Other Islands: 2012-2018

“The 20 song album covers traditional Javanese and Balinese gamelan, Asian folk music, to free jazz, and free noise. It’s not for anyone with narrow preconceived ideas about what music is, but it is for everyone else.

“If you have an open inquiring mind and love hearing a variety of sound, this is excellent.” – Darryl Baser, muzic.net.nz

fiffdimension compilation vol3 – (see also Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005, Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012, and águas Brilhantes: 2018-2022)
Made in New Zealand, Okinawa (Japan), Western Australia, Indonesia, and Fiji.

Includes tracks by The Winter, Dave Black & Nat da Hatt, Confluence Quintet, Gamelan Sekar Puri, Gamelan Padhang Moncar, Gamelan Taniwha Jaya, The Electricka Zoo, Dave Black & Snake Beings, Dave Black & Campbell Kneale.

by Dave Black (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, harmonica, laptop, bass, tenor saxophone, field recordings, piano, ukulele, sanshin, saron, jublag, demung, vocal), with

Mike Kingston (charango, acoustic guitar),
Simon Sweetman (percussion),
Nat da Hatt (electric guitar, keyboards, banjo),
Emit Snake-Beings (banjo, vocal, percussion, flute, electronics),
the Digitator (electric drums, keyboards & loops),
Campbell Kneale (electric guitar, analogue synthesiser),
Cylvi M (vocal, field recordings, percussion, shakuhachi),
Blair Latham (bass clarinet),
Simon O’Rorke (keyboards),
Chris Prosser (violin),
Julie Bevan (acoustic guitar),
plus Indonesian gamelan ensembles led by Sofari Hidayat, Budi Putra, and Gareth Farr,

a song written by my great-great-grandfather John Collie (1856),

and field recordings from Western Australia, Indonesia, Okinawa (Japan), and Fiji.

Featuring tracks from the albums

The Winter: Flying Visit (2012)
in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway (1999/2014)
ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes (2010-15)
Ngumbang (2014-15)
The Winter: Exit Points (2015)
The Electricka Zoo (2017)
and previously unheard tracks.

If you enjoy this, try the previous compilations

Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005

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” →

Scratched Surface

The debut album from fiffdimension!

“Worth searching out coz this lo-fi singer/songwriter oddball has a unique take on the genre. He’s pissed off, a tad fucked up (as usual), but not full of lugubrious self-pity (as unusual) and is happy to get raucous & obnoxious in just the right kinda way.” – Chris Knox

Listen

About

Scratched Surface is a genuine 1990s teenage no-budget lo-fi post-punk singer-songwriter artifact from the Taranaki, New Zealand underground. It includes both electric and acoustic tracks¹.

The title alludes to its status as a first effort from fiffdimension², with much more to come (‘scratching the surface’). It also suggests scratches on a disc, reflecting the lo-fi production values and a slightly ‘damaged’ pre-millennial teenager outlook.

I didn’t come from a conventional musical background. Instead of learning to play cover songs first, I skipped straight to writing my own³. The musicianship is rudimentary, and the lyrics are full of youthful angst – but also self-aware humour and ironic detachment.

“One day I’m gonna be a star, but I can’t be bothered to practice my guitar.

I’m not gonna sing you a cover song, ’cause I’d only make it sound all wrong.

I got the ‘can’t play for shit and my voice is shot to hell’ blues”

The album also includes early forays into free improvisation, in tracks like King Street Boogie and Eat the Noise.

It was recorded on analogue reel-to-reel and cassette tapes, and self-released on CD-R. The online reissue includes download-only bonus tracks and previously unreleased material.

Credits

Dave Edwards – acoustic and electric guitar, harmonica, vocal, lyrics
Tim McVicar – bass (2, 12, 14), percussion (3), electric guitar (12, 13)
Brett, Ross, Tammy, Dawn et al – percussion and vocals (15-16)

Recorded in New Plymouth, NZ, 1997-1998

Special thanks to Alastair Edwards, Keith Finnerty, Karl Taylor, Brian Wafer

New Plymouth, New Zealand

Tracklist

Continue reading →

in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway (part 1, 1999)

A few years ago I wrote a chapter of Jazz Aotearoa, a book about New Zealand jazz music history, discussing the free improvisation and avant-garde jazz scene in Wellington at the turn of the millennium.

in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway is a collection of improvised instrumental music with some of the musicians in that scene, from the point of view of my own attempts as an untrained outsider to fit in with these advanced jazz players – including Jeff Henderson, Blair Latham , Paul Winstanley, Dan Beban, Julie Bevan and more.

The title is a reference to Simon’s house on Norway Street, where the recordings took place. The ‘non idiomatic idiom’ suggests the paradox that improvising non-idiomatically (eg in an original personal style without reference to any genre – playing neither jazz, nor rock, blues, reggae, classical etc) is an idiom in itself.

It was recorded in Wellington in two halves, in 1999

Listen

Simon O’Rorke – percussion

Paul Winstanley – synth bass
Blair Latham – alto sax
Jeff Henderson – clarinet
Bridget Kelly – tenor sax
Dan Beban – electric guitar
Dave Edwards – electric and acoustic guitars

and 2014, to show an evolution.

Simon O’Rorke – synthesisers

Blair Latham – bass clarinet
Julie Bevan – acoustic guitar
Michael Hall – alto sax
Chris Prosser – violin
Dave Edwards – bass, electronics, tenor sax

In 2024 Simon O’Rorke struck up a new collaboration with Dave Edwards, this time in the Wairarapa, as a trio with Antony Milton named The Margins:

Background

Free improvisation is a genre of music with a self-explanatory name. Nothing is planned in advance, and the performers create the music on the spot by responding to what the others are doing in that moment.

Continue reading →

Dave Black & Snake Beings: East to West

East to West brings together for the first time two of New Zealand’s more unusual artist/musician/filmmaker/ethnomusicologists, taking the audience on an epic journey from one side of the Eurasian continent to another in the space of an hour. Continue reading “Dave Black & Snake Beings: East to West” →

Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012

“This is something that he has to do, that he will do, come fame or oblivion” –Chris Knox

Made in New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Mongolia, and Japan.
Includes tracks by Ascension Band, The Winter, Cylvi M, Wellington’s Most Famous Orchestra of Miraculous Delights, Dave Black & Nat da Hatt.

“As Dave Edwards he has explored fuzzy punk, free-jazz, spoken word, alternative-folk and demented pop… as Dave Black, the palette is broadened” – Simon Sweetman

by Dave Black (acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, harmonica, laptop, bass, tenor saxophone, field recordings, piano, gayageum, vocal), with

Mike Kingston (acoustic guitar),
Simon Sweetman (percussion),
Nat da Hatt (electric guitar, keyboards),
Cylvi M (vocal, field recordings, percussion, shakuhachi),
Hayden Gifkins (electric guitar),
Nigel Patterson (hammond organ),
Ryan Prebble (tone generator),
Matthew Thornicroft (electric guitar),
Jeff Henderson (drums),
Noel Meek (vocal),
Hans Landon-Lane (ukulele)
and field recordings from Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Mongolia, and Japan.

“Experimental and avant-garde…. There is a clear passion, and a commitment to pushing the boundaries… This will challenge your perceptions of what constitutes music and open the mind to new possibilities of sounds that surround us – muzic.net.nz“

This is a sequel to the Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005 compilation.
The third part of the trilogy, Other Islands: 2012-2018, documents my return to NZ via other Asia-Pacific countries,
A fourth volume águas Brilhantes: 2018-2022 covers more recent works made in the Wairarapa and Fiji.

Continue reading →

Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005

A compilation of songs, spoken word and instrumentals from the early phase of my gloriously unsuccessful career:

“Whilst shopping from fiffdimension, make sure to get hold of ‘Gleefully Unknown’ – a best-of compilation of Dave Edwards’ music from 1997 to 2005. Rough outsider folk-blues mysteries, dissonant rock textures, electric and acoustic improvisations…

“Edwards strikes me as one of the most overlooked musicians from the fertile lands of New Zealand and if you need a fresh start this might very well be the place.” – Mats Gustafsson, The Broken Face

Made in New Plymouth and Wellington NZ, and Melbourne AU.
For background and more detail see 1997-2005
Includes tracks by The Slab Septet, The Winter, Ascension Band.

by Dave Edwards (acoustic & electric guitars, harmonica, bass, banjo, vocal), with

Paul Winstanley (fretless bass, turntables),
Mike Kingston (cello, acoustic guitar),
Simon Sweetman (percussion),
Nigel Patterson (hammond organ),
Cylvi M (percussion),
Simon O’Rorke (percussion),
Francesca Mountfort (cello),
Jeff Henderson (clarinet),
Blair Latham (alto sax),
Sam Prebble (violin, percussion),
Chris Palmer (electric guitar),
Chris O’Connor (drums),
Antony Milton (violin, keyboards),
Frey (laptop),
Dean Brown (drums)

Featuring tracks from the albums

Scratched Surface (1997-1998)
in the non-idiomatic idiom in Norway (1999/2014)
The Marion Flow (1999-2001)
Mantis Shaped and Worrying (2002)
The Winter: Parataxes (2003)
Loose Autumn Moans (2003)
Live 2004 (2004)
After Maths & Sciences (2005-2006)

… if you enjoy this, try the sequels Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012 and Other Islands: 2012-2018

Also available from Spotify, Bandcamp etc

First Time Around: East Asia (2008)

This is an ethnomusicological album of pieces made from sound recordings, during visits to six different countries in Asia during 2007-2008, The sounds are edited into sonic short stories.

Listen

Credits

Dave Black – field recordings, laptop, gayageum loops, clarinet, acoustic bass, guay, readings
Cylvi M – tangso, shakuhachi, golden egg, singing bowl, readings & rubbings

About

During, and immediately after, a year and a half living in

South Korea 대한민국,

(teaching English for a living, and to fund further travels – see First Time Around: South Korea),

we travelled to:

China 中国

挽歌为长江豚 (Elegy for the Yangtze River Dolphins) 01:22

8. 请介意你的脚步 (Please Mind Your Step) 01:33

Japan 日本

2. Cylvi M – シルビエム在佛的脚在京都 (at Buddha’s Foot, Kyoto) 02:16

Thailand ประเทศไทย

3.	ระดับที่สามพระอารามหลวง (3rd Grade Royal Temple) 04:04
4.	เชียงใหม่ร้านรัฐบาล (Chiang Mai government shop) 02:35
5.	หมู่บ้านกะเหรี่ยง (The Karen Village) 04:10

Vietnam Việt Nam

6.	Việt Nam chào buổi tối (Good Evening Vietnam) 02:25
7.	núi và rất cây (Mountain and Very Tree) 04:43

Mongolia Монгол улс

9.	Монголын хувьсгалт нам ((It’s a) Mongolian Revolutionary Party) 02:33
10.	ханаду ямаа (Goats in Xanadu) 03:32

감사합니다 – ありがとうございました – 谢谢 – ขอขอบคุณคุณ – cảm ơn bạn – Баярлалаа!

Continue reading →

Cylvi M at Buddha’s foot, Kyoto 京都

These recordings were made on my first visit to Japan in 2007, on a side-trip while living in South Korea.

I subsequently lived in Okinawa in 2011–2012, and travelled further around Kyushu and Honshu.

South Island Sessions (2006)

Recorded in Nelson, NZ, 2006.

Listen

About

1861 revisited – my pākeha (European) ancestors, John ‘Totara Jack’ and Mary Edwards, arrived in the South Island of New Zealand on board the Olympus and settled in Nelson¹.

John ‘Totara Jack’ Edwards

Nelson, New Zealand

When I lived nearby a century and a half later,

I found the address where they’d lived, just below a spot on a hill that marks the geographical centre of NZ.
I recorded and toured with South Island musicians;
studied at the Nelson School of Music – and finally had the chance to learn some ‘conventional’ technique;
played in Hokitika, Greymouth, Westport, Nelson, Blenheim, Lyttelton and Dunedin
- (as well as Brisbane, Australia²);
and recorded the sound of tui and makomako (native birds) in Nelson Lakes National Park.

The early settler stories marked the start of an interest in genealogy, and prompted the music video for The Ballad of William Knife³ (loosely based on ‘Totara Jack’).

In contrast to the ‘traditional’ South Island NZ ‘Flying Nun‘ or The Dead C inspired sounds, South Island Sessions blended acoustic instruments with field recordings and electronic glitches. I played acoustic guitar, banjo and saxophone, and delegated the electric guitar role to two local players. We named this new genre “Steampunk Folktronica“⁴.

Credits

Dave Black – acoustic guitar (2,6), banjo (3,4,6), drums (4), harmonica (2), laptop, field recordings, tenor saxophone (6,7), and vocals
Cylvi M – vocals & phat beatz (1)
Hayden Gifkins – electric guitar (5,7)
Matthew Thornicroft – electric guitar (5,7)
Damian ‘Frey’ Stewart – no-input mixing desk (3)
Cookie – drums (5, 6)