The Land of My Youth (by John Collie, 1856), January 2019 demo

January 2019, looking for a new sound and a new project – after completing Other Islands: 2012-2018.

It’s a poem by John Collie (1834-1893), my great-great-grandfather

from his book Poems and Lyrics in the English and Scotch Dialects, published in Scotland in 1856

John Collie emigrated to New Zealand in 1858. This poem seems to anticipate his leaving Scotland forever, to start a new life in a new country on the opposite side of the world.

In May I performed it live on Wairarapa TV.

Lyrics

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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.

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The results became After Maths & Sciences

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2018

The main project for 2018 was Other Islands: 2012-2018;

The last five (of the 20) tracks were recorded in 2018 – each in a different genre:

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The Blast of a Wintry Day (by John Collie, 1856)

A song written by my great-great-grandfather John Collie, in Banffshire, Scotland, in 1856.

It also appeared on

Other Islands: 2012-2018

Where it marked a return to my solo acoustic approach of early years.

lyrics

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Campbell Kneale & Dave Black

A Ton of Feathers is the first collaboration

by Campbell Kneale (guitar, analogue synthesiser)

& Dave Black (bass, electric toothbrush, video).

Made in Featherston, Wairarapa NZ in 2018.

New Zealand folk music, in the tradition of Birchville Cat Motel, the Dead C, and Len Lye.

This excerpt appears on the compilation Other Islands: 2012-2018, and is part of a longer piece, due for release in 2020.

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2012

2012

part of

Other Islands: 2012-2018 – a compilation of recent highlights, recorded in New Zealand, Western Australia, Fiji, Indonesia and Okinawa

In 2012 I was home in New Zealand for a total of seven days, in July/August. Oherwise it was very much a year of two halves.

Until the end of June I lived in 沖縄 (Okinawa).

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Nat da Hatt and I recorded a track for our duo album ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes – our version of a traditional shima uta (island song)

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Ritual Remnants exhibition by snakebeings

Saturday 2 September in Port Chalmers

Ritual Remnants’ is an exhibition by snakebeings using leftover objects, failed electronic projects and discarded materials from the process of designing and making an electronic instruments which combines Gamelan musical structures with the rhythms of Morse code.

The objects were made during the art science residency in Port Chalmers between March and September 2018.

snakebeings and dave black also collaborated in 2018 on ‘sampak membengkak‘

and in 2015 on the Ngumbang album

Half way to summer, 21 June 2018

Thursday 21 June, 8pm @ Fringe Bar

26-32 Allen Street, Wellington, NZ

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A post shared by Dave Edwards (@fiffdimension)

fiffdimension is an umbrella name for music and multimedia projects by Dave Edwards, solo or with various collaborators. Shows may include acoustic songs, spoken word, distorted postpunk, free improvisation, lo fi electronica, Eurasian folk music, 19th century ballads, video installations, or all or none of the above.

www.facebook.com/fiffdimension
www.fiffdimension.com

MuscleMan are an alt. country band that write dark, sweet, melancholy songs about love, loss, and questionable life decisions. Their performances range from intimate, acoustic sessions, to loud, raucous, throw the drum kit into the crowd encounters. Most of all though, they play with feeling.

https://www.facebook.com/musclemannz/

Fredd Marshall is a sonic shaman. Using his voice he takes you on a journey to the unknown. Improvising loops, drones and overtones he will bring you to contemplate the universe and rethink what it means to be human. He has been to the realms of infinity and brought back treasures to share.

http://www.soundcloud.com/theshaman/

As a solo acoustic bassist, Vince Cabrera draws inspiration from sources such as the Argentine folk music of his childhood, American primitive guitarists such as John Fahey, and composer Erik Satie for a rich ambient, acoustic experience.

https://soundcloud.com/vince-cabrera-1

Other Islands: 2012-2018

“The 20 song album covers traditional Javanese and Balinese gamelan, Asian folk music, to free jazz, and free noise. It’s not for anyone with narrow preconceived ideas about what music is, but it is for everyone else.

“If you have an open inquiring mind and love hearing a variety of sound, this is excellent.” – Darryl Baser, muzic.net.nz

fiffdimension compilation vol3 – (see also Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005, Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012, and águas Brilhantes: 2018-2022)
Made in New Zealand, Okinawa (Japan), Western Australia, Indonesia, and Fiji.

Includes tracks by The Winter, Dave Black & Nat da Hatt, Confluence Quintet, Gamelan Sekar Puri, Gamelan Padhang Moncar, Gamelan Taniwha Jaya, The Electricka Zoo, Dave Black & Snake Beings, Dave Black & Campbell Kneale.

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