1856 to 2026 – DIY outsider music, from Aotearoa NZ and beyond
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.
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)”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:
January: Solo suite for electric guitar, bass and electronic percussion.
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
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.
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):
September: A long-overdue return (after six years!) to live performance in Wellington, and The Troubled Times‘ first appearance there at the Pyramid Club.
October: A career-spanning longform interview, telling my life story and the background influences behind the music.
October: An international performance across the ditch :
The Sydney performance can now be heard on the Live 2022-24 album:
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
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!)
2x new 7″ lathe cut singles:
“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 some musical careers.” – Simon Baker, What Lies Beneath
(Dave solo – A-side is bass & electronics, B-side is clarinet & electronics)
and
Discs manufactured in NZ by Johnny Electric
Continue reading “7″ singles”Thank you SkirtedRecords for the video snippets, and Pyramid Club for hosting, Termite Lounge and Christian Wolves (Campbell Kneale and Sarah Bingle) for playing, Thomas Lambert for running the show, and everyone who came to the gig on Saturday! We had a blast… hopefully it won’t be another six years til the next time in Wellington!
The full video of all three bands is available to stream (free) at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2262357709
The gig also marked the release of The Troubled Times’ new limited edition 7″ single Cellophane – only a couple of physical copies left so get in quick, or download from Bandcamp:
Continue reading “The Troubled Times: Live at the Pyramid Club 28/09/24”This was 20 years ago today!
Ascension Band played at the Meatwaters Festival at Happy, in Wellington. We look so young… happy anniversary guys!
By auspicious coincidence, this morning (exactly 20 years on) I found an original DVD of the full performance (as well as discs of the 2005 gigs with the 18-piece imperial phase lineup).
Continue reading “Ascension Band: Live 2004”With all the subtlety of a peacock in a pigeon coop The Troubled Times return with a new album, dominated by the squeals of tortured amps and seriously tormented drums.
Boa features inadvertent post-rock gliding that crashes and bursts into jagged flames; some kind of illicit NZ spaghetti pizza western folds in on itself to become a fractalized polaroid of a dessicated lizard.
This tendency toward excess doesn’t preclude the odd lapse into a mumbled ad hoc song or 2 but the focus here seems to be on ‘loud’, ‘fucked’ and ‘intense’.
The poor bloody neighbours…
Tape version available at troubledtimestapes.bandcamp.com
Continue reading “The Troubled Times: Boa”“A virtual infusion of ‘ants-in-the-pants’ for the entomologically deficient.” –Antony Milton
Recent (2024) recordings from a new combination of old collaborators – Antony Milton and Dave Edwards (The Troubled Times) with Wellington free-improv legend Simon O’Rorke.
“The album blends Antony Milton‘s and my styles, with Dave Edwards often occupying a pivotal midpoint. Itโs an exhilarating session.” – Simon O’Rorke
Simon O’Rorke– falcon software synth
Dave Edwards– guitar, bass, electro-drums, harmonica
Antony Milton– guitar, drums, microphonic feedback
Recorded at Fleet Street, Masterton, NZ/Aotearoa on 21 April 2024
Cover art by Antony Milton
Early 2024 – the first new recordings made since the 25-year-spanning 2CD compilation; the start of the fiffdimension 2nd quarter-century.
By Dave Edwards– early 2024, summertime in NZ –
Solo suite for electric guitar, bass and electric drums – one single take of each, using overdubs to create a virtual trio.
Tracks 1-3 and 12 recorded early January 2024 – the rest recorded 6th February 2024, in Featherston, Aotearoa / New Zealand
The title ‘Quietism‘ refers not so much to the sound, but to the absence of vocals – or any reference to current news or politics. Part of the fiffdimension aesthetic is a certain wilful irrelevance, and ignoring of trends.
The last track ‘Hypnopompia‘ (waking up) experiments with a possible new ambient style.
The cover art is an abstract scribble drawing – attempting to bypass conscious self-doubt and create ‘something… anything’. A theme also explored in works such as Assembling Disconsonant (2023).
December 2023 marked the 25th anniversary of fiffdimension!
– we celebrated with the double CD compilation:
“Double disc collection of more than two decadesโ worth of live and studio-recorded tunes by Dave Edwards, who you may have heard recently as part of The Troubled Times with Antony Milton. Itโs quite a diverse listen!
You get some concise and catchy pop songs, some full-on rockers, banjo excursions, improv freak-out, poetry, acoustic blues, folk songs, scrambled noiseโฆ thereโs something here for everybody. A good intro to Daveโs dauntingly deep discography.”
– Howard Stelzer, Noisy Bandcamp.
A collection of short tracks by Dave Edwards and collaborators.
Celebrating 25 years of fiffdimension!
2CD double album. 35 tracks spanning 25 years. Comes in gatefold card case with full colour photography by Jechtography and James Gilberd. Includes download of the digital album.
Produced by Antony Milton; and features Paul Winstanley, Chris OโConnor, Simon OโRorke, Chris Palmer, Sam Prebble, Mike Kingston, Francesca Mountfort, Damian Stewart, Emit Snake-Beings, Nat da Hatt, Steve Duffels, and Oscar (the dog). The 2CD compilation focuses on Dave Edwardsโ guitar and banjo compositions in New Zealand and Australia, their acoustic/electric duality, and boils down a quarter-century of restless creativity to two concise discs.
2023 was also notable for the return of live music to the Wairarapa.โ
https://fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/live-2022-24
Dave also collaborated with
Antony Milton – electric guitar Dave Edwards – bass David Heath – drums
| Another (****ing) Sunday | Elevate |
Limited Edition classy glassy mastered CD Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album Only 100 copies of this. Pro manufactured glass mastered CD packaged in 4 panel card wallet. | A contrasting companion piece, with all but the last track recorded the same day; a thoroughly kinetic affair bursting with energy and ecstatic passion. |
| Live in Featherston | Son Sun Sum |
Our debut live gig, at Common Ground gallery in Featherston | For the third year in a row, we recorded on the first day of daylight savings – this time with a bigger bass amp. |
& in January they released on cassette or download :
“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. All recorded ‘New Zealand style’ in [my] garage.”
Antony Milton
(Dave Edwards solo acoustic guitar, banjo, spoken word, May 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
& a work in progress (more to come in 2024):
An adaptation of the book, by 19th century Scottish poet John Collie (of Boyndie) – recorded by his descendants in New Zealand: Dave Edwards, nephews Hans and Rhys Landon-Lane, and guest appearances by The Troubled Times and Dr Emit Snake-Beings.
“T’were a noble sight to see the mighty men of old, who bled that their countries might be free from the tyrants’ fatal hold – yet I’d deem it a nobler sight by far to behold the sons of the harp & lyre!
“[…] If aught can claim a spirit’s admiration, Sure it must be this beautiful creation“
John Collie (1834-1893)
Celebrating 25 years of fiffdimension!
A collection of short tracks by Dave Edwards and collaborators.
“Double disc collection of more than two decadesโ worth of live and studio-recorded tunes by Dave Edwards, who you may have heard recently as part of The Troubled Times with Antony Milton. Itโs quite a diverse listen!
“You get some concise and catchy pop songs, some full-on rockers, banjo excursions, improv freak-out, poetry, acoustic blues, folk songs, scrambled noiseโฆ thereโs something here for everybody. A good intro to Daveโs dauntingly deep discography.”
– Howard Stelzer, Noisy Bandcamp.
Produced by Antony Milton; and features Paul Winstanley, Chris OโConnor, Simon OโRorke,Chris Palmer, Sam Prebble, Mike Kingston, Francesca Mountfort, Damian Stewart, Emit Snake-Beings, Nat da Hatt, Steve Duffels, and Oscar (the dog).
2CD double album. 35 tracks spanning 25 years. Comes in gatefold card case with full colour photography by Jechtography and James Gilberd. Includes download of the digital album.
Continue reading “2CD compilation 1998โ-โ2023”“Electric (Yang)/Acoustic (Yin)ย boasts some wildly different tracks; short instrumentals (the guitar and percussion ofย King Street Boogie, the piano and birdsong ofย Tui and Grey Sky, the guitar, rain, and bucket- possibly oboe too- ofย Classical Rain Bucket), song-length instrumentals (the gorgeous and floatyย Kalbarri Coastline, the spaced-out psychedelia ofย Shuffling The Tarot,ย October Ringโs sweet little guitar melody being countered by its evil twin sowing dissent and discord), spoken word over free-forming instruments (After The Filmshootย describing either a spiritual experience or very good drugsโฆ or both,ย @Bomb The Spaceย sounding like a guitar being attacked,ย Ornery Return Cravingsย spoken over sheer instrumental chaos), and occasionally, songs too (the stripped-back post-punk glory ofย Tony Was Here, the slithery, smoky, speakeasy feel ofย Cafes In Conversation,ย Invernoย creeping in like a fever-dream of The Cramps, and the beautiful, emotionally-chargedย Paetumokai (Pua pua i te Koanga)). Dave Edwards is a thoughtful and talented writer, composer, and performer. This double album ably demonstrates that, from the soft, delightful guitar ramblings onย Stromatolites, toย Wealth And Richesย that sounds for all the world like a battle to the death between a drumkit and a horde of toy robots.
“He doesnโt seem to so much want to push boundaries, as to act like heโs never heard of boundaries in the first place. At times soft and beautiful, at others dark and jarring, it makes for fascinating listening.” – Peter Malthus, muzic.nz
fiffdimension 
