“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 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.
The following year 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, finally learning to play some basic scales and melody. We played gigs down the West Coast, and in Lyttelton and Dunedin.
And the next two years after that I lived in Asia, and the possibilities of sound exploded further…
Dave Black works include:
Ruasagavulu
Meditative tropical instrumentals made in Fiji by Dave Black & Dr Emit Snake-Beings (2020 – one of the last in-person international collaborations from before the world ended)
“So easy to get totally lost in this music; recommend for helping with your inner peace” – Andi Verse
Other Islands: 2012-2018
vol3 – made in New Zealand, Western Australia, Fiji, Indonesia and Okinawa , 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
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
Our first collaboration with the even more legendary & underground artist Snake Beings (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
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
Field recordings, electro-acoustic ethnography, Asian industrial soundscapes made in South Korea, by Dave Black and Cylvi M (2007–2008)
South Island Sessions
Steampunk folktronica from an alternate 19th century, made in Nelson by Dave Black with Cylvi M, Hayden Gifkins, Matthew Thornicroft and Frey (2006)
After Maths & Sciences
An Australian novel for the ear, recorded in Melbourne VIC and Gosford NSW, by Dave Black with Cylvi M, Mike Kingston and Francesca Mountfort (2005-2006)
“There are New Zealand artists working in this medium (Montano, Seht, Audible 3) combining concrete poetry, field recordings, found-sounds and electro-acoustic manipulations to sit as aural wallpaper, but Dave Black’s debut release (and a re-birth, if you like, for David Edwards) is an actual document – 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
