2005
2005
2005
The year got off to a good start, with Ascension Band: Evolution
The successful collaboration with Nigel Patterson, Ryan Prebble, and over a dozen other musicians, from jazz-schooled to untrained punks, won the best music award in the NZ Fringe Festival.
I had my first taste of success (the fame part of Fame & Oblivion 2005-2012)…
…But by this time I was ready to see the world beyond Aotearoa. I shifted across the Tasman Sea to Melbourne – in Australia, the West Island.
For the next few months I lived in Brunswick, and worked in temp jobs around the city and in rural Victoria.
The results became After Maths & Sciences
Ascension Band 2005
“With elements of punk, post-punk, jazz, classical, straight rock, opera and music hall, the Ascension Band are that rare thing: Something Wholly Other. They retain avant garde cred and still manage to rock harder than AC/DC.” – www.varsity.co.nz
This riff
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 on guitars, basses, drums, electronics, keyboards, trumpets and vocals, was the seed that grew into a full scale electric symphony: Evolution.
“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
Nigel Patterson – hammond organ & conductor
Will Rattray – electric guitar
Bell Murphy – bass
Warwick Donald – bass
Murray Stewart – keyboards
Damian ‘Frey’ Stewart – laptop
Ryan Prebble – tone generator
Felicity Perry – vocal
Atushi Iseki – vocal
Matt Baxter – drums
Greta Welson – drums
Give credit to the artist
Distribute all derivative works under the same license
Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012
“This is something that he has to do, that he will do, come fame or oblivion” –Chris Knox
Now available on Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp, Deezer etc
fiffdimension vol2, a sequel to Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005, sees increasingly wide-ranging experimentation and exploration both sonically and geographically, from New Zealand and beyond to Australia and East Asia, and a reinvention as Dave Black.
The third part of the trilogy, Other Islands: 2012-2018, documents my return to NZ via other Asia Pacific countries, and more recent works.
Featuring tracks from the albums
Ascension Band: Evolution (2005)
After Maths & Sciences (2005-2006)
South Island Sessions (2006)
First Time Around: East Asia (2008)
The Winter: 2011 (2011)
The Winter: Exit Points (2010/2015)
ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes (2010-2015)
and previously unheard tracks
-
- Ascension Band: Evolution (2005)
-
- After Maths & Sciences (2005-2006)
-
- South Island Sessions (2006)
-
- First Time Around: East Asia (2007-2008)
-
- The Winter: 2011
-
- Neon Train Landscapes (2010-2015)
by Dave Black (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, harmonica, laptop, bass, tenor saxophone, field recordings, piano, gayageum, vocal), with
Mike Kingston (acoustic guitar),
Simon Sweetman (percussion),
Nat da Hatt (electric guitar, keyboards),
Cylvi M (vocal, field recordings, percussion, shakuhachi),
Hayden Gifkins (electric guitar),
Nigel Patterson (hammond organ),
Ryan Prebble (tone generator),
Matthew Thornicroft (electric guitar),
Jeff Henderson (drums),
Noel Meek (vocal),
Clever Hansel (ukulele)
and field recordings from Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Mongolia, and Japan.
If you enjoy this, try the first volume Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005 and the third, Other Islands: 2012-2018
Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005
“Whilst shopping from fiffdimension make sure to get hold of ‘Gleefully Unknown’, a best-of compilation of Dave Edwards’ music from 1997 to 2005. 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.” – Mats Gustafsson, The Broken Face
Now available from Spotify, Bandcamp etc
A compilation of songs, spoken word and instrumentals from the first half of my gloriously unsuccessful career to date:
by Dave Edwards (acoustic & electric guitars, harmonica, bass, banjo, vocal)
with
Mike Kingston (cello, acoustic guitar),
Paul Winstanley (fretless bass, turntables),
Simon Sweetman (percussion),
Nigel Patterson (hammond organ),
Cylvi M (percussion),
Simon O’Rorke (percussion),
Francesca Mountfort (cello),
Jeff Henderson (clarinet),
Blair Latham (alto sax),
Sam Prebble (violin, percussion),
Chris Palmer (electric guitar),
Chris O’Connor (drums),
Antony Milton (violin, keyboards),
Frey (laptop),
Dean Brown (drums)
and more…
Featuring tracks from the albums
Scratched Surface (1997-1998)
in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway (1999/2014)
The Marion Flow (1999-2001)
Mantis Shaped and Worrying (2002)
The Winter: Parataxes (2003)
Loose Autumn Moans (2003)
Live 2004 (2004)
After Maths & Sciences (2005-2006)
-
- Scratched Surface, 1998
-
- Dadapapa, 1999
-
- in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway (1999/2014)
-
- The Marion Flow (2001)
-
- Mantis Shaped and Worrying (2002)
-
- The Winter: Parataxes (2003)
-
- Loose Autumn Moans (2003)
-
- The Winter: Swansong (for the Huia) (2004)
-
- After Maths & Sciences (2005-2006)
… if you enjoy this, try the sequels Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012 and Other Islands: 2012-2018
-
- Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012
-
- Other Islands: 2012-2018
After Maths & Sciences
An Australian novel for the ear, recorded in Melbourne VIC and Gosford NSW in 2005 – by kiwis.
Here’s the music video for The Greenhough (free mp3) The sounds were recorded in Victoria (and a few seconds in South Australia) but the video footage was taken in Queensland!
Music by Dave Black – banjo, dictaphone, laptop, acoustic guitar, harmonica, drums / Cylvi Manthyng – phat beatz, shaker, shakuhachi / Francesca Mountfort – cello / Mike Kingston – acoustic guitar / various Australians
2006 | Reviewed by Simon Sweetman
“After Maths & Sciences was recorded by Dave Black (some may know him as David A. Edwards, and if you don’t, then check his website, or the compilation of earlier recordings,Gleefully Unknown 1997-2005) in two parts: From May-July of 2005 in Melbourne, during the winter….
