22nd July – Tapioca Dragon, the Electricka Zoo, 1/3 Octave Band @ Pyramid Club

A night of improv, otherworld musics, and ethereal sonic crunch at Wellington’s Pyramid Club, plus an album release for The Electricka Zoo.

Saturday 22nd July 2017, 8pm

@ the Pyramid Club

272 Taranaki Street, Wellington NZ – $10 door sales

The Electricka Zoo

The duo of Dave Black & the Digitator, The Electricka Zoo combine influences from EDM and post-punk avant-garde rock to jazz, reggae, Balkan and Portuguese music. Their self-titled debut album will be released at this gig, and features 8 original tunes by the bass/guitar and electronica duo wrapped in colourful mandala artwork by Lucie Hannon.

1/3 Octave Band

Also in the line up; the 1/3 Octave Band, aka Bill Wood. A master of tones and drones, Bill an his collaborators in the group have released many CD,s LP’s over the past decade, and recently been championed by no less than former Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins in his column for LA Weekly. Don’t miss this once a year appearance from Mr Wood.

Tapioca Dragon

And let’s not forget and that merry duo of free thinkers, Tapioca Dragon, feat. Andy Wright (ex-Orchestra of Spheres) and Mark Williams (MarineVille / Cookie Brooklyn and the Crumbs). Tapioca Dragon released their debut album last year, a collection of 5 improvisations building from sparse, loops and jabs into a psychedelic spin cycle.

the Electricka Zoo on Access Radio this Saturday

Electricka Zoo played live in the studio

on Terry’s Songwriters Show.

It was broadcast on Saturday 15th of April – hear the podcast online.

The Digitator (left), DJ Terry Shore (middle), and Dave Black (right), April 2017

Terry’s Songwriters Show is a weekly programme hosted by Terry Shore – who is a singer/song-writer himself.

Continue reading “the Electricka Zoo on Access Radio this Saturday” →

the Electricka Zoo, early 2017

Next appearing at Fringe Bar in Wellington, Tuesday 28th March 2017, 8:45pm. Free entry.

The Electricka Zoo are one of Wellington’s most intriguing new live bands, a bass/guitar and live electronica duo of Dave Black and the Digitator. They combine influences from EDM, punk rock, jazz, reggae, Balkan and Portuguese music into their own homegrown NZ sound.

Keep an eye and two ears out for their first album, coming soon.

http://heavyspacerecords.blogspot.co.nz/2016/03/23-electricka-zoombadger-sett-split-7.html?m=1

In the meantime a vinyl-only 7″ single and collection of early (2015-2016) demos on Soundcloud are available.

Nat da Hatt – Harpsychord

The latest offering from Nat da Hatt, recorded in 2015-2016 in Kawaguchi City, Japan using an array of instruments, devices and machines including: a Zoom digital eight track recorder, A Gretsch Electromatic guitar and a Korg vocoder.

Harpsychord follows hot on the heels of 2015’s Volume V and Kleptomania

and his previous 2012 solo masterpiece, Twango

Nat da Hatt is a political refugee from New Zealand who has settled in Japan where he spends his days in a cave creating tone paintings on an array of devices and instruments including: guitar, thumb piano and a Korg vocoder.

He’s also collaborated with fiffdimension’s Dave Black on the 2014 explicitly Japanese psychedelic album

ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes

and guested on Ngumbang

as well as with American jaw-harp maestro Richard Morrison as Mezcla de Refresco

https://natdahatt.bandcamp.com/

the Ballad of William Knife

Music video from the album ‘South Island Sessions‘, set in 19th century New Zealand with an ecological theme. ‘The Ballad of William Knife’ was the name of the show we took to the Dunedin Fringe Festival in 2006.

1861 revisited – Continue reading “the Ballad of William Knife” →

安里屋ユンタオーバードライブ Asadoya Yunta Overdrive (Okinawa)

Here’s a new bonus track we’ve added to the album ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes – our version of a traditional shima uta (island song) from 沖縄 (Okinawa).

Dave Black – sanshin, harmonica, field recordings
Nat da Hatt – acoustic & electric guitars, electronics
Cylvi Manthyng – shakuhachi

As you can hear, the music of Okinawa is quite distinct from that of mainland Japan.

Ascension Band 2004

The post-punk big band Ascension Band convened in 2003-2005… here’s the 2004 lineup performing at the Meatwaters Festival at Happy in Wellington.

Nigel Patterson – hammond organ & conductor
Dave Edwards – guitar & electronics
Mike Kingston – guitar
Jesse Toews – bass
Warwick Donald – bass
Antony Milton – violin & electronics
Damian Stewart – laptop
Jason Secto – cornet
Simon O’Rorke – percussion
Myles Climo – drums

The following year we won best music award in the 2005 Wellington Fringe Festival

Ascension Band 2005

“With elements of punk, post-punk, jazz, classical, straight rock, opera and music hall, the Ascension Band are that rare thing: Something Wholly Other. They retain avant garde cred and still manage to rock harder than AC/DC.” – www.varsity.co.nz

Dave Edwards – electric guitar & electronics
Nigel Patterson – hammond organ & conductor
Will Rattray – electric guitar
Bell Murphy – bass
Warwick Donald – bass
Murray Stewart – keyboards
Damian ‘Frey’ Stewart – laptop
Ryan Prebble – tone generator
Sam Jenks – trumpet
Felicity Perry – vocal
Atushi Iseki – vocal
Matt Baxter – drums
Greta Welson – drums

This riff

Continue reading →

The Woods

www.thewoodsnz.com

The Woods EP is available free during May 2017 (NZ Music Month) only… grab a copy at www.thewoodsnz.com/musicmonth2017

If you’re a fan of World Music, Blues or Jazz, then ‘The Woods’ are a must have for your collection. With influences from John Lee Hooker to Pharaoh Sanders, from Africa to Peru, their music will take you some place else…

https://youtu.be/kkzXD4HRfoc&w=280&h=150

https://youtu.be/bceQOwQL9Sw&w=280&h=150

For a FREE DOWNLOAD of ‘Cuzco’ and ‘Epic Dance Phantasy’ CLICK HERE

“This is easily one of my favorite albums of the year.

Continue reading “The Woods” →

The Winter: Exit Points (2015)

Today is the last day of winter in the southern hemisphere – so to celebrate, here’s the fifth album from The Winter – a New Zealand free improvisation trio of Mike Kingston, Simon Sweetman and Dave Edwards… with a sound that swerves from acoustic folk/blues with hints of Asian, Celtic, and Balkan influences, to electroacoustic soundscapes, abstract dissonance, and pots & pans percussion.

Mike Kingston: guitar, bass, clarinet, electronics
Dave Edwards: guitar, bass, banjo, harmonica, ukulele, sanshin, electronics
Simon Sweetman: drums and percussion, electronics