Category: 2010s

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
The Electricka Zoo, 2017
The Electricka Zoo, 2017
the Electricka Zoo, 2017
The Digitator’s gear
Tapioca Dragon / The Electrica Zoo / 1/3 Octave Band poster

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.

Kindred Spirits Concert 7 May 2017
Poster for the concert

Budi And Tristan In Sacred Heart Cathedral
Budi, Tristan and Pippa rehearse macapat

So Short The Life
page 1 of Jack’s original handwritten score

Continue reading “Kindred Spirits: Music of Benjamin Britten and Jack Body” →

the Electricka Zoo on Access Radio this Saturday

Electricka Zoo played live in the studio

on Terry’s Songwriters Show. 

It was broadcast on Saturday 15th of April – hear the podcast online.

The Digitator (left), DJ Terry Shore (middle), and Dave Black (right), April 2017

Terry’s Songwriters Show is a weekly programme hosted by Terry Shore – who is a singer/song-writer himself.

Continue reading “the Electricka Zoo on Access Radio this Saturday” →

Gamelan Padhang Moncar at the SE Asian Night Market 2017

Sunday 2 April 2017

Gamelan Padhang Moncar braved wind and rain to perform twice at the night market on the Wellington Waterfront, near Te Papa.

Continue reading “Gamelan Padhang Moncar at the SE Asian Night Market 2017” →

the Electricka Zoo, early 2017

Next appearing at Fringe Bar in Wellington, Tuesday 28th March 2017, 8:45pm.  Free entry.

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. They combine influences from EDM, punk rock, jazz, reggae, Balkan and Portuguese music into their own homegrown NZ sound.

Keep an eye and two ears out for their first album, coming soon.

In the meantime a vinyl-only 7″ single and collection of early (2015-2016) demos on Soundcloud are available.

2016 roundup

2016 has been another busy year here, with several new projects that should come to fruition in 2017.

* Fragmentary Alpha Waves 7″

Continue reading “2016 roundup” →

Viti Levu, Fiji

My first visit to a Pacific island country, apart from my own (though the term is ambiguous – I’m not counting Australia, Indonesia or Japan).  I’d always wanted to visit Fiji, due to family connections… I may have even been conceived there.  A week’s visit to Viti Levu, the largest and most populated island, in September was all too short but still a great introductory taster.

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First stop was Nadi, Continue reading “Viti Levu, Fiji” →

Indonesia Festival at Te Papa

Two audience videos at the Indonesia Festival at Te Papa national museum in Wellington, NZ:

Gamelan music, in styles from Bali by Gamelan Taniwha Jaya

and central Java by Gamelan Padhang Moncar.

 

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Te Marae, Level 4
Sunday 23 October 2016, 10am-5pm

This was a full day of music, dance, song, and batik fashion from Indonesia.

Continue reading “Indonesia Festival at Te Papa” →

The Electricka Zoo – live in Cuba Mall

The Electricka Zoo performed a battery-powered guerilla gig in Wellington last Friday.

We’re taking a break for the rest of this month to travel separately overseas, but look forward to bringing you some gig announcements for the last third of 2016… as well as these tunes we’re working on coalescing into an album.