Japan
2012
2012
part of
Other Islands: 2012-2018 – a compilation of recent highlights, recorded in New Zealand, Western Australia, Fiji, Indonesia and Okinawa
In 2012 I was home in New Zealand for a total of seven days, in July/August. Oherwise it was very much a year of two halves.
Until the end of June I lived in 沖縄 (Okinawa).
Nat da Hatt and I recorded a track for our duo album ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes – our version of a traditional shima uta (island song)
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
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.
Free mp3s 2014 – 2015
New free downloads 2014-2015 ! Pay koha / what you want for
Ngumbang
the first collaborative album by New Zealand artist/musician/filmmaker/ethnomusicologists Dave Black & Snake Beings – performed on guitars, bass, banjo, percussion, saxophones, clarinets, harmonicas, synthesisers, Indonesian gamelan, Okinawan sanshin, ukulele, violin, loop pedal, piano, drums and spoken word.
and
ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes
(2014) Japanese psychedelic rock by Dave Black & Nat da Hatt – two New Zealanders living in Japan.
plus
The fifth album from New Zealand free improvisation trio of Mike Kingston, Simon Sweetman and Dave Edwards
and
Free-jazz & improv from Wellington, New Zealand 1999/2014 – in collaboration with simon.ororke.net
and a video clip of
Gamelan Taniwha Jaya
and Dave and Cylvi contributed to Postmoderncore‘s first volume of Dada Songwriting Compilation, Rejection dryrot ripple Gombage.
Enjoy!
We’ll take a break from more releases for the remainder of this year while some new ideas percolate – thanks for listening, see you at the New Zealand Fringe Festival in 2016!
Nat da Hatt: Volume V
Presenting the second new solo album for 2015 from Nat da Hatt!
Volume V follows hot on the heels of 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 some 2015 collaborations in progress
as well as with American jaw-harp maestro Richard Morrison as Mezcla de Refresco
Nat da Hatt: Kleptomania
Presenting the new solo album from Nat da Hatt!
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 some 2015 collaborations in progress
as well as with American jaw-harp maestro Richard Morrison as Mezcla de Refresco
and here’s his previous 2012 solo masterpiece, Twango
East to West: Japan
Back in April we performed Dave Black & Snake Beings: East to West at the Audio Foundation in Auckland. Here’s a first excerpt from the show, which took the audience all the way from NZ to Portugal. This chapter is set in mainland Japan, and takes in Kyoto, Mount Fuji, and 1990s Tokyo. The soundtrack was performed live.
We’ve recorded an album’s worth of material, which is now available: Ngumbang
www.fiffdimension.com www.snakebeings.co.nz
In the meantime for other original music inspired by Japan, and more Japanese mountaineering, see ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes by Dave Black & Nat da Hatt.
ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes
First Time Around: East Asia
This is an album of sound recordings, made in six different countries, edited into sonic short stories and soundscapes –
East Asia https://maps.app.goo.gl/UZm5kgceqFjuoNf76
following a year and a half living in
South Korea 대한민국,
we travelled to
Japan 日本
China 中国
Thailand ประเทศไทย
Vietnam Việt Nam
Mongolia Монгол улс
by
Dave Black – field recordings, laptop, gayageum loops, clarinet, acoustic bass, guay, readings
Cylvi Manthyng – tangso, shakuhachi, golden egg, singing bowl, readings & rubbings
![First time around [South Korea]](https://fiffdimension.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/first-time-around-south-korea.jpg)
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.
