Thanks to the Bakehouse Collective, artists and audience, on a wintry July evening in Paetumokai/ Featherston.
Dave Edwards – “Assembling Disconsonant “
at the launch of the Wairarapa cassette compilation
Tag: David Heath
The Troubled Times: Twig Bed Balance (2026)
“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
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credits
Continue reading “The Troubled Times: Twig Bed Balance (2026)”In The Golden – A Selection Of Wairarapa Underground Recordings 1988-2026
New compilation of the Wairarapa NZ underground scene, compiled by Antony Milton.
Features The Troubled Times and fiffdimension, joining the dots with Perpets, Winterwood, Campbell Kneale, Saali Marks, and other locals. From the smalltown backblocks of the Wellington region.
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“Sometime in 2024 a battered old home dubbed cassette was found in a local charity shop. Hand written on the cover was ‘Graveyard show, Masterton radio, 1998’. It was 20c and I figured it was worth the punt. As the text suggested it was an after midnight radio show, mainly made up of – to my ears- mediocre (or at least very dated) grindcore and industrial techno. Not my bag at all really- but the in-between banter was GOLD. I true snapshot of the generally ‘munted’ nature of Masterton at that time. (Its only moderately improved since to be honest). I only remembered the existence of this tape when the idea struck me to do this compilation- why not swap out the music but keep the banter? I make no claims to this being anything like a reliable overview of underground music in the Wairarapa. All the towns here are ‘small town’ small towns, generally very conservative and less than likely to celebrate their ‘weirdos’. All the same I’ve gotten to know a fair few of them over the 7 years I’ve been here and had been tipped off to a couple more. There must be some I just haven’t stumbled across yet however. It was particularly exciting for me to finally hear Spectrum Is Green as David (Heath– the drummer in The Troubled Times) had always been a little elusive about this band from the 1980s that he had fronted. Finally he gave me their unreleased album from 1988 to listen to. Its gobsmackingly great and WILL be getting released shortly. David also gave me a cdr of a singer/songwriter from Masterton named Brent Grey to check out. This was recorded in 1999 and is also a true treasure. The track on here was so perfect that its title became the title of the entire compilation.
Most of the other stuff is a lot more recent. Some of the names will be familiar but I’m sure many won’t. I also made the perhaps perverse decision to go with somewhat more ‘approachable’ tracks from each artist. For the most part anyway.
I have given a full breakdown of each artist on their individual track pages which can be linked to by clicking on the respective title.” – Antony Milton
Tracklist
| 1. | The Troubled Times – Proxima Centauri Blues 03:01 |
| 2. | Brilliant Swords- Imaginary 03:20 |
| 3. | Brent Grey- In The Golden 03:03 |
| 4. | Fiffdimension- Assembling Disconsonant 02:32 |
| 5. | Saali Marks- Beasts Of Boredom 03:32 |
| 6. | Self Help Sound System- Greta’s Plea 03:14 |
| 7. | Perpets- Spring/Wind over Water 03:40 |
| 8. | Alex V- Live @ Featherston Bakehouse 2025 02:47 |
| 9. | Tophy- Rose 02:20 |
| 10. | The Troubled Times- No Maxim But Now 02:44 |
| 11. | Spectrum Is Green- Dead End 03:45 |
| 12. | Curtains- Scarlet Rise 01:49 |
| 13. | Winterwood- Hope 05:17 |
| 14. | Sleep Hygiene- Bev’s Quilt 04:22 |
Overgrowth (2003) ft The Troubled Times (2024)
A reading of one of my short stories from the early 2000s; a black comic piece, with music by The Troubled Times in the 2020s. Funny what you can find in the drawer years later…
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lyrics
(& eventually resulting in monster on rampage through the kitchen)
Too many people forget what they find. He blemishes his self. He bends to suck food stain from his Hawaiian shirt; the dinner jacket coldly embraces him. The computer had a serious bug spasm […]
credits
Antony Milton – electric guitar
Dave Edwards – bass, vocal
David Heath – drums
Photo taken in the Marlborough Sounds, NZ, walking the Queen Charlotte track circa 2003.
Further listening:
The Troubled Times: Unsteady Ground
The instrumental used for ‘Overgrowth” appears as track 5, ‘titled ‘the Deeper Cut’
Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005
A compilation spanning the early years of fiffdimension; more chaotic wide ranging undiscovered brilliance, from the turn of the millennium…
2025 roundup
Another productive year here! We released:
Ruasagavulu ka lima (Fiji)
An acoustic solo album, made in the Yasawa islands, Fiji. Ukulele and field recordings, with acoustic bass and percussion.
Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856)
A musical adaptation of my ancestor’s book, finally ‘close enough’ to finished after seven years… or 169, depending how you count it.
in the Scotch Dialect
in the English Dialect
Live 2025
Featherston Free Sound Ensemble
A new collaboration with turntablists Guy Walker and Alex V – free improv electronica for the regions.
Live @ the Bakehouse 29-11-25
Our live debut – more to come in 2026!
Experiments Under the Hills
October-November, with Guy Walker and Alex V
First Experiments
September-October, with Guy Walker
The Troubled Times
with Antony Milton and David Heath in Masterton NZ.
Unsteady Ground
As close as we’ve come to a ‘political’ album
dDA
We swapped instruments and almost formed a new band.
Homo Homini Lupus
We appeared on this ‘various artists’ compilation from Louisville, Kentucky
Sparkle Tube
Dave and Antony duo
Smudge
Winter was too cold for the garage, so we played ‘lounge music’
Thanks for listening! See you in 2026...
The Troubled Times: Smudge (2025)
“Nutso falling over kind of wonkiness from mid-winter” = Antony Milton
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credits
The Troubled Times are:
- Antony Milton – guitar, synths
- Dave Edwards – guitar
- David Heath – drums & percussion
- Tracks 1-9 recorded July 2025; tracks 10-12 recorded August 2022
- in Masterton, Aotearoa/NZ
about
Continue reading “The Troubled Times: Smudge (2025)”The Troubled Times: Unsteady Ground (2025)
Latest release from The Troubled Timesโฆ weirdly ‘relevant’ this year. And available on cassette.
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A new collection of songs for the Times.
Starting off with a weirdly upbeat track recorded pre- US election the tone drifts somewhat astray as the collection proceeds.
Trying to find purpose amongst all the doom scrolling.
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Continue reading “The Troubled Times: Unsteady Ground (2025)”Homo Homini Lupus compilation (2025)
The Troubled Times (Antony Milton, Dave Edwards, David Heath) feature on this new compilation by Kentucky-based label Humanhood Recordings.
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Available on limited edition double cassette.
No Maxim But Now
Other artists include KNURL, EMIL BEAULIEAU, COCK ESP, Aaron Rosenblum, Thaniel Ion Lee, Mike Shiflet, Joe Tunis and more…
Tracklist
The Troubled Times: dDA (2025)
The Troubled Times‘ first recording session of 2025.
Dave on guitar and Antony on bass this time – a role reversal from our usual instruments – resulted in a distinctly different flavoured improv… a frenetic scratchiness.
Credits
David Heath – drums (2-7), bass (8)
Dave Edwards – electric guitars, harmonica (6)
Antony Milton – bass (1-7), vocal (6), drums (8)
Recorded 20 January 2025, in Masterton, Aotearoa/NZ
Continue reading “The Troubled Times: dDA (2025)”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.
โA virtual infusion of โants-in-the-pantsโ for the entomologically deficient.โ โAntony Milton
โThe album blends Antony Miltonโs and my styles, with Dave Edwards often occupying a pivotal midpoint. Itโs an exhilarating session.โ โ Simon OโRorke
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. 80โs vocals hits 60โs 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!)
fiffdimension 