The Troubled Times: A Second Sun

about

Loosely a sequel to The Troubled Times’ debut, Return of the Sun (2021) 

These new recordings were made exactly one year later – again on the first day of daylight savings, Spring 2022 in the southern hemisphere – now joined by David Heath on drums.

The anniversary prompted the title – then possible alternative meanings of which (binary star systems, colonising other planets) led down a science fiction wormhole…

credits

Recorded in Masterton, New Zealand, 25 September 2022

T-shirt – order here!

The Dying Monarch

The album also features a key crossover track, with the Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856) project:

This track links the various spoken word,ย electricย improv, and folk strands of fiffdimension music. While the rest of Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856) is acoustic based, in this case, the electric arrangement seemed to add a โ€˜kinglyโ€™ majesty, and pathos – as the monarch discovers the limits of his worldly power.

โ€œThe monarch ceased. The courtier train shook, muttered, gazed and shook again.

They saw lifeโ€™s dying embers fade, they felt the sting of horrorโ€™s blade.

Before them lay a lifeless form, which once with life had passions warmed.

The hand was stiff which oft had reigned, the warhorse and the prisoner chained.

A lifeless lump of senseless clay, the stern despotic monarch lay.โ€ โ€“ John Collie (1834-1893)

(track also appears onย fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/poems-lyrics-in-the-english-dialect-1856ย )

Tracklist

Continue reading “The Troubled Times: A Second Sun”

The Troubled Times: State Highway 2

The first proper ‘band’ recording sessions by The Troubled Times, with the addition of David Heath on drums.

Improvised psychedelic rock – inspired by the Wairarapa rural landscapes, and the main road through them – with touches of country, Brazilian jazz, and electroacoustic experiments.

credits

Antony Milton – electric guitar, banjo (6), drums & keyboard (7)

Dave Edwards – electric guitar (1,3,5), acoustic guitar (2,6,7), bass (4), aluminium ladder (7)

David Heath – drums

released August 13, 2022

——-

Masterton, New Zealand

Recorded in Antony’s garage,
17th July + 7th August 2022

Photo by Sara Rogers

Tracklist

1.Whatever you like (north of Wellington) 06:31
2.Wairarapa bossa nova 03:18
3.Passing the Tararuas 03:26
4.Waiohine river after rain 02:50
5.Driving inland 07:16
6.Sanson & Woodville (acoustic) 06:34
7.Snakes & ladder 02:08
8.Spring nor’wester 06:35
9.Bossanova Wairarapa (mais tempo)

Further listening: The Troubled Times

Antony and Dave also collaborated on fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/return-of-the-sun-2021
and
layyourburdensdown.bandcamp.com/album/-

The Troubled Times: […]

The sophomore EP by The Troubled Times duo of Antony Milton and Dave Edwards.

Raw loud Improvised pluck and drone. Recorded on a windy rainy Sunday in Antony’s garage in Masterton, in 2021, between Covid lockdowns.

credits


Guitar/Bass –Dave Edwards
Guitar/Keyboard/Vocs –Antony Milton.

released June 26, 2022

Tracklist

1.Move Alongย 03:54
2.Genes 02:17
3.Super Lucid 13:46
4.Woodness 04:01

Further listening: The Troubled Times

The first full length release from this duo, which pre-dates the name ‘The Troubled Times’, was Return of the Sun (2021)

In 2022, the duo became a trio, joined by David Heath on drums, givng us a full ‘band’ sound.

w/ James Robinson – Negentropic Diatribes (2022)

Multimedia spoken word and music collaboration between two unique NZ artists:

Listen

About

James Robinson is a mid career contemporary New Zealand mixed media artist, exhibiting widely since 1989 – www.jamesrobinson.nz

fiffdimension is music and multimedia by Dave Edwards (aka Dave Black) and collaborators, since 1998 – www.fiffdimension.com

We met in the early 2000s, and finally collaborated 20 years on. Negentropic Diatribes was recorded in Otago in 2022, as James used spoken word recordings to discuss his creative process and innermost thoughts.

The musical settings were created by Dave in Featherston – plus contributions from other collaborators.

credits

  • James Robinson – words, voice, paintings & drawings, bell drum
  • Dave Edwards – electric guitar, bass, loops (2,6,9), midi (9,13), ukulele (11), harmonica (14)

with

Tracklist

1.Telescopic Misanthropy (take 1) 02:10
2.Tendrils of Glowing Memory Filaments 04:31
3.Nothing Can be Threatened by Nothing 04:19
4.James Robinson + The Troubled Times – The Edge 03:25
5.James Robinson + snakebeings + fiffdimension – Dialogue with the Divine 05:30
6.Well Done Son! 00:54
7.Old Brain (metadada of Oceania remembering) 06:19
8.James Robinson – Is Not Art 03:29
9.Existential Threat 01:02
10.Got Razed 07:34
11.James Robinson + snakebeings + fiffdimension – That which is itself nature 05:00
12.James Robinson + Trillion – Bath poem 10:31
13.Psychocultural Glossalalia 01:39
14.James Robinson + Nat da Hatt + fiffdimension – Ake Ake Amene 18:20

James Robinson

James won 2007 paramount prize in the wallace award for
” Taniwaha dragon mother ( spirit bones)”

Read more: w/ James Robinson – Negentropic Diatribes (2022)

โ€˜… a great big flatulent belch of fresh air amongst all the tight-sphinctered, deodorised boys and girls of the accepted national art world….. off-kilter and threatening but always sumptuously, gloriously beautiful.โ€™

– Chris Knox.
Continue reading “w/ James Robinson – Negentropic Diatribes (2022)”

Spastic Rhythms ’22 (2022)

Featherston, NZ – early 2022 – spontaneous compositions, two wet weekends in a row.

Listen

A sequel to Spastic Rhythms vol 1 (2021)

  • second in a series of ‘quickfire’ DIY solo albums, created in a couple of days each.
  • This one features interspecies guest collaboration with Oscar the huntaway.

credits

Oscar and Dave

Dave Black – guitars, bass, banjo (2), clarinet (6), sanshin (10), loop pedal, e-drum

Oscar – vocal (3,9)

released February 13, 2022

Tracklist

1.Drums on Waitangi Day 00:54
2.Estado Novo 01:20
3.Oscar – Oscar’s Blues 01:28
4.fiffdimension / snakebeings – Arising (into Fragments) 03:51
5.Black Mountain (ะฆั€ะฝะฐ ะ“ะพั€ะฐ) 00:59
6.Shuffling the Tarot 03:39
7.Classical rain bucket 01:41
8.Rebooting 02:52
9.Oscar – At home pants ft. cannon bone 02:12
10.Removing a bandaid 00:51
11.Shuri Jo (็‰็ƒ่ซธๅณถ) 01:03
12.Waiting for Dovi 05:24

Further listening

รกguas brilhantes: 2018-2022

A compilation of tracks from the Wairarapa in these years.

โ€œIt is unusual to find someone playing so confidently in such diverse areas, and anyone into independent music will certainly find something on here to enjoy โ€“ Kev Rowland, muzic.nz

Hans Landon-Lane

Hans Landon-Lane plays accordion, ukulele and vocal on

Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856):

Sonnet on Summer

“The sweet breath of summer blows fresh o’er each plain

The woods have resumed their lost grandeur again

The grove with the notes of the blackbirds are singing

By fountain and stream the wild flowers are springing […]”

The Land of My Youth

“I sing of the land where in youth I have rambled

I sing of her heroes who long long are gone

And I sing of her steep crags where oft I have scrambled

When dull pining cares to me were unknown […]”

Here’s a Health to my Cronies’

Here’s a health to my cronies where e’er they reside,

whether this side or that o’ yon big rowing tide

I care na what country or kingdom they claim, be they English or Irish to me it’s the same

Gif their hearts to a glass o’ gude whisky incline, I instantly class them as cronies o’ mine […]”

Continue reading “Hans Landon-Lane”

w/ Antony Milton: Return of the Sun

Antony Milton is a sound artist based in Masterton, New Zealand.

He has been active in the underground and experimental music scenes since the early 1990s.

Continue reading “w/ Antony Milton: Return of the Sun”

The 2021 debut album by The Troubled Times!

This was our first recording session, as an electric guitar improv duo – in collaboration with antonymilton.bandcamp.com

Recorded in Masterton, New Zealand, 26 September 2021 – on the first day of daylight savings, in the southern hemisphere Spring,

Antony Milton is a sound artist based in Masterton, New Zealand.

He has been active in the underground and experimental music scenes since the early 1990s.

Continue reading “w/ Antony Milton: Return of the Sun”

Escape Velocity: the Electricka Zoo live

New live album!

With New Zealand in lockdown this might be the next best thing to an actual gig..

Track 1 recorded live at the Fringe Bar, Wellington NZ, 27-02-18

Tracks 2-7 recorded live at Escape Velocity, Featherston NZ, 10-03-18

As part of the New Zealand Fringe Festival

credits

The Digitator – midi, laptop, vocal
Dave Black – bass, electric guitar

www.fiffdimension.com/the-electricka-zoo

PSIโ€‹-โ€‹SOLATION + 1 (one year on)

PSI-SOLATION | a global compilation of music made in lockdown | CELEBRATE PSI PHENOMENON (bandcamp.com)

2021 compilation album curated by Campbell Kneale. He’s known for his noise music, paintings of cats, and as proprietor of the Miracle Room gallery in Featherston.

A sequel to his acclaimed 119-track Psi-solation compilation of music made in lockdown 2020.

Both albums are pay what you want via Campbell’s label, Celebrate Psi Phenomenon.

I contributed a new Dave Black piece, Outono 21.

Continue reading “PSIโ€‹-โ€‹SOLATION + 1 (one year on)”

Spastic Rhythms vol1 (2021)

A quickfire Dave Black solo EP, recorded one summer morning, 24 January 2021

Listen

[send us your review]

It includes ilhas Atlรขnticas, a tribute to my Portuguese ancestor Manuel Bernard.

Tracklist

1.banjo trio 24/1/21ย 03:01
2.drums 1 24/1/21 00:49
3.guitar trio (ringtone) 24/1/21 02:07
4.gritches blerk 24/1/21 01:12
5.spastic drum solo 24/1/21 04:38
6.ilhas Atlรขnticas 03:12
7.Outono 21 08:49

Further Listening

The album adds banjo and electric drums to the 2020s Wairarapa DIY solo electric improv style begun in

Glimpses of Utopia (2020)

The first of the ‘late period’ solo instrumental albums.

รกguas brilhantes: 2018-2022

A compilation of tracks from the Wairarapa in these years.

โ€œIt is unusual to find someone playing so confidently in such diverse areas, and anyone into independent music will certainly find something on here to enjoy โ€“ Kev Rowland, muzic.nz