“As Dave Edwards he has explored fuzzy-punk, free-jazz, spoken word, alternative-folk and demented pop… as Dave Black, the palette is broadened” – Simon Sweetman
(Sometimes I like to play electric) (& I’ve picked up influences from living and travelling in other Asia-Pacific countries)
A stylistic departure when I left New Zealand in 2005 led to a new moniker for a wider-ranging non-linear approach, and let me break my own rules.
In reverse chronological order, the Dave Black works include:
Spastic Rhythms vol1 (2021)
A quickfire Dave Black solo EP, recorded one summer morning, 24 January 2021
Glimpses of Utopia (2020)
Ruasagavulu (2020)
“So easy to get totally lost in this music; recommend for helping with your inner peace” – Andi Verse
A Ton of Feathers (2018)
Campbell Kneale & Dave Black noise duo in Featherston:
Other Islands: 2012-2018
vol3 compilation – made in New Zealand, Western Australia, Indonesia, Okinawa and Fiji, by Dave Black with The Winter, The Electricka Zoo, Snake Beings, Nat da Hatt, Campbell Kneale, Gamelan Padhang Moncar, and Gamelan Taniwha Jaya
“The 20 song album covers traditional Javanese and Balinese gamelan, Asia-Pacific folk music, free jazz, and free noise…. If you have an open inquiring mind and love hearing a variety of sound, this is excellent. – Darryl Baser, muzic.net.nz“
The Electricka Zoo (2017)
The duo of live electronica by the Digitator, and Dave Black on bass and electric guitar (2017)
“A totally original, mind warping album that smacks you across the face with big sound…. I salute anyone that makes a whole album out of EDM post-punk avant-garde rock / jazz, reggae, Balkan, [and] Portuguese music” – http://www.muzic.net.nz
Ngumbang (2015)
Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012
vol2 – made in New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Mongolia, and Japan, by Dave Black with Ascension Band, The Winter, Nat da Hatt, Wellington’s Most Famous Orchestra, and Cylvi M
“Experimental and avant-garde…. There is a clear passion, and a commitment to pushing the boundaries… This will challenge your perceptions of what constitutes music and open the mind to new possibilities of sounds that surround us – muzic.net.nz“
First Time Around: East Asia (2008)
Field recordings, sketches, soundscapes and stories from, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Mongolia, by Dave Black and Cylvi M (2007–2008)
First Time Around: South Korea (2008)
South Island Sessions (2006)
Steampunk folktronica from an alternate 19th century, made in Nelson by Dave Black with Cylvi M, Hayden Gifkins, Matthew Thornicroft and Frey (2006)
In 2006 I was back in New Zealand, but living in the South Island in Nelson. I spent a year studying at the Nelson School of Music, where I finally learned to read sheet music, and play scales and melodies (the kind of thing other musicians learn at an early age…by this point I was 26, had played in an award-winning 18-piece punk symphony and as an international artist at the Liquid Architecture festival in Brisbane, yet could barely play a basic tune by ear). I played in gigs down the West Coast and in Lyttelton, and at the Lines of Flight festival in Dunedin.
After Maths & Sciences (2005)
An Australian novel for the ear – a double album recorded in Melbourne VIC,
and Sydney and Gosford NSW,
by Dave Black with Cylvi M, Mike Kingston and Francesca Mountfort (2005-2006)
In Melbourne, Australia I bought a banjo, and started to incorporate it along with field recordings and electronica, using a cassette dictaphone and the laptop technology of the time.
“Dave Black’s debut release (and a re-birth, if you like, for David Edwards) is as much a post-modern piece of Performance Journalism as it is a static batch of “songs” or tracks, After Maths & Sciences is a pleasing challenge of an album. It lives up to the cliché of presenting something new with each listen,”– Simon Sweetman
fiffdimension 