You can copy, distribute, advertise and play this album as long as you: Read the rest of this entry »spoken word
Ngumbang
Out now!! the new collaboration with even more legendary & underground NZ artist Snake Beings.
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 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
‘Ngumbang’ is Read the rest of this entry »
The Marion Flow
“It’s lo-fi, organic and about as eclectic as one could manage. Kind of reminds me of Nick Cave if he had grown up in Timaru. No pretentious American accents or catch phrase choruses, just a bunch of people making music. A little beauty!” – NZ Musician, August/September 2002
Turn-of-the-milennium fusion of warm acoustic pop, spoken word and postpunk discord. An almost-acknowledged New Zealand classic – of its time yet timeless.
$5 download includes hidden tracks, lyrics and original CDR artwork.
“Edwards’ music is often a sculpture rather than a melodic composition. Within this chosen form, amongst all the writings rantings & poetry there’s much difficult pleasure to be had for the musically adventurous.” – Brent Cardy, Real Groove, July 2002
Produced by Paul Winstanley, & featuring Chris O’Connor (drums), Chris Palmer (electric guitars), Simon O’Rorke (percussion), the Dadapapa Magickclone Orchestra and more. Recorded at the TFC Lounge, New Plymouth, 1999, and Thistle Hall, Wellington, 2001.
Mt Taranaki, NZ
Chris Palmer, recording The Marion Flow (2001)
The Marion Flow (2001)
Simon O’Rorke
Dave Edwards at Patuha Acoustic Music Festival, Taranaki, 1998
Paul Winstanley, recording The Marion Flow (1999)
The Marion Flow (2001)
Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005
A companion to this album, recorded at the same sessions in Taranaki in 1999 is DDPP: Waiting For the Drummer
]Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2013
“This is something that he has to do, that he will do, come fame or oblivion” –Chris Knox
The second volume of fiffdimension’s best-of compilations, a sequel to Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005 , sees increasingly wide-ranging experimentation and exploration both sonically and geographically, from New Zealand and beyond to Australia and East Asia.
Dadaepo beach, Busan, South Korea
Dave Black, 2006
Kyoto, Japan, 2012
Ascension Band stage rig
Ascension Band, 2005
Busan, South Korea
Dave Black, 2006
Dave Black, 2006
Ascension Band: Evolution (2005)
The Winter 2011
Ascension Band stage rig
The Winter: Flying Visit (2012)
Ascension Band stage rig
Korean gayageum, 2007
South Island Sessions (2013)
The Winter: 2011
Ascension Band, 2005
Dave at Sydney Opera House, NSW, Australia
Gareth Farr & Gamelan Taniwha Jaya, 2010
Dave Black & Nat da Hatt climb Mt Yakushidake, Japan, 2012
Ascension Band stage rig
Ascension Band stage rig
First Time Around: East Asia (2007-2008)
Steampunk Folktronica, 2010
Sunrise from the summit of Mt Fuji, Japan, 2012
After Maths & Sciences (2006)
Ascension Band, 2005
The Ballad of William Knife (2006)
Featuring tracks from the albums
Ascension Band: Evolution (2005)
After Maths & Sciences (2006)
South Island Sessions (2006)
First Time Around: East Asia (2008)
The Winter: 2011 (2011)
The Winter: Flying Visit (2012)
Dave Black & Nat da Hatt: 日本の山 (2013)
+ previously unreleased tracks
Gleefully Unknown: 1997-2005
“Whilst shopping from fiffdimension make sure to get hold of ‘Gleefully Unknown’, a best-of compilation of Dave Edwards’ music from 1997 to 2005. Rough outsider folk-blues mysteries, dissonant rock textures, electric and acoustic improvisations… Edwards strikes me as one of the most overlooked musicians from the fertile lands of New Zealand and if you need a fresh start this might very well be the place.” – Mats Gustafsson, The Broken Face
A compilation of songs, spoken word and instrumentals from the first half of my gloriously unsuccessful career to date… if you enjoy this, try the sequel Fame & Oblivion: 2005-2013
Dave Edwards at Meatwaters Festival, 2002
After Maths & Sciences (2006)
Dave Edwards, recording ‘Scratched Surface’ circa 1997
Mantis Shaped & Worrying (2002) received mixed reviews
The Winter: Parataxes (2003)
Ascension Band, 2004
Sam Prebble & Mike Kingston
The Winter live at Photospace Gallery, July 2003 (photo by James Gilberd)
Loose Autumn Moans (2003)
Scratched Surface, 1998
Mt Taranaki, NZ
Scratched Surface, 1998
Mantis Shaped and Worrying (2002)
Dave Edwards at Patuha Acoustic Music Festival, Taranaki, 1998
Dave Edwards, circa 1996
Ascension Band, 2003
The Winter live at Photospace Gallery, July 2003 (photo by James Gilberd)
The Marion Flow (2001)
Dave Edwards, recording ‘Scratched Surface’ circa 1997
The Marion Flow (2001)
Dave Edwards, 2004
…where I got these scars…
Ascension Band
Featuring tracks from the albums
Scratched Surface (1998)
The Marion Flow (2001)
Mantis Shaped and Worrying (2002)
The Winter: Parataxes (2003)
Loose Autumn Moans (2003)
Live 2004 (2004)
After Maths & Sciences (2005)
Mantis Shaped and Worrying
The results rapidly put an end to my promising New Zealand music career!
Simon O’Rorke played percussion on
“On the first of the four tracks here, New Zealand experimental musician David A. Edwards spins out these dry verbal expositions of descriptive details in rhythmic and purely compulsive floods, while behind his NZ accented narrative various bloops, noodles and skittering musical sounds are smeared around the canvas. Almost poetry, but often more like verbal textures rather than a focus on the words themselves. His speaking delivery seem purposely emotionless. The second is an instrumental folkish thing that devolves into a battle between squids wearing black rubber raincoats. The third track is sung and perhaps the most “normal” moment here, with a meandering songlike structure and more compulsive verbiage. The fourth and final is almost 24 minutes of narration, swooping bass notes walking through the darkness, clattering spastic percussion, as the words seem to merge film noir dialog with surreal beat poetic train of consciousness.” – George Parsons, Dream Magazine #5
You can copy, distribute, advertise and play this album as long as you: Read the rest of this entry »