2022 roundup

fiffdimension vol4, águas brilhantes: 2018-2022, sums up the last few years’ here:

2022‘s been a particularly productive year… there’s a (mostly) solo instrumental album (also ft Oscar the dog);

two albums by the Troubled Times – collaboration with Antony Milton now a trio with David Heath on drums;

recordings with my nephews Hans and Rhys Landon-Lane towards Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856) – with words written by our ancestor;

and a multimedia spoken word + improvised music collaboration with the award-winning painter James Robinson;

águas brilhantes: 2018-2022

fiffdimension vol 4

made in Featherston, Masterton, and Suva – ft Antony Milton, James Robinson, Dr Emit Snake-Beings, Campbell Kneale, and lyrics by John Collie (1834-1893) – the title is ‘Wairarapa’ in Portuguese.

Collaborations with my ancestors and younger relatives, friends in Fiji, a painter in Otago, the curator of PseudoArcana, and the family dog.

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.

a followup to
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/gleefully-unknown-1997-2005
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/fame-oblivion-2005-2012
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/other-islands-2012-2018

with videos at www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtbrBpNjlOHOhGouOChNl3jVUif1AZIl6 )

águas brilhantes (or ‘glistening waters’ in English) is the Portuguese translation of Wairarapa, the Māori name of the region where I live. Several of my pākeha ancestors arrived here in the 19th century.

Much of the music is inspired by two of my great-great-grandfathers – John Collie (1834-1893), a Scottish poet, who helped build the Remutaka incline railway; and Manuel Bernard (1847-1928), who left the Azores islands, as a teenaged stowaway on a whaling ship and ended up in Masterton. It’s also a torch-passing to the next generation – recorded with nephews Hans and Rhys, and niece Celeste.

Continue reading →

The Troubled Times: A Second Sun

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) (a crossover with fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/poems-lyrics-in-the-english-dialect-1856 )

Recorded in Masterton, New Zealand, 25 September 2022

Loosely a sequel to Antony Milton and Dave Edwards‘ first duo collaboration fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/return-of-the-sun-2021 – The Troubled Times’ debut.

Continue reading →

w/ James Robinson – Negentropic Diatribes

James Robinson – words, voice, paintings & drawings, bell drum

Dave Black – electric guitar, bass, loop pedal

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
‐‐——-

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

‘… 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 →

Spastic Rhythms ’22

Featherston, NZ – early 2022 – spontaneous compositions, two wet weekends in a row.

A sequel to Spastic Rhythms vol 1 (2021)

– a series of ‘quickfire’ DIY solo albums created in a couple of days each.

This one features interspecies guest collaboration with Oscar the huntaway.

credits

released February 13, 2022

Dave Black – guitars, bass, banjo (2), clarinet (6), sanshin (10), loop pedal, e-drum

Oscar – vocal

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 →