ilhas Atlânticas

This track is dedicated to my great-great-grandfather Manuel Bernard.

He was born in 1847 in Ponta Delgada, Flores Island, Azores, Portugal.

It appeared as the last track on Spastic Rhythms vol 1 (2021), in a Dave Black solo rendition of a piece by the Electricka Zoo.

It originally appeared on The Electricka Zoo (2017), and on the Other Islands: 2012-2018 compilation. It’s based around a (non-diatonic) Cmaj7 – Amaj7 pattern, with a bossa nova rhythm.

The words are in (beginner) Portuguese:

Eu gosto de falar

no meus ancestrais

de as ilhas Atlânticas

Madeiras e Açores

Portugal is the westernmost country in Europe, with its back to it geographically and culturally. It was the edge of the known world for Europeans until the Age of Discovery. The Azores islands are even further west.

As a teenager, Manuel Bernard stowed away on a passing American whaling ship.

From a remote island in the Atlantic ocean, he ended up on an equally remote island in the Pacific – on the opposite side of the world, in Wellington, New Zealand.

Continue reading →

Other Islands: 2012-2018

fiffdimension vol3

brings us into the current decade – with further wide-ranging experimentation and exploration sonically, temporally and geographically, in New Zealand, Western Australia, Indonesia, Okinawa (Japan), and Fiji.

by Dave Black (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, harmonica, laptop, bass, tenor saxophone, field recordings, piano, ukulele, sanshin, saron, jublag, demung, vocal), with

Mike Kingston (charango, acoustic guitar),

Simon Sweetman (percussion),

Nat da Hatt (electric guitar, keyboards, banjo),

Emit Snake-Beings (banjo, vocal, percussion, flute, electronics),

the Digitator (electric drums, keyboards & loops),

Campbell Kneale (electric guitar, analogue synthesiser),

Cylvi M (vocal, field recordings, percussion, shakuhachi),

Blair Latham (bass clarinet),

Simon O’Rorke (keyboards),

Chris Prosser (violin),

Julie Bevan (acoustic guitar),

plus Indonesian gamelan ensembles led by Sofari Hidayat, Budi Putra, and Gareth Farr,

a song by my great-great-grandfather John Collie (1856),

and field recordings from Western Australia, Indonesia, Okinawa (Japan), and Fiji.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Featuring tracks from the albums

The Winter: Flying Visit (2012)

in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway (1999/2014)

ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes (2010-15)

Ngumbang (2014-15)

The Winter: Exit Points (2015)

The Electricka Zoo (2017)

and previously unheard tracks.

安里屋ユンタオーバードライブ Asadoya Yunta Overdrive (Okinawa), 2015

in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway (1999/2014)

And hear the previous compilations

Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005

2017 roundup

Our main news of 2017 was The Electricka Zoo‘s debut album. music.net.nz called it “a totally original, mind-warping album”.

It’s not too late for your best-album-of-2017 lists, so get your copy today (just click the ‘buy’ button above… yes we’re still more interested in ‘the album’, as a unified artform, with a theme and structure, rather than streaming playlists).

Our next big project is a show in the NZ Fringe Festival – watch this space.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Meanwhile this year we made some progress on social media, reaching the modest milestones of 200 likes for fiffdimension and 100 likes for the Electricka Zoo on Facebook.

We also Continue reading “2017 roundup” →

Show Me Your House Moves

Our version of a catchy groove, the first track off the Electricka Zoo album… we’re working on a music video and maybe a 7″ remix, but in the meantime…

Forged in Fire: the Sound of Heaven

Thursday 19 October 2017, 7pm

Adam Concert Room, NZ School of Music, Kelburn, Wellington

Featuring gamelan ensembles led by Budi S Putra:

Students of PERF250
Gamelan Padhang Moncar

with special guests:

Gamelan Taniwha Jaya (Balinese)
Ngripto Raras (Indonesian Group)

Also, Gamelan Padhang Moncar are recording a new album – watch this space!

the Electricka Zoo @ Battle of the Bands

Saturday 14 October 2017

@ Valhalla, 154 Vivian Street, Wellington NZ

Thanks everyone who came to see The Electricka Zoo in the 2017 Battle of the Bands…

The Electricka Zoo @ Battle of the Bands 2017

The Electricka Zoo are one of Wellington’s most intriguing new live bands, a bass/guitar and live electronica duo of Dave Black and the Digitator.

We combine diverse influences from EDM to postpunk avant-garde rock, jazz, reggae, Balkan and Portuguese music into our own homegrown NZ sound.

Battle of the Bands 2017

Battle of the Bands – National Championship is New Zealand’s largest and longest running R18 Band competition; events take place nationwide, allowing bands throughout the country to take part. The event has been an annual feature of the New Zealand music scene since 1993. Continue reading “the Electricka Zoo @ Battle of the Bands” →

the Electricka Zoo album

We’re happy to announce the release of the Electricka Zoo‘s first (self-titled) album.

the Electricka Zoo, 2017

The Electricka Zoo, 2017

Tapioca Dragon / The Electrica Zoo / 1/3 Octave Band poster

The Electricka Zoo, 2017

The Digitator’s gear

the Electricka Zoo, 2017

the Electricka Zoo, 2017

The duo of Dave Black & the Digitator, The Electricka Zoo combine influences from EDM and post-punk avant-garde rock to jazz, reggae, Balkan and Portuguese music. Their self-titled debut album features 8 original tunes by the bass/guitar and electronica duo wrapped in colourful mandala artwork by Lucie Hannon.

Thanks everyone who came to the launch gig at the Pyramid Club !

22nd July – Tapioca Dragon, the Electricka Zoo, 1/3 Octave Band @ Pyramid Club

A night of improv, otherworld musics, and ethereal sonic crunch at Wellington’s Pyramid Club, plus an album release for The Electricka Zoo.

Saturday 22nd July 2017, 8pm

@ the Pyramid Club

272 Taranaki Street, Wellington NZ – $10 door sales

The Electricka Zoo

The duo of Dave Black & the Digitator, The Electricka Zoo combine influences from EDM and post-punk avant-garde rock to jazz, reggae, Balkan and Portuguese music. Their self-titled debut album will be released at this gig, and features 8 original tunes by the bass/guitar and electronica duo wrapped in colourful mandala artwork by Lucie Hannon.

1/3 Octave Band

Also in the line up; the 1/3 Octave Band, aka Bill Wood. A master of tones and drones, Bill an his collaborators in the group have released many CD,s LP’s over the past decade, and recently been championed by no less than former Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins in his column for LA Weekly. Don’t miss this once a year appearance from Mr Wood.

Tapioca Dragon

And let’s not forget and that merry duo of free thinkers, Tapioca Dragon, feat. Andy Wright (ex-Orchestra of Spheres) and Mark Williams (MarineVille / Cookie Brooklyn and the Crumbs). Tapioca Dragon released their debut album last year, a collection of 5 improvisations building from sparse, loops and jabs into a psychedelic spin cycle.

Kindred Spirits: Music of Benjamin Britten and Jack Body

On 7 May 2017 Gamelan Padhang Moncar performed Jack Body‘s first composition for gamelan, ‘So Short the Life’ as part of a choral concert with Nota Bene chamber choir at Wellington’s Sacred Heart Cathedral on.

Jack Body (1944-2015) was a key figure in the introduction of gamelan music to New Zealand.