possible way.

“Here, the show has been recorded onto a CD for posterity – and it begs discovery. It’s an intense listen – but that’s to be expected from a group of players who took their name from one of John Coltrane’s toughest listening albums.” – Simon Sweetman

1997-2005

Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005

vol1 – songs, spoken word and improvisations from the early phase of my gloriously unsuccessful career, by Dave Black with The Winter, Ascension Band,plus Chris O’Connor, Paul Winstanley, Simon O’Rorke, Chris Palmer, Sam Prebble, Francesca Mountfort and more

“Rough outsider folk-blues mysteries, dissonant rock textures, electric and acoustic improvisations… Edwards strikes me as one of the most overlooked musicians from the fertile lands of New Zealand and if you need a fresh start this might very well be the place.” – The Broken Face

The Winter: Swansong (for the Huia)

Electro-acoustic trio improvisation in tribute to extinction by Dave Edwards, Mike Kingston, and Simon Sweetman (2004)

[send us your review]

Loose Autumn Moans

Semi-acoustic songs with string section, recorded on all-analogue equipment, by Dave Edwards, with Sam Prebble, Mike Kingston, and Simon Sweetman (2003)

“Here Wellington, NZ composer Dave Edwards mostly goes it solo with some able assistance from duo or trio the Winter. Often Dave is singing, or very nearly so, as on the jazzy opening track “Summer Skin”, or the almost folky “Working Like a Fountain in the Slender Morning Chill”; elsewhere the sounds are more scattered, accumulated and fragmentary, as he sing/talks in a latter day fractured Syd Barrett unreeling narrative. There are some free noise experiments and clattering nonverbal splatter, but most often this feels like slightly depressive verbose spoken word expositions over acoustic improvisations. Guitars, violin, cello, and percussion all stack up… He’s got a persona that’s all his own.”– George Parsons, Dream Magazine #5

The Winter: Parataxes

The Winter trio’s debut: electric and acoustic trio improvisations for guitars, cello and percussion, by Dave Edwards, Mike Kingston, and Simon Sweetman (2003)

“A strange sonic brew that includes dissonant rock textures, rough outsider folk-blues mysteries, electric and acoustic improvisations and a considerable part of tasty feedback. Imagine equal parts Derek Bailey, New Zealand’s Pumice and classic ’60s blues/folk and you’re in the right ballpark.” – The Broken Face

Mantis Shaped & Worrying

The difficult third album, an idiosyncratic spoken word + instrumental voyage into inner space, by Dave Edwards with Simon O’Rorke (2002)

“Four tracks over 45 minutes allow the artist suitable space for his forum of spoken word and instrumental colour, with the latter lurching from acoustic strums to occasional cacophony. On the final track, ‘Revenge of the Smur‘ Edwards uses a primarily percussive accompaniment whose impact is as dramatic as his wordplay” – Real Groove

The Marion Flow (part 2, Wellington)

Electric and acoustic songs, spoken word and instrumentals – an almost-recognised New Zealand classic, by Dave Edwards with Chris O’Connor, Paul Winstanley, Simon O’Rorke, Chris Palmer, Joe Callwood, and Dean Brown (2001)

“It’s lo-fi, organic and about as eclectic as one could manage. Kind of reminds me of Nick Cave if he had grown up in Timaru. No pretentious American accents or catch phrase choruses, just a bunch of people making music. A little beauty!” – NZ Musician, August/September 2002

in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway (part 1)

Free (in both senses) jazz from Wellington, by Dave Edwards and Simon O’Rorke with Paul Winstanley, Jeff Henderson, Blair Latham, Daniel Beban, Bridget Kelly (1999)

Live 1999

“If only I could play guitar like that… bastard” – Chris Knox

dAdApApA: Waiting for the Drummer

Taranaki improvised rock/noise deconstruction with sputtering synth, air-sucking turntables, didgeridoo and sundry toys providing layers of surreal abstraction, by Paul Winstanley with Dave Edwards, the Digitator, Paul Winther, and Brian Wafer (1999)

“after recording tracks for The Marion Flow at Wafer HQ in New Plymouth, an ad hoc group of associated locals assembled to record… the only rock references here come from the guitars… throw in some spoken word and a special guest appearance by N.P. record mogul Brian Wafer on vacuum cleaner and the dAdApApA nova had blazed and fizzled in the blink of an eye” – Eden Gully

The Marion Flow (part 1, Taranaki).

Electric and acoustic songs, spoken word and instrumentals – an almost-recognised New Zealand classic, by Dave Edwards with Paul Winstanley, the Digitator, Steve Duffels, and Brian Wafer (1999)

“It’s lo-fi, organic and about as eclectic as one could manage. Kind of reminds me of Nick Cave if he had grown up in Timaru. No pretentious American accents or catch phrase choruses, just a bunch of people making music. A little beauty!” – NZ Musician, August/September 2002

Scratched Surface

The debut album – a genuine lo-fi postpunk singer/songwriter artifact from the ’90s, by Dave Edwards with Tim McVicar (1997-1998)

“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