Music video by The Troubled Times (Antony Milton, Dave Edwards, David Heath)
from the CD ‘Another Sunday’
Continue reading “The Wind Always Gets Through”Tag: bass
Assembling disconsonant
This was chronologically the last piece recorded on the Acoustic yin / Electric yang 2CD, released to celebrate the 25th anniversary of fiffdimension in 2023.
“I liked the lyrics… the the way meaning gets assembled through shattered snap shots of a picture we may never see”
– Dr Emit Snake-Beings
Live versions
w/ Guy Walker (turntable):
Solo, just the words:
Method
Continue reading “Assembling disconsonant”The Troubled Times: Hill Road in Winter
The first physical format release from Masterton trio The Troubled Times is a loud and noisy nocturnal romp – through the hills and onto the gravel back roads of one of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s least visited regions.
Whilst earlier digital releases have veered from arty drone pieces to synth pop and heavy space rock the music on ‘Hill Road In Winter’ is more like a psychedelic pub jam band gone BRILLIANTLY ‘wrong’. Woozy blues paeans slip sideways into feedback freakouts and heavy Hawkwind-like stomps attempt to transition into songs by The Fall.
All recorded ‘New Zealand style’ in my garage.If we weren’t such raving greenies here at Small Town Electron we’d put this tape forward as the PERFECT album for a lengthy nocturnal drive. – Antony Milton
Cassette
águas brilhantes: 2018-2022
“We go from bossa nova rhythms to folk to RIO to indie to, what is interesting listening if nothing else, a dog howling along to a banjo (Oscar’s Blues) […] and songs taken from Poems & Lyrics (in the Scotch dialect) (1856), where Dave paid tribute to his ancestor John Collie who wrote a book of poems more than 150 years ago.
“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
Listen
About
- fiffdimension compilation vol 4 (a followup to Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005, Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012, and Other Islands: 2012-2018)
- Made in Featherston, Masterton and Port Chalmers (NZ), Paris (France), and Suva (Fiji)
- Includes tracks by The Troubled Times, Campbell Kneale & Dave Black, James Robinson & fiffdimension, Oscar (the dog), and poems & lyrics by John Collie (1834-1893)
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.
This compilation includes pieces inspired by the region and my ancestors, and new and old collaborators – including a torch-passing to younger members of my family.
Credits1
by Dave Edwards – guitars, bass, banjo, harmonica, vocal, lyrics
with
- Antony Milton – keyboard, electric guitar (The Troubled Times)
- David Heath – drums (The Troubled Times)
- Campbell Kneale – electric guitar & analogue synthesiser on ‘both chords’
- Hans Landon-Lane – ukulele, accordion, vocal (Clever Hansel)
- Celeste Rochery – guitar & vocal on ‘My Native Land’
- James Robinson – bell drum on ‘June’s Lounge‘, lyrics & vocal on ‘the edge‘ and ‘old brain‘
- John Collie (1834-1893) – Poems & Lyrics (in the English and Scotch Dialects, 1856)
- Dr Emit Snake-Beings – keyboards & percussion (in Fiji)
- Elario Irava – acoustic guitar & vocal (from Fiji)
- Nat da Hatt – electric guitar & thumb piano on ‘June’s Lounge‘
- The Digitator – keyboards & vocal on ‘Inverno‘
- Oscar – vocal on ‘Oscar’s blues‘
- Rhys Landon-Lane – classical guitar & vocal on ‘by my faith sirs this canna lang dee‘
released December 22, 2022
Tracklist
Features previously unreleased recordings, and tracks from
Further listening: the albums
The Troubled Times: A Second Sun
about
Loosely a sequel to The Troubled Times’ debut, Return of the Sun (2021) –
These new recordings were made exactly one year later – again on the first day of daylight savings, Spring 2022 in the southern hemisphere – now joined by David Heath on drums.
The anniversary prompted the title – then possible alternative meanings of which (binary star systems, colonising other planets) led down a science fiction wormhole…
credits
- Antony Milton – electric guitar, keyboard (1,4), drums (4), painting
- Dave Edwards – bass, electric guitar (4), vocal (6), harmonica (7)
- David Heath – drums
- John Collie (1834-1893) – lyrics (6)
Recorded in Masterton, New Zealand, 25 September 2022
T-shirt – order here!
The Dying Monarch
The album also features a key crossover track, with the Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856) project:
This track links the various spoken word, electric improv, and folk strands of fiffdimension music. While the rest of Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856) is acoustic based, in this case, the electric arrangement seemed to add a ‘kingly’ majesty, and pathos – as the monarch discovers the limits of his worldly power.
“The monarch ceased. The courtier train shook, muttered, gazed and shook again.
They saw life’s dying embers fade, they felt the sting of horror’s blade.
Before them lay a lifeless form, which once with life had passions warmed.
The hand was stiff which oft had reigned, the warhorse and the prisoner chained.
A lifeless lump of senseless clay, the stern despotic monarch lay.” – John Collie (1834-1893)
(track also appears on fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/poems-lyrics-in-the-english-dialect-1856 )
Tracklist
Continue reading “The Troubled Times: A Second Sun”w/ James Robinson – Negentropic Diatribes (2022)
Multimedia spoken word and music collaboration between two unique NZ artists:
Listen
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
- Antony Milton – electric guitar (4)
- David Heath – drums (4)
- Dr Emit Snake-Beings – percussion (5), keyboard (11)
- Jody Lloyd – beats and mixing (12)
- Nathan Palmer – electric guitar, thumb piano, jaw harp, banjo, and synth (14)
‐‐——-
Tracklist
James Robinson
James won 2007 paramount prize in the wallace award for
” Taniwaha dragon mother ( spirit bones)”
Continue reading “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.
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
Listen
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.
Listen
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 |
