Live 2023

Dave Edwards live solo at Solway Showgrounds, Masterton NZ

24th June + 19th August 2023

at ‘The Next Big Thing Wairarapa‘

Continue reading →

The Hurricane Wrangle

live in Masterton NZ, 19-08-2023

A track from the Loose Autumn Moans album – originally recorded in 2003, and recently played live for the first time in 20 years!

Continue reading →

15/7/23, live in Featherston

Live @Common Ground,
Featherston NZ, 15/7/23

Mānawatia a Matariki!

Continue reading →

The Wind Always Gets Through

Music video by The Troubled Times (Antony Milton, Dave Edwards, David Heath)

from forthcoming CD ‘Another Sunday’

Continue reading →

Poems & Lyrics by John Collie, 1856

In 1856, my great-great-grandfather John Collie (1834-1893), of Boyndie, Scotland, published a book : Poems and Lyrics

(in the English

and Scotch Dialects).

I‘ve been setting some of it to music over the past few years – along with some of his other descendants: my nephews Hans and Rhys Landon-Lane, my niece Celeste Rochery, and my sister Megan Edwards-Rochery .

The Troubled Times (trio with Antony Milton and David Heath) also do an epic electric blues guest arrangement of The Dying Monarch (a key crossover track that ties together the different strands of my music).

For me this is a major work-in-progress; an acknowledgement of my pākeha whakapapa (European ancestry); an inspiration for new music (a mostly folk style seemed fitting); a window into the culture of the time period and a vicarious travel experience (plans to visit Scotland in 2020 were ruined by the pandemic); a family precedent for DIY outsider art that puts fiffdimension in a deeper context; and gives me renewed appreciation for the beauty and musicality of the English (and Scots) language.

“T’were a noble sight to see the mighty men of old, who bled that their countries might be free from the tyrants’ fatal hold – yet I’d deem it a nobler sight by far to behold the sons of the harp & lyre!

“[…] If aught can claim a spirit’s admiration, Sure it must be this beautiful creation“
John Collie (1834-1893)

In 1858 John Collie emigrated to New Zealand.

His book is available free online.

Continue reading →

águas brilhantes: 2018-2022

fiffdimension vol 4

made in Featherston, Masterton, and Suva – ft Antony Milton, James Robinson, Dr Emit Snake-Beings, Campbell Kneale, and lyrics by John Collie (1834-1893) – the title is ‘Wairarapa’ in Portuguese.

Collaborations with my ancestors and younger relatives, friends in Fiji, a painter in Otago, the curator of PseudoArcana, and the family dog.

águas brilhantes (or ‘glistening waters’ in English) is the Portuguese translation of Wairarapa, the Māori name of the region where I’ve lived the last few years.

My ancestors arrived here in the 19th century – one was a Scottish poet, another a stowaway from the Azores islands.

a followup to
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/gleefully-unknown-1997-2005
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/fame-oblivion-2005-2012
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/other-islands-2012-2018

with videos at www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtbrBpNjlOHOhGouOChNl3jVUif1AZIl6 )

águas brilhantes (or ‘glistening waters’ in English) is the Portuguese translation of Wairarapa, the Māori name of the region where I live. Several of my pākeha ancestors arrived here in the 19th century.

Much of the music is inspired by two of my great-great-grandfathers – John Collie (1834-1893), a Scottish poet, who helped build the Remutaka incline railway; and Manuel Bernard (1847-1928), who left the Azores islands, as a teenaged stowaway on a whaling ship and ended up in Masterton. It’s also a torch-passing to the next generation – recorded with nephews Hans and Rhys, and niece Celeste.

Continue reading →

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

Glimpses of Utopia

Palette cleansing electric solo improv.

Recorded in Featherston, New Zealand, 2019-20.

I’m not a trained jazz musician, but nor do I fit neatly into the ‘NZ noise‘ genre.

Further listening

Continue reading →

Loose Autumn Moans (2003)

“Wellington, NZ composer Dave Edwards with some able assistance from duo or trio the Winter... Guitars, violin, cello, and percussion all stack up… He’s got a persona that’s all his own.”

– George Parsons, Dream Magazine #5

All acoustic, with a string section, recorded and mixed on analogue equipment, and originally released on cassette in 2003 – new 2020 remaster.

Featuring

Sam Prebble (violin)

Mike Kingston (cello)

and Simon Sweetman on percussion.

Bats Theatre, Wellington NZ 2003

Sam Prebble RIP, 2014

Loose Autumn Moans is dedicated to Sam Prebble (aka Bond Street Bridge), who died in 2014.

Further listening

Loose Autumn Moans consists of five acoustic ensemble tracks:

	1.	Summer Skin 06:20
	2.	Mouth of the Caveman 03:26
	3.	Redressing Depression Regression 06:02
	4.	The Hurricane Wrangle (Live at Bats Theatre) 07:22
	5.	The Winter – O Henry Ending (Live at Photospace Gallery) 12:46

The album is structured as a progression from summer (with a NZ pohutukawa tree in flower on the cover) through autumn – a time of harvest, preparation, shortening daylight, and the shedding of old dead layers – and finishes with an extended live version of ‘O Henry Ending’, recorded at the Winter’s first gig.

The original C60 cassette (and later online) release included solo interludes recorded in 2002. The collaboration with these guys followed on from

After the Filmshoot (2002)

By focusing on the 2003 sessions Loose Autumn Moans becomes concise, emphasising the lyrics and the jazzy acoustic instrumental interplay – a mini orchestra to bring colour.

oose Autumn Moans is dedicated to Sam Prebble (aka Bond Street Bridge), who died in 2014.

Further listening

The collaboration with these guys followed on from

The Winter: Parataxes

The Winter live at Photospace Gallery, July 2003 (photo by James Gilberd)

The Winter‘s debut: electric and acoustic trio improvisations for guitars, cello and percussion, by Dave Edwards, Mike Kingston, and Simon Sweetman (2003)

“A strange sonic brew that includes dissonant rock textures, rough outsider folk-blues mysteries, electric and acoustic improvisations and a considerable part of tasty feedback. Imagine equal parts Derek Bailey, New Zealand’s Pumice and classic ’60s blues/folk and you’re in the right ballpark.” – The Broken Face

Continue reading “Loose Autumn Moans (2003)” →

Ruasagavulu

Out now – the new album

by Dave Black & Dr Emit Snake-Beings

Made in Fiji

“So easy to get totally lost in this music, recommend for helping with your inner peace” – Andi Verse

Indo-Fijian inspired tropical devotional avant-garde instrumentals for keyboards, ukulele, dholak, duduk, harmonicas, DIY kitchen gamelan, and video.