Thanks to Brent for the photos and to everyone who came along to the Pyramid Club on Thursday!
The Winter’s new album ‘Exit Points’ is now available!
Continue reading “The Winter at Pyramid Club, 2015”Tag: New Zealand music
Mike Kingston
is a Wellington NZ multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser.
From 2003-2015 he was a key member of The Winter. He also played on:
- Loose Autumn Moans (2003) and
- After Maths & Sciences (2005),
- and in the early lineups of Ascension Band.
This page is a look back at that chapter of Mike’s musical story.
The Winter
An improvised music trio, with Dave Edwards and Simon Sweetman, which began in Wellington on winter solstice day, June 2003. Their first album, on CDR, was Parataxes (2003).
Mike contributed cello, electric guitar, slide whistle, and electronic interludes. The album builds from intimate acoustic pieces towards the electric climax of “Parataxes 9”.
Mike also played cello on Dave Edwards‘ cassette
Loose Autumn Moans (2003),
Acoustic songs with a mini string section, recorded and mixed on analogue equipment. Dave Edwards was joined by Sam Prebble (violin) , Mike Kingston (cello) and Simon Sweetman (percussion).
Mike next played electric guitar (under the alias San Shimla) in the 2003-2004 lineups of
Ascension Band
The 2004 lineup also included other semi-regular fiffdimension collaborators Antony Milton (The Troubled Times) and Simon O’Rorke (various free improvisation groups).
At the tail end of 2004, the Winter recorded their second album
Swansong (for the Huia),
dedicated to the extinct NZ bird. It was the band’s last session until 2009, while Dave and Mike each went overseas. The 19-minute last track was an epic finale and a (temporary) farewell to Wellington.
After Maths & Sciences (2005)
In 2005, Mike and Dave both relocated across the Tasman. After Maths & Sciences is an Australian double album recorded in Melbourne, 2005 and Sydney and Gosford in 2006.
It’s a very different record from Loose Autumn Moans or Parataxes – part field recordings, part improvised music, part electronic experiment and part documentary. Mike played acoustic guitar on the Melbourne half.
Another thread connects the records, as two different versions of “O Henry Ending” were recorded:
- in Wellington 2003, with Mike on cello, Dave Edwards on guitar, and Simon Sweetman on percussion;
- and in Melbourne 2005, with Mike on acoustic guitar, Dave Black on banjo, Cylvi M on percussion, and Francesca Mountfort on cello.
The Winter continued
on-and-off over the next twelve years (when all three were in Wellington). Mike played guitar, bass, clarinet, and charango. For highlights from their later recordings, see the
Shortest Days 2003–2015 compilation.
The trio’s only known video footage is from a gig at the Wellington venue Fred’s, in 2010:
Their last appearance to date was at the Pyramid Club in 2015.
Legacy
The recordings above are Mike’s contribution to the fiffdimension catalogue to date. He added jazz-trained harmonic and rhythmic sophistication, multi-instrumental capability, and a wealth of ideas to Dave’s untutored conceptual approach.
Other projects
Mike Kingston is a multi-instrumentalist front-man and composer in bands including Cumbia Blazera, ‘Bella Cajon‘ , ‘The Wagtails‘, and Phantasticus. He continues to perform regularly throughout Wellington and New Zealand, and has toured Australia and Colombia.
Simon Sweetman
Simon Sweetman is a Wellington NZ author and musician.
He is best known for his music criticism and poetry, and for his distinctive homemade ‘pots & pans’ percussion for The Winter (trio with Mike Kingston and Dave Edwards) and (more recently) Dirty Spoons, Yo (with Sam Walters);
Simon blogs at https://simonsweetman.substack.com/ ;
and records spoken-word albums as Second Storey Teller;
his books include The Death of Music Journalism (2020), and The Richard Poems (2024).
He hosts a monthly Open Mic called Say the Thing on the last Wednesday of each month at MEOW, in Wellington.
Scratched Surface (1998)
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 (1998)”Snake Beings
Dr Emit Snake-Beings – founder of the Hamilton Underground Film Festival, composer, musician and electrical shrine maker – is a New Zealand / British experimental filmmaker and musician. He has produced over 40 independently released film soundtrack CDs, and made a number of short experimental and narrative films in Spain, U.K. and New Zealand.
His music includes two duo albums with fiffdimension:
Ngumbang (Huia, 2014/15)
and
Ruasagavulu (Fiji, 2019/20)
He also appears on
Gamelan Dimensi Kelima (Indonesia)
His other projects include:
- / 2014 Maggotism International (on-going self-generating travelogue sound collage)
- / 2010 The construction of Karen Karnak (novel)
- / 2010 A D Normal Snakebeings Lake Train Temple
- / 2010 Oscillator Maggotman
- / 2004 Ghost Ship Creakings RG Shaw Snakebeings
- / 2004 Fracture Floor With Anthony Milton
- / 2003 Kaosphere Orchestra Circus Mutations
- / 2002 Kaosphere Orchestra Soundscapes For Alchemical Pilgrimage
- / 1999 Sinister Makes A Snakebeings Compilation
- / 1994 Horror FLutes International Instruments
- / 1991-1995 Film Soundtracks Of Snakebeings
www.snakebeings.co.nz
w/ snakebeings: Ngumbang (2015)
The first collaboration with even more legendary & underground NZ artist Snake Beings.
Listen
About
Ngumbang is the first collaborative album by two of New Zealand’s more unusual artist/musician/filmmaker/ethnomusicologists.
Performed on guitars, bass, banjo, percussion, saxophones, clarinets, harmonicas, synthesisers, Okinawan sanshin, ukulele, violin, loop pedal, piano, drums and spoken word.
The title ‘Ngumbang’ is an Indonesian word that refers to the slight difference in tuning between a pair of gamelan instruments, which gives gamelan music its shimmering quality.
The album name reflects a shared interest in ethnomusicology and experimentation, and the almost-but-not-quite-equivalent approaches of these two artists.
The album was recorded in and near Auckland, New Zealand in 2014–2015 and includes live performances at Vitamin S and the Audio Foundation.
Emit Snake-Beings,
who over several decades has travelled intensively in Spain, Holland, the Middle East, Mexico, America and Japan, is a New Zealand / British experimental filmmaker and musician who has produced over 40 independently released film soundtrack CDs and made a number of short experimental and narrative films in Spain, U.K. and New Zealand. www.snakebeings.co.nz
Dave Black,
originally from Taranaki and active since the late 90s on the NZ underground music scene, began by fusing acoustic songs, noisy postpunk, spoken word and avant-garde improvisation – and has diversified further from there. Notable performances include the award-winning 14-piece Ascension Band, appearing as an international artist at the Liquid Architecture Festival in Brisbane, Australia, and teaching a thousand Okinawan school students to perform a haka. www.fiffdimension.com
Tracklist
| 1. | Huia Vortex (feat. Nat da Hatt) 03:56 |
| 2. | The Feathered Serpent Sings Again 05:13 |
| 3. | Illbelly Gritts 03:57 |
| 4. | Watching a Painting Melt 01:47 |
| 5. | さくら さくら (Japanese folk song) – live at the Audio Foundation 04:52 |
| 6. | Pig in the Bamboo 01:47 |
| 7. | Live at Vitamin S (#1.5) 04:37 |
| 8. | Pick up the Pieces (after the gig) 04:48 |
| 9. | Pick up the Pieces (after the jam session) 04:45 |
| 10. | Ornery Return Cravings 02:40 |
| 11. | kuningan dan perunggu (Indonesian brass and bronze) 02:50 |
| 12. | So Long Notes 06:01 |
Further Listening
Continue reading “w/ snakebeings: Ngumbang (2015)”The Road to Bogandoor
Election night 2013 in Australia mix –
At the time I lived in Perth, WA.
And Australia Day music video from an unfinished Aussie album… enjoy!
Music by Nat da Hatt & Dave Black with Snake Beings, video by Dave Black and Cylvi Manthyng
See also – our first Australian album, After Maths & Sciences,
and Dave Black & Nat da Hatt in Japan: ネオン列車の風景 Neon Train Landscapes
Dada Songwriting: Rejection dryrot ripple Gombage
Dave and Cylvi contributed to Postmoderncore‘s first volume of Dada Songwriting Compilation, Rejection dryrot ripple Gombage.
Condo Encyclopedia coalseam egg 2:02
by Uneasy Chairs (USA, guitar) / T4x0n0m13s (España, bass + distortion pedal) / Dave Black (NZ, banjo) / Cylvi Manthyng (NZ, shaker)
Download entire album / View album at archive.org
Each contributor created two mins of raw sound – a single track recorded live with no post-processing. After each set of four tracks arrived, they were blindly put together to create each track – as & when they arrived in Corporal Tofulung’s inbox.
The title of the album was created by writing the 40 contributed words on individual pieces of paper & drawing them randomly out of a bucket. Continue reading “Dada Songwriting: Rejection dryrot ripple Gombage”
Pyramid Power festival 10-13 December
I’ll be performing on day 4 of the
PYRAMID POWER!
Festival of experimental music and art
10-13 December 2014 at the Pyramid Club
The SOUND & LIGHT EXPLORATION SOCIETY is pleased to present PYRAMID POWER!!!!
A four day spectacular of MUSIC and ART of staggering proportions!!!!
Sound experiments, psychedelic jazz, hotwired synths, free improvisation, noise, experimental films, and more!
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.
