continuing the band’s tradition of getting together on the 1st Sunday of Aotearoa’s daylight saving.
The weather was so abysmal this time that the drummer didn’t want to bike over in the rain, and so it was just Dave and Antony for this one (though Dave did jump on the drums for the last track).
“A few months between drinks but The Troubled Times are back with perhaps their ‘dustiest’ session yet. The whole thing was recorded onto Dave Edwards‘ phone resulting in a slightly more lo-fi sound than usual. Murky drones, percussive clatter and spasms of edgy delay soaked bliss. A mumbled song.” – Antony Milton
“Sometime in 2024 a battered old home dubbed cassette was found in a local charity shop. Hand written on the cover was ‘Graveyard show, Masterton radio, 1998’. It was 20c and I figured it was worth the punt. As the text suggested it was an after midnight radio show, mainly made up of – to my ears- mediocre (or at least very dated) grindcore and industrial techno. Not my bag at all really- but the in-between banter was GOLD. I true snapshot of the generally ‘munted’ nature of Masterton at that time. (Its only moderately improved since to be honest). I only remembered the existence of this tape when the idea struck me to do this compilation- why not swap out the music but keep the banter? I make no claims to this being anything like a reliable overview of underground music in the Wairarapa. All the towns here are ‘small town’ small towns, generally very conservative and less than likely to celebrate their ‘weirdos’. All the same I’ve gotten to know a fair few of them over the 7 years I’ve been here and had been tipped off to a couple more. There must be some I just haven’t stumbled across yet however. It was particularly exciting for me to finally hear Spectrum Is Green as David (Heath– the drummer in The Troubled Times) had always been a little elusive about this band from the 1980s that he had fronted. Finally he gave me their unreleased album from 1988 to listen to. Its gobsmackingly great and WILL be getting released shortly. David also gave me a cdr of a singer/songwriter from Masterton named Brent Grey to check out. This was recorded in 1999 and is also a true treasure. The track on here was so perfect that its title became the title of the entire compilation. Most of the other stuff is a lot more recent. Some of the names will be familiar but I’m sure many won’t. I also made the perhaps perverse decision to go with somewhat more ‘approachable’ tracks from each artist. For the most part anyway. I have given a full breakdown of each artist on their individual track pages which can be linked to by clicking on the respective title.” – Antony Milton
Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856)Homo Homini Lupus (compilation)Featherston Free Sound EnsembleThe Troubled Times: Sparkle TubePoems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856)The Troubled Times: Unsteady GroundThe Troubled Times: dDALive 2025Ruasagavulu ka lima (Fiji)
Latest release from The Troubled Timesโฆ weirdly ‘relevant’ this year. And available on cassette.
Listen
A new collection of songs for the Times. Starting off with a weirdly upbeat track recorded pre- US election the tone drifts somewhat astray as the collection proceeds.
Dave on guitar and Antony on bass this time – a role reversal from our usual instruments – resulted in a distinctly different flavoured improv… a frenetic scratchiness.
โA virtual infusion of โants-in-the-pantsโ for the entomologically deficient.โ โAntony Milton
โThe album blendsAntony Miltonโs and my styles, with Dave Edwards often occupying a pivotal midpoint. Itโs an exhilarating session.โ โ Simon OโRorke
“Some seriously scrambled dissonance. 80โs vocals hits 60โs electro/cut-up nonsense whilst smothering an ever mutating bassline […] the track contains more musical ideas in its 5 mins than some exhibit in musical careers.” – Simon Baker, What Lies Beneath
“Some seriously scrambled dissonance. 80โs vocals hits 60โs electro/cut-up nonsense whilst smothering an ever mutating bassline […] the track contains more musical ideas in its 5 mins than some exhibit in some musical careers.” – Simon Baker, What Lies Beneath
(Dave solo – A-side is bass & electronics, B-side is clarinet & electronics)
