Tag: folk

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

Continue reading “The Winter: Exit Points (2015)” →

Mike Kingston

Mike Kingston is a multi-instrumentalist front-man and composer in bands such as Cumbia Blazera, ‘Bella Cajon‘ , ‘The Wagtails‘, and Phantasticus.  He continues to perform regularly throughout Wellington and New Zealand.

From 2003-2015 he was a key member of The Winter (with Dave Edwards and Simon Sweetman).

He also played cello on Loose Autumn Moans (2003),

electric guitar in the 2003-2004 lineups of Ascension Band (in his San Shimla alias),

and acoustic guitar on (the Melbourne half of) After Maths & Sciences (2005).

Some of Mike’s other projects (besides the fiffdimension collaborations) include:

 

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

Tracklist

Continue reading “Scratched Surface” →

Kalbarri, Western Australia

Music and video by Dave Black & Cylvi Manthyng from a road trip north from Perth, Western Australia.   Kalbarri is a small town of just over a thousand people, known for its rocky coastline, red landscape, spring flowers, and pounding surf.

a coiled didgeridoo
in Western Australia, 2013
acoustic guitar & banjo

 

Sam Prebble, RIP

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Sad this week to hear of the early passing of Sam Prebble (aka Bond Street Bridge).

Our condolences to Sam’s family and friends.

He was a friend I hadn’t seen for a few years as I’ve been living abroad, but he played violin on ‘Loose Autumn Moans‘  and I’d always hoped to work with him again.

I loved the historical turn his recent music was taking.

Definitely a loss to NZ music as well as a personal tragedy to lose him before his time.

https://bondstreetbridge.bandcamp.com/

https://fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/loose-autumn-moans

Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012

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

“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

“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“

Continue reading “Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2012” →

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

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

Featuring tracks from the albums

… 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.

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Credits

  • Dave Black – field recordings, laptop, gayageum loops, clarinet, acoustic bass, guay, readings
  • Cylvi M – tangso, shakuhachi, golden egg, singing bowl, readings & rubbings
First time around [South Korea]

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

  1. 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 “First Time Around: East Asia (2008)” →

The Winter: Flying Visit (2012)

Acoustic instrumental music by Wellington, New Zealand, improvising trio The Winter.

Mike Kingston: charango, guitar, clarinet

Dave Edwards: ukulele, sanshin, tenor sax, piano

Simon Sweetman: xylophone, percussion

Continue reading “The Winter: Flying Visit (2012)” →

South Island Sessions (2006)

Recorded in Nelson, NZ, 2006.

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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

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)

Recorded in Nelson NZ, 2006

Tracklist

Continue reading “South Island Sessions (2006)” →