Tag: bass

w/ James Robinson – Negentropic Diatribes (2022)

Multimedia spoken word and music collaboration between two unique NZ artists:

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About

James Robinson is a mid career contemporary New Zealand mixed media artist, exhibiting widely since 1989 – www.jamesrobinson.nz

fiffdimension is music and multimedia by Dave Edwards (aka Dave Black) and collaborators, since 1998 – www.fiffdimension.com

We met in the early 2000s, and finally collaborated 20 years on. Negentropic Diatribes was recorded in Otago in 2022, as James used spoken word recordings to discuss his creative process and innermost thoughts.

The musical settings were created by Dave in Featherston – plus contributions from other collaborators.

credits

  • James Robinson – words, voice, paintings & drawings, bell drum
  • Dave Edwards – electric guitar, bass, loops (2,6,9), midi (9,13), ukulele (11), harmonica (14)

with

Tracklist

1.Telescopic Misanthropy (take 1) 02:10
2.Tendrils of Glowing Memory Filaments 04:31
3.Nothing Can be Threatened by Nothing 04:19
4.James Robinson + The Troubled Times – The Edge 03:25
5.James Robinson + snakebeings + fiffdimension – Dialogue with the Divine 05:30
6.Well Done Son! 00:54
7.Old Brain (metadada of Oceania remembering) 06:19
8.James Robinson – Is Not Art 03:29
9.Existential Threat 01:02
10.Got Razed 07:34
11.James Robinson + snakebeings + fiffdimension – That which is itself nature 05:00
12.James Robinson + Trillion – Bath poem 10:31
13.Psychocultural Glossalalia 01:39
14.James Robinson + Nat da Hatt + fiffdimension – Ake Ake Amene 18:20

James Robinson

James won 2007 paramount prize in the wallace award for
” Taniwaha dragon mother ( spirit bones)”

Read more: w/ James Robinson – Negentropic Diatribes (2022)

‘… a great big flatulent belch of fresh air amongst all the tight-sphinctered, deodorised boys and girls of the accepted national art world….. off-kilter and threatening but always sumptuously, gloriously beautiful.’

– Chris Knox.
Continue reading “w/ James Robinson – Negentropic Diatribes (2022)” →

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

Outono 21

A new multilayered Dave Black electric improv / xenochronous composition.

The track continues the evolution of my Wairarapa one man band 2020s ‘late style’, which began with Glimpses of Utopia (2020) and Spastic Rhythms (2021)

It was originally created for the Psi-solation+1 – 2021 compilation album curated by fellow Featherston resident Campbell Kneale. He’s known for his noise music, paintings of cats, and as proprietor of the Miracle Room.

Continue reading “Outono 21” →

Spastic Rhythms vol1 (2021)

A quickfire Dave Black solo EP, recorded one summer morning, 24 January 2021

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[send us your review]

It includes ilhas Atlânticas, a tribute to my Portuguese ancestor Manuel Bernard.

Tracklist

1.banjo trio 24/1/21 03:01
2.drums 1 24/1/21 00:49
3.guitar trio (ringtone) 24/1/21 02:07
4.gritches blerk 24/1/21 01:12
5.spastic drum solo 24/1/21 04:38
6.ilhas Atlânticas 03:12
7.Outono 21 08:49

Further Listening

The album adds banjo and electric drums to the 2020s Wairarapa DIY solo electric improv style begun in

Glimpses of Utopia (2020)

The first of the ‘late period’ solo instrumental albums.

águas brilhantes: 2018-2022

A compilation of tracks from the Wairarapa in these years.

“It is unusual to find someone playing so confidently in such diverse areas, and anyone into independent music will certainly find something on here to enjoy – Kev Rowland, muzic.nz

Glimpses of Utopia (2020)

Palette-cleansing electric solo improvisations.

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About

Recorded solo in Featherston, New Zealand, 2019-20.

Not specifically a ‘lockdown album’, but nonetheless recorded solo at home during the pandemic.

It marked the emergence of a new ‘late period‘ solo style.

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

Tracklist

1.Abbadebdab 03:00
2.October ring 03:37
3.11 through the viewer 7 (acoustic) 01:24
4.Torrential logistics 04:05
5.Usquebaugh 03:53
6.Walking through an aye (in Paparoa national park) 03:53
7.Solstice Shards 19 05:07
8.Teenager 01:39

Further listening

Continue reading “Glimpses of Utopia (2020)” →

Huia Vortex

Animated visuals, with electric guitar loops, one-stringed bass, and drums – the opening track from the ‘Ngumbang‘ album (get the free download) – w/ Emit Snake-beings & Nat da Hatt

The title ‘Huia Vortex’ refers to the location where the track was recorded, in Huia, a small village on the outskirts of west Auckland.

Dave Black & Emit Snake-Beings

It’s not necessarily related to ‘Swansong (for the Huia)‘ (2004), the second album by The Winter, an electro-acoustic trio improvisation in tribute to the extinct New Zealand bird the huia by Dave Edwards, Mike Kingston, and Simon Sweetman. Its 19-minute final track remains an underrated fiffdimension epic. [send us your review]

Isa Lei, and the Yasawa islands, Fiji

This rearrangement of a traditional Fijian folk song was inspired by hearing the song sung there.

In May I visited the Yasawa Islands, to the northwest of Nadi and the main Fijian island Viti Levu.

Yasawa islands, Fiji
Yasawa islands, Fiji
Yasawa islands, Fiji

The boat ride took 3 hours, and enjoyably scenic. Each of the many small islands we passed was different in some way but all stunning

The marine life included

Part of Other Islands: 2012-2018

– recent highlights recorded in New Zealand, Western Australia, Fiji, Indonesia and Okinawa

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.

Continue reading “Campbell Kneale & Dave Black” →

Half way to summer, 21 June 2018

Thursday 21 June, 8pm @ Fringe Bar

26-32 Allen Street, Wellington, NZ

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

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

Featuring tracks from the albums

If you enjoy this, try the previous compilations

Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005 

and Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012
Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2013