“A few months between drinks but The Troubled Times are back with perhaps their ‘dustiest’ session yet. The whole thing was recorded onto Dave Edwards‘ phone resulting in a slightly more lo-fi sound than usual. Murky drones, percussive clatter and spasms of edgy delay soaked bliss.
A mumbled song.” – Antony Milton
Category: video
Live 2025
A late EP coda to the year –
Tracks 1-4 recorded live at the Bakehouse, 29-11-25 – opening act for Featherston Free Sound Ensemble /
Tracks 5-6 recorded 08 February 2025 at the Carterton Club.
includes two pieces from Poems & Lyrics in the Scotch Dialect (1856)
and the first live performance of Assembling Disconsonant
Tracklist
Further listening: live albums
Experiments Under the Hills (2025)
Smalltown NZ free improv by Featherston Free Sound Ensemble
Paetumokai / Featherston,
Aotearoa / New Zealand,
credits
- Guy Walker – turntable, cassette loops
- Alex V – turntable, MIDI, sampler
- Dave Edwards – bass, guitar, e-drum, harmonica
Recorded at the Bakehouse, October-November 2025
tracklist
| 1. | 19-11-25 #1 orchestral overture 08:53 |
| 2. | 27-11-25 #3 casino 03:39 |
| 3. | 12-11-25 #4a static electricity 02:34 |
| 4. | 12-11-25 #5c tremelo 03:48 |
| 5. | 30-10-25 #2 Bulgarian 11:27 |
| 6. | 27-11-25 #2 banjo 04:55 |
| 7. | 12-11-25 #3b ukulele 03:27 |
| 8. | 12-11-25 #5a EDM 03:51 |
| 9. | 30-10-25 #3 guitar 04:27 |
| 10. | 19-11-25 #4 towards the exit 03:25 |
| 11. | 12-11-25 #3a orchestral reprise 04:53 |
Further listening:
Continue reading “Experiments Under the Hills (2025)”“I was wide awake at 2.30am so listened to us on headphones in the dark in bed. I’m probably biased, but I think we sound bloody awesome” – Guy Walker
Live at the Bakehouse 29/11/25
Smalltown free improv – live at @bakehousecollectivenz
“I was wide awake at 2.30am so listened to us on headphones in the dark in bed. I’m probably biased, but I think we sound bloody awesome” – Guy Walker
Paetumokai / Featherston,
Aotearoa / New Zealand,
29 November 2025
credits
Guy Walker – turntable, cassette loops
Alex V – turntable, MIDI, sampler
Dave Edwards – bass, guitar, e-drum, harmonica
Continue reading “Live at the Bakehouse 29/11/25”2024 roundup
Following the 25th anniversary of fiffdimension in 2023, it was in some ways tempting to leave it there, and retire…
… but I soon found myself creating new music in 2024:
Quietism
January: Solo suite for electric guitar, bass and electronic percussion.
The Margins
April: New combination of old free improv collaborators Simon O’Rorke and Antony Milton.
“A virtual infusion of ‘ants-in-the-pants’ for the entomologically deficient.” –Antony Milton
“The album blends Antony Milton‘s and my styles, with Dave Edwards often occupying a pivotal midpoint. It’s an exhilarating session.” – Simon O’Rorke
The Troubled Times: The Latest Poll / Boa
June-August: A pair of new albums from The Troubled Times (trio with Antony Milton and David Heath):
The Latest Poll marked a departure into semiacoustic freak folk; whereas Boa leaned more towards noisy electric rock.
Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856)
June-July: Recorded a couple more of my ancestor’s poems for this epic acoustic/folk work-in-progress (& hoping to finish it off this summer when my nephews visit):
The Troubled Times: Pyramid Club – live 28/09/24
September: A long-overdue return (after six years!) to live performance in Wellington, and The Troubled Times‘ first appearance there at the Pyramid Club.
Dolby FM interview
October: A career-spanning longform interview, telling my life story and the background influences behind the music.
Live in Sydney 20/10/24
October: An international performance across the ditch :
The Sydney performance can now be heard on the Live 2022-24 album:
Jovial Blade 7″
November: A new solo 7″ on vinyl (first one since 2016):
“Some seriously scrambled dissonance. 80’s vocals hits 60’s electro/cut-up nonsense whilst smothering an ever mutating bassline […] the track contains more musical ideas in its 5 mins than some exhibit in musical careers.” – Simon Baker, What Lies Beneath
A Second Sun t-shirt
December: A thoughtful birthday present (thanks Talei!): a t-shirt featuring the cover art from The Troubled Times’ A Second Sun album.
I also enjoyed a visit to my hometown of New Plymouth (& hope to play a gig there next time!)
More to come in 2025!
Ascension Band: Live 2004
This was 20 years ago today!
Ascension Band played at the Meatwaters Festival at Happy, in Wellington. We look so young… happy anniversary guys!
By auspicious coincidence, this morning (exactly 20 years on) I found an original DVD of the full performance (as well as discs of the 2005 gigs with the 18-piece imperial phase lineup).
Continue reading “Ascension Band: Live 2004”Live 2023
Dave Edwards live solo at Solway Showgrounds, Masterton NZ
24th June + 19th August 2023
at ‘The Next Big Thing Wairarapa‘
The Hurricane Wrangle (a butcher-revue)
A track from the Loose Autumn Moans album – originally recorded in 2003, and recently played live for the first time in 20 years!
credits
Continue reading “The Hurricane Wrangle (a butcher-revue)”The Troubled Times: live at Common Ground 15/07/23
Thank you everyone who came to The Troubled Times‘ live debut, in Featherston NZ
Featherston NZ, 15/7/23
Antony Milton – guitar David Heath – drums Dave Edwards – bass
Mānawatia a Matariki!
Thanks also to Zac and Holly Winterwood,
Continue reading “The Troubled Times: live at Common Ground 15/07/23”Gamelan Dimensi Kelima (Indonesia, 2014)
Field recordings and gamelan from my visits to Indonesia in 2014.
As well as the tracks recorded in Indonesia, the album includes gamelan ensembles in Western Australia, and NZ between 2010-2018.
Listen
About
The album title translates to “Gamelan Fifth Dimension”.
Gamelan was introduced to New Zealand in the 1970s. It has an active scene in Wellington (my birthplace, where I first encountered it in 2010 – thanks to www.gamelan.org.nz ).
From 2012-2014 I lived in Perth, Western Australia, and played in the ensemble Gamelan Sekar Puri. From there I was able to visit Indonesia (and Malaysia) relatively affordably.
On returning home to New Zealand at the end of 2014, I spent the next few years as a member of the Wellington gamelan ensembles: Gamelan Taniwha Jaya (Balinese) and Gamelan Padhang Moncar (Javanese). In 2017 I moved to the Wairarapa, so travelling for regular rehearsals became impractical.
The field recordings were made in 2014 in Indonesia -in central Java, then Bali and Nusa Penida islands;
As well as very different scenery, cultures, cuisines and religion – the islands have strikingly different subgenres of gamelan. Stereotypically, the Javanese style is more hypnotic and meditative, while the Balinese style is faster and complex.
Yogyakarta and Surakarta, Central Java
Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia, 2014 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Borobudur temple, Central Java, Indonesia 
Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia, 2014 
Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia 
Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia 
Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia 
Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia 
Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia 
Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia 
Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia 
Javanese gamelan, Indonesia 
Javanese gamelan, Indonesia 
Javanese gamelan, Indonesia 
Central Java, Indonesia 
Central Java, Indonesia 
Javanese shadow puppets, Indonesia 
Central Java, Indonesia 
Central Java, Indonesia 
Central Java, Indonesia 
Central Java, Indonesia 
Central Java, Indonesia 
Central Java, Indonesia 
Central Java, Indonesia 
Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia 
Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia 
Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia 
Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia 
Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia 
Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia 
Central Java, Indonesia 
Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia
Bali and Nusa Penida
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia Central Java, Indonesia 
Nusa Penida, Indonesia 
An endangered Bali Starling, Nusa Penisa, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Bali, Indonesia 
Nusa Penida, Indonesia
Credits
- Dave Edwards – saron, jublag, jegogan, field recordings, bass, electric guitar, tenor saxophone
The field recordings are mixed alongside gamelan ensembles, recorded between 2010-2018;:
- Gamelan Taniwha Jaya
– Wellington NZ, – led by Gareth Farr - Gamelan Sekar Puri
– Perth, Western Australia – led by Sofari Hidayat - Gamelan Pura Mangkunegaran
– Surakarta, Indonesia - Gamelan Padhang Moncar
– Wellington NZ – led by Budi Putra
Other collaborators
The album also includes other, more experimental Indonesia-inspired 2010s collaborations with fellow postpunk expat ethnomusicologists:
- Emit Snake-Beings– field recordings, harmonium, percussion (5,9,10)
- Nat da Hatt – electric guitar & beats (8)
- Cylvi M – jegogan (1), saron (3), shakuhachi sample (9)
Tracklist
Continue reading “Gamelan Dimensi Kelima (Indonesia, 2014)”
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