The Troubled Times: Hill Road in Winter

Happy new year – here’s our first new music release of 2023 – available for download or limited-edition cassette, courtesy of Antony Milton‘s Smalltown Electron label:

The first physical format release from Masterton trio The Troubled Times (and the debut release for Small Town Electron as a label) is a loud and noisy nocturnal romp through the hills and onto the gravel back roads of one of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s least visited regions.

(see also

The Troubled Times discography

)

Continue reading “The Troubled Times: Hill Road in Winter”

2022 roundup

fiffdimension vol4, águas brilhantes: 2018​-​2022, sums up the last few years’ here:

2022‘s been a particularly productive year… there’s a (mostly) solo instrumental album (also ft Oscar the dog);

two albums by the Troubled Times – collaboration with Antony Milton now a trio with David Heath on drums;

recordings with my nephews Hans and Rhys Landon-Lane towards Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856) – with words written by our ancestor;

and a multimedia spoken word + improvised music collaboration with the award-winning painter James Robinson;

águas brilhantes: 2018​-​2022

fiffdimension vol 4

  • made in Featherston, Masterton, and Suva – ft Antony Milton, James Robinson, Dr Emit Snake-Beings, Campbell Kneale, and lyrics by John Collie (1834-1893) – the title is ‘Wairarapa’ in Portuguese.
  • Collaborations with my ancestors and younger relatives, friends in Fiji, a painter in Otago, the curator of PseudoArcana, and the family dog.

(See also
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/gleefully-unknown-1997-2005
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/fame-oblivion-2005-2012
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/other-islands-2012-2018

águas brilhantes (or ‘glistening waters’ in English) is the Portuguese translation of Wairarapa, the Māori name of the region where I’ve lived the last few years.

My ancestors arrived here in the 19th century – one was a Scottish poet, another a stowaway from the Azores islands.

a followup to
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/gleefully-unknown-1997-2005
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/fame-oblivion-2005-2012
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/other-islands-2012-2018

with videos at www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtbrBpNjlOHOhGouOChNl3jVUif1AZIl6 )

águas brilhantes (or ‘glistening waters’ in English) is the Portuguese translation of Wairarapa, the Māori name of the region where I live. Several of my pākeha ancestors arrived here in the 19th century.

Much of the music is inspired by two of my great-great-grandfathers – John Collie (1834-1893), a Scottish poet, who helped build the Remutaka incline railway; and Manuel Bernard (1847-1928), who left the Azores islands, as a teenaged stowaway on a whaling ship and ended up in Masterton. It’s also a torch-passing to the next generation – recorded with nephews Hans and Rhys, and niece Celeste.

Also ft literal garage rock with Antony Milton and David Heath (the Troubled Times); duos with James Robinson, Dr Emit Snake-Beings, Campbell Kneale, and Nat da Hatt; side trips to Fiji; an interspecies duet with Oscar (a huntaway); and solo instrumentals and live reinterpretations of oldies.

Includes previously unreleased recordings, download-only bonus tracks, and excerpts from the albums

fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/escape-velocity-live-2018
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/a-ton-of-feathers-2018
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/live-2019
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/glimpses-of-utopia-2020
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/ruasagavulu-2020
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/spastic-rhythms-vol-1-2021
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/return-of-the-sun-2021
layyourburdensdown.bandcamp.com/album/-
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/state-highway-2-2022
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/a-second-sun-2022
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/poems-lyrics-in-the-english-dialect-1856
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/poems-lyrics-in-the-scotch-dialect-1856
fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/long-live-the-miracle-room-live-2022  

Continue reading “águas brilhantes: 2018​-​2022”

The Troubled Times: A Second Sun

credits

Antony Milton electric guitar, keyboard (1,4), drums (4), painting

Dave Edwards – bass, electric guitar (4), vocal (6), harmonica (7)

David Heath – drums


John Collie (1834-1893) – lyrics (6) (a crossover with fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/poems-lyrics-in-the-english-dialect-1856 )

Recorded in Masterton, New Zealand, 25 September 2022

Loosely a sequel to Antony Milton and Dave Edwards‘ first duo collaboration fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/return-of-the-sun-2021 – The Troubled Times’ debut.

Continue reading “The Troubled Times: A Second Sun”

The Troubled Times: State Highway 2

credits

released August 13, 2022

Antony Milton – electric guitar, banjo (6), drums & keyboard (7)

Dave Edwards – electric guitar (1,3,5), acoustic guitar (2,6,7), bass (4), aluminium ladder (7)

David Heath – drums

https://fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/state-highway-2-2022

——-

Masterton, New Zealand

Recorded in Antony’s garage,
17th July + 7th August 2022

Photo by Sara Rogers


Further listening: Antony and Dave also collaborated on fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/return-of-the-sun-2021
and
layyourburdensdown.bandcamp.com/album/-

w/ Antony Milton: The Troubled Times

For this EP The Troubled Times is Dave Edwards and Antony Milton.
Raw loud Improvised pluck and drone recorded in the between Covid lockdowns.

credits

released June 26, 2022

Recorded on a windy rainy Sunday in Antony’s garage in Masterton.
Guitar/Bass –Dave Edwards
Guitar/Keyboard/Vocs –Antony Milton.

For the first full length release from this duo, which pre-dates the name ‘The Troubled Times’ please visit fiffdimension.bandcamp.com

w/ James Robinson – Negentropic Diatribes

James Robinson – words, voice, paintings & drawings, bell drum

Dave Black – electric guitar, bass, loop pedal


James Robinson is a mid career contemporary New Zealand mixed media artist, exhibiting widely since 1989 – www.jamesrobinson.nz

fiffdimension is music and multimedia by Dave Edwards (aka Dave Black) and collaborators, since 1998 – www.fiffdimension.com
‐‐——-

James won 2007 paramount prize in the wallace award for
” Taniwaha dragon mother ( spirit bones)”

Read more: w/ James Robinson – Negentropic Diatribes

‘… a great big flatulent belch of fresh air amongst all the tight-sphinctered, deodorised boys and girls of the accepted national art world….. off-kilter and threatening but always sumptuously, gloriously beautiful.’

– Chris Knox.
Continue reading “w/ James Robinson – Negentropic Diatribes”

Spastic Rhythms ’22

Featherston, NZ – early 2022 – spontaneous compositions, two wet weekends in a row.

A sequel to Spastic Rhythms vol 1 (2021)

– a series of ‘quickfire’ DIY solo albums created in a couple of days each.

This one features interspecies guest collaboration with Oscar the huntaway.

credits

released February 13, 2022

Dave Black – guitars, bass, banjo (2), clarinet (6), sanshin (10), loop pedal, e-drum

Oscar – vocal

Oscar and Dave

w/ Antony Milton: Return of the Sun

Electric guitar improv duo – in collaboration with antonymilton.bandcamp.com

Recorded in Masterton, New Zealand, 26-09-21

Antony Milton is a sound artist based in Masterton, New Zealand.

He has been active in the underground and experimental music scenes since the early 1990s.

Continue reading “w/ Antony Milton: Return of the Sun”

Antony Milton is a sound artist based in Masterton, New Zealand.

He has been active in the underground and experimental music scenes since the early 1990s.

Continue reading “w/ Antony Milton: Return of the Sun”

Escape Velocity: the Electricka Zoo live

New live album!

With New Zealand in lockdown this might be the next best thing to an actual gig..

Track 1 recorded live at the Fringe Bar, Wellington NZ, 27-02-18

Tracks 2-7 recorded live at Escape Velocity, Featherston NZ, 10-03-18

As part of the New Zealand Fringe Festival

credits

The Digitator – midi, laptop, vocal
Dave Black – bass, electric guitar

www.fiffdimension.com/the-electricka-zoo