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).

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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)

Continue reading “2012”

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

11178300_10153244487776763_3754437497238813588_nNat 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

https://natdahatt.bandcamp.com/

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

rejection-dryrot-ripple-gombageand 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

11178300_10153244487776763_3754437497238813588_nNat 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

https://natdahatt.bandcamp.com/

Nat da Hatt: Kleptomania

Presenting the new solo album from Nat da Hatt!

11178300_10153244487776763_3754437497238813588_nNat 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

https://natdahatt.bandcamp.com/

East to West: Japan

IMG_6606Back 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

Music by Dave Black & Nat da Hatt – two New Zealanders living in Japan.   楽しむことができます!
 Like 日本 itself, this music offers a surrealistic fusion of ancient and modern.                 released 31 January 2014
Nat da Hatt – electric & acoustic guitars, drum machine, synths, laptop, samples
Dave Black – bass, banjo, acoustic guitar (5), electric guitar (3), loop pedal, electronics, laptop, field recordings

Welcome to the Year of the Horse!

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]

Continue reading “First Time Around: East Asia”