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.
Tag: fiffdimension
South Island Sessions
1861 revisited – my first pakeha (European) Edwards ancestors, Totara Jack and Mary, arrived in the South Island of New Zealand on board the Olympus and settled in Nelson.
John ‘Totara Jack’ Edwards
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. To the north is Tasman Bay, and south are the foothills of the Southern Alps.
I jammed with South Island musicians; studied at the Nelson School of Music; played in Hokitika, Greymouth, Westport, Nelson, Blenheim, Lyttelton and Dunedin (as well as Brisbane, Australia); and recorded the sound of tui and makomako (native birds) in Nelson Lakes National Park.
Music by:
Dave Black – acoustic guitar, banjo, drums, harmonica, laptop, field recordings, tenor sax, and vocals
Cylvi M – vocals & phat beatz
Hayden Gifkins / Matt Thornicroft – electric guitars
Frey – no-input mixing desk
Haz / Cookie – drums
The Ballad of William Knife (2006)
The Ballad of William Knife (2006)
Nelson, 1861
Dave Black, 2006
Dave Black, 2006
South Island Sessions (2006)
South Island Sessions (2013)
Totara Jack
After Maths & Sciences
An Australian novel for the ear, recorded in Melbourne VIC and Gosford NSW in 2005 – by kiwis.
2006 | Reviewed by Simon Sweetman
“After Maths & Sciences was recorded by Dave Black (some may know him as David A. Edwards, and if you don’t, then check his website, or the compilation of earlier recordings,Gleefully Unknown 1997-2005) in two parts: From May-July of 2005 in Melbourne, during the winter….
The Winter: 2011
The Winter: 2011
The Winter 2011
The Winter 2011
Simon Sweetman
acoustic guitar & banjo
Mike Kingston
The Winter 2011
Dave Edwards
The Winter 2011
The Winter 2011
The Winter: Swansong (for the Huia)
The Winter‘s 2004 sequel to Parataxes was a tribute to extinct New Zealand bird the Huia.
After this Mike and Dave moved to Australia, and the band next played in 2009.
The Winter: Parataxes
The debut album by The Winter: instrumental improvisations from Wellington, New Zealand, 2003. The band emerged fully formed on winter solstice day in June.
Builds from acoustic intimacy around the winter fireplace to the electric blizzard climax of ‘Parataxes 9‘.
“Derek Bailey on acid!” – Anthony Donaldson, Primitive Art Group
The Winter live at Photospace Gallery, July 2003 (photo by James Gilberd)
The Winter live at Photospace Gallery, July 2003 (photo by James Gilberd)
Simon Sweetman with The Winter, live at Photospace Gallery, July 2003 (photo by James Gilberd)
The Winter live at Photospace Gallery, July 2003 (photo by James Gilberd)
The Winter live at Photospace Gallery, July 2003 (photo by James Gilberd)
The Winter: Parataxes (2003)
The Winter live at Photospace Gallery, July 2003 (photo by James Gilberd)
Simon Sweetman with The Winter, live at Photospace Gallery, July 2003 (photo by James Gilberd)
The Winter live at Photospace Gallery, July 2003 (photo by James Gilberd)
The Winter live at Photospace Gallery, July 2003 (photo by James Gilberd)
Photos by James Gilberd, from The Winter’s first gig at Photospace Gallery, Wellington NZ, August 2003.
Mike Kingston – cello, electronic composition (1,4,7), electric guitar (2), acoustic guitar and slide whistle (8)
Dave Edwards – acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica
Simon Sweetman – drums and percussion
“The Winter are a Wellington based improvising trio, and Parataxes is their 1st release. It documents both acoustic and electric live sets that drift from eastern sounding cello led pieces to fairly extreme feed-backy noise. Continue reading “The Winter: Parataxes”
Mantis Shaped and Worrying
I spent days alone in my room with a borrowed 4-track cassette recorder (thank you Jeff Henderson) and bass guitar (thank you Simon O’Rorke). I’d never had a bass lesson so came up with my own improvised atonal punk/funk style.
The thin walls and neighbours below meant I couldn’t use an amp but could only play in headphones. This added to the sense of implosion. Likewise vocals couldn’t be done in a loud voice. I mostly eschewed effects pedals, and went more for dissonance than distortion. The technology was all analogue.
The result was Mantis Shaped and Worrying. It received mixed reviews, but was unlike anything else (as far as I was aware) at the time. File under: sui generis.
Track one was a major composition in three movements entitled And in a who gets to who and who does and him:
Okinawa, Japan 沖縄日本
ハイサイ! イチャリバ チョデ! よろしく おねがいします。 きょ-ねん 那覇市に すんでいました と にほんご ちょっと べんきょしました。
In 2011-2012 I lived in Naha (那覇市), the main city of Okinawa Prefecture (沖縄県) in Japan (日本).
The soundtracks to these videos are snippets of live Okinawan music I recorded there, such as eisa drum dancing and shima uta island songs. Spot me on sanshin (traditional 3-stringed banjo) and harmonica in the Iriomote one, and having a drumming lesson in Ishigaki – the two Yaeyama Islands, in the remote southwesternmost corner of Japan.
The Ryukyu Islands are a whole other world from mainland Japan – there’s no Mt Fuji, samurai, sumo wrestling, geisha or shinkansen. They have a different culture, food, climate and music – more tropical and laidback, the Hawaii of northeast Asia, with jungle, sugar cane, beautiful sea and coral – umi to sango wa totemo kirei desu ne – and wonderful people and tragic history.
Nat da Hatt and I recorded a track for our duo album ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes there – our version of a traditional shima uta (island song)
Crossing the Japan Alps 飛騨山脈日本
Music, video and hiking by Dave Black and Nat da Hatt – two New Zealanders living in Japan.
We crossed the Hida mountains in six days, losing a few kg along the way, and passed through 長野県(Nagano), 岐阜県 (Gifu), and 富山県 (Toyama) prefectures.
Loose Autumn Moans
Recorded and mixed entirely on analogue equipment, and originally released on cassette in 2003, Loose Autumn Moans is the fourth album by New Zealander Dave Edwards (aka fiffdimension).
Featuring Sam Prebble & Mike Kingston
and Simon Sweetman
fiffdimension 