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”

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.

The Digitator

The Digitator: New Zealand Producer, Songwriter, Vocalist, Drummer, Synth Driver, Live Looping Musician.

A fellow traveller from Taranaki, New Zealand, who formed The Electricka Zoo in late 2015 with Dave Black.
Continue reading “The Digitator”

Three gigs in early March!

I’m playing not one but three gigs, in three different genres, in Wellington in the first week of March – all free or koha entry.

First up there’s the international multimedia epic East to West

East to West flyer1

on Thursday 3rd of March at Photospace Gallery, Wellington.

This will be followed by the first ever gig of The Electricka Zoo  IMG_20160102_154834

on Saturday 5th of March, 7:30pm at the Performance Arcade, Wellington

 

and then by Gamelan Padhang Moncar GPM-KBRI-photo-500x333

on Sunday 6th of March, 10:00am at the Newtown Fair, Wellington.

 

If you’re in Wellington please come to some or all of these!  I look forward to seeing you there… a special prize for anyone who makes it to all three…

Gamelan Padhang Moncar @ Pataka Gallery

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5 Feb – 13 March 2016

ShadowPlay – an exhibition of wayang kulit shadow puppets from Cirebon (West Java) at Pataka Museum in Porirua.  The antique collection of puppets was purchased by the late Allan Thomas (who also commissioned me to contribute to the book Jazz Aotearoa) in 1974 together with a set of gamelan instruments. Jennifer Shennan and Joko Susilo have worked to curate a unique exhibition showcasing these treasures.

Associated events:

Saturday 6 February, 11:30am, Performing Arts Studio, Pataka Art + Museum

Wayang kulit performance by Joko Susilo accompanied by The First Smile gamelan.

Sunday 7 February, 1:45pm

Concert by Gamelan Padhang Moncar.

Gamelan Padhang Moncar is a group of New Zealand musicians dedicated to the study and performance of Javanese music and based at the New Zealand School of Music (Victoria University campus) in Wellington. They are directed by Budi S. Putra, and managed by Megan Collins.

The group performs traditional repertoire from the courts and villages of central Java as well as contemporary works by New Zealand composers such as Jack Body and Gareth Farr. They also frequently accompany wayang kulit (traditional shadow puppetry) with Joko Susilo.

Members come from a diverse range of backgrounds and include: Judith Exley, Marie Direen, Jo Hilder, Greg Street, Pippa Strom, Mike Jones, Briar Prastiti, Jason Erskine, Helen O’Rourke, Stephanie Cairns, Carina Esguerra, Rupert Snook, Tristan Carter, Jack Hooker, Megan Collins, Anton Killin, Alisa Hogan, Bronwyn Poultney.

I’ll be joining the group in 2016, after performing with the Balinese gamelan ensemble Gamelan Taniwha Jaya in 2010 and 2015 and playing Javanese gamelan in Perth and travelling to Java in 2014.

Panoramic With Singers
Gamelan Padhang Moncar

The Javanese name can be interpreted in several ways. Continue reading “Gamelan Padhang Moncar @ Pataka Gallery”

Nat da Hatt – Harpsychord

The latest offering from Nat da Hatt, recorded in 2015-2016 in Kawaguchi City, Japan using an array of instruments, devices and machines including: a Zoom digital eight track recorder, A Gretsch Electromatic guitar and a Korg vocoder.

Harpsychord follows hot on the heels of 2015’s Volume V and Kleptomania

and his previous 2012 solo masterpiece, Twango

11178300_10153244487776763_3754437497238813588_nNat da Hatt is a political refugee from New Zealand who has settled in Japan where he spends his days in a cave creating tone paintings on an array of devices and instruments including: guitar, thumb piano and a Korg vocoder.

He’s also collaborated with fiffdimension’s Dave Black on the 2014 explicitly Japanese psychedelic album

ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes

and guested on Ngumbang

as well as with American jaw-harp maestro Richard Morrison as Mezcla de Refresco

https://natdahatt.bandcamp.com/