DIY outsider music, from Aotearoa NZ and beyond
A new archival release, of early postpunk instrumental improv by ex-Taranaki duo the Electricka Zoo
recorded in 2016, this has nothing to do with Brexit or Trump!
These informal recordings are a precursor to our 2017 debut album proper, The Electricka Zoo
Continue reading “Streaming Silver (2016)”Palette cleansing electric solo improv.
Recorded in Featherston, New Zealand, 2019-20.
I’m not a trained jazz musician, but nor do I fit neatly into the ‘NZ noise‘ genre.
releases October 17, 2020
Campbell Kneale – electric guitar, analogue synth
Dave Black – bass, electric toothbrush, key ring
A 3min excerpt appeared on Other Islands: 2012-2018 –
but you need to hear the full length version to truly enter Campbell’s world.
Continue reading “Campbell Kneale & Dave Black: A Ton of Feathers”the opening track from Ruasagavulu
by Dave Black & Snake-Beings
recorded in Suva, Fiji, 2nd November 2019
This short warmup improv is based on an Indian scale, inspired by Dr Emit Snake-Beings‘ travels to Kerala in India, and harmonium lessons in Suva.
There’s an Indian influence throughout the album, as several sections are based on drones and modal improv (rather than the chord changes)… though this is not a traditional Indian album, we’ve borrowed ideas to inform our own experiments.
The temple in the photo is Sri Siva Subramaniya in Nadi. It’s built in the Dravidian style from southern India, which is also found in Singapore and Malaysia.
In contrast to other Pacific Island countries, Fiji has a large – almost half – population of Indian descent. Indians came to Fiji in the 19th century, as indentured labourers to work the sugar cane plantations.
Animated visuals, with electric guitar loops, one-stringed bass, and drums – the opening track from the ‘Ngumbang‘ album (get the free download) – w/ Emit Snake-beings & Nat da Hatt
The title ‘Huia Vortex’ refers to the location where the track was recorded, in Huia, a small village on the outskirts of west Auckland.
It’s not necessarily related to ‘Swansong (for the Huia)‘ (2004), the second album by The Winter, an electro-acoustic trio improvisation in tribute to the extinct New Zealand bird the huia by Dave Edwards, Mike Kingston, and Simon Sweetman. Its 19-minute final track remains an underrated fiffdimension epic. [send us your review]
Here’s a pair of new (late 2019) tracks from The Electricka Zoo
Keyboards & electronica by the Digitator
& Dave Black on electric guitar
in Upper Hutt, New Zealand, November 2019
Get our album if you haven’t already!
31 July 2019
electric guitar and video by Dave Black,
Featherston, NZ.
One in a series of quickfire improvisations with video effects. Rather than finish an album before releasing anything in 2019, I’m opening a curtain on some of my demo ideas in progress.
Since last year I’ve been getting back into playing solo acoustic. Here’s a 6 March 2019 version of ‘the Marion Flow‘:
Originally recorded in New Plymouth in 1999, it became the title track of my second album.
The 1999 recording had quite a different vibe – spoken word delivery, electric guitars panned left & right, and Paul Winstanley playing a cymbal through a pitch shifter, turning it into a deep sea gong sound.
On other occasions it became a rock riff, based around just an E note and its octave.
I was surrounded by wider & weirder music too. I moved to Wellington and found a kiwi avant-garde scene with free jazz, noise, and theatre gallore. We eventually finished The Marion Flow album in 2001, after recording sessions at Thistle Hall.
The lyrics are some of my favourite. They were scribbled in a notebook sometime in the late 90s. I was digesting the influence of literary modernism (eg lines like ‘yea take in that wake’ a shout out to James Joyce, using nouns as verbs and vice versa, and other general flouting of grammatical rules).
Taranaki and its coastlines inspired much of the atmosphere.
Postscript: thanks for coming along, keep an eye on www.fiffdimension.com/the-electricka-zoo for more!
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Friday 16 March, 8:00pm, free entry, @ Leroy’s Bar, 2 Plimmer Steps
New Zealand Fringe Festival:
Thanks everyone who came to see The Electricka Zoo in the 2017 Battle of the Bands…
The Electricka Zoo are one of Wellington’s most intriguing new live bands, a bass/guitar and live electronica duo of Dave Black and the Digitator.
We combine diverse influences from EDM to postpunk avant-garde rock, jazz, reggae, Balkan and Portuguese music into our own homegrown NZ sound.
Battle of the Bands – National Championship is New Zealand’s largest and longest running R18 Band competition; events take place nationwide, allowing bands throughout the country to take part. The event has been an annual feature of the New Zealand music scene since 1993. Continue reading “the Electricka Zoo @ Battle of the Bands”
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