1856 to 2026 – DIY outsider music, from Aotearoa NZ and beyond
“Weirdly perverse all-over-the-place free-form jam recorded at a practice for a gig. Pretty much zero editing so it is what it is (…). Veers between NZ garage squall and free jazz skronk with epic relentless drumming from Mr Heath. Copied onto disk as a quickie give away for the show.”
Antony Milton
David Heath – drums
Dave Edwards – bass
Antony Milton – guitar
Recorded in Masterton, NZ
19 July 2026
released August 5, 2026
Thanks to the Bakehouse Collective, artists and audience, on a wintry July evening in Paetumokai/ Featherston.
Dave Edwards – “Assembling Disconsonant “
at the launch of the Wairarapa cassette compilation
“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
New compilation of the Wairarapa NZ underground scene, compiled by Antony Milton.
Features The Troubled Times and fiffdimension, joining the dots with Perpets, Winterwood, Campbell Kneale, Saali Marks, and other locals. From the smalltown backblocks of the Wellington region.
“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
| 1. | The Troubled Times – Proxima Centauri Blues 03:01 |
| 2. | Brilliant Swords- Imaginary 03:20 |
| 3. | Brent Grey- In The Golden 03:03 |
| 4. | Fiffdimension- Assembling Disconsonant 02:32 |
| 5. | Saali Marks- Beasts Of Boredom 03:32 |
| 6. | Self Help Sound System- Greta’s Plea 03:14 |
| 7. | Perpets- Spring/Wind over Water 03:40 |
| 8. | Alex V- Live @ Featherston Bakehouse 2025 02:47 |
| 9. | Tophy- Rose 02:20 |
| 10. | The Troubled Times- No Maxim But Now 02:44 |
| 11. | Spectrum Is Green- Dead End 03:45 |
| 12. | Curtains- Scarlet Rise 01:49 |
| 13. | Winterwood- Hope 05:17 |
| 14. | Sleep Hygiene- Bev’s Quilt 04:22 |
A reading of one of my short stories from the early 2000s; a black comic piece, with music by The Troubled Times in the 2020s. Funny what you can find in the drawer years later…
(& eventually resulting in monster on rampage through the kitchen)
Too many people forget what they find. He blemishes his self. He bends to suck food stain from his Hawaiian shirt; the dinner jacket coldly embraces him. The computer had a serious bug spasm […]
Antony Milton – electric guitar
Dave Edwards – bass, vocal
David Heath – drums
Photo taken in the Marlborough Sounds, NZ, walking the Queen Charlotte track circa 2003.
The instrumental used for ‘Overgrowth” appears as track 5, ‘titled ‘the Deeper Cut’
A compilation spanning the early years of fiffdimension; more chaotic wide ranging undiscovered brilliance, from the turn of the millennium…
Our first album release of 2026, by Featherston Free Sound Ensemble – courtesy of Antony Milton’s Troubled Times Tapes label. Available on cassette or download.
“Every few weeks the peace of a small hall in the otherwise quiet tiny town of Featherston at the very bottom of the North Island of New Zealand/Aotearoa is disrupted by a gathering of eccentric misfits with a ragtag collection of noise making electronics. Old tape decks playing home made loops, dusty turntables spinning even dustier vinyl festooned with tags of sellotape, and glitchy cheap effects pedals disrupting the signal of an array of instruments that are being force-fed into weirdly small amplifiers.
“The recordings here in are from a variety of said get togethers and performances. Noise collage meets odd techno dub butted up against distorted rock. Tapiness wins.” – Antony Milton
released January 14, 2026
Guy Walker – turntable, cassette loops
Alex V – turntable, MIDI, sampler
Dave Edwards – bass, e-drum, clarinet, guitar
Recorded Oct-Nov 2025
Edited and mastered (somewhat) by A.M
Cover photos by Guy Walker
Another productive year here! We released:
An acoustic solo album, made in the Yasawa islands, Fiji. Ukulele and field recordings, with acoustic bass and percussion.
A musical adaptation of my ancestor’s book, finally ‘close enough’ to finished after seven years… or 169, depending how you count it.
A new collaboration with turntablists Guy Walker and Alex V – free improv electronica for the regions.
Our live debut – more to come in 2026!
October-November, with Guy Walker and Alex V
September-October, with Guy Walker
with Antony Milton and David Heath in Masterton NZ.
As close as we’ve come to a ‘political’ album
We swapped instruments and almost formed a new band.
We appeared on this ‘various artists’ compilation from Louisville, Kentucky
Dave and Antony duo
Winter was too cold for the garage, so we played ‘lounge music’
Thanks for listening! See you in 2026...
“Nutso falling over kind of wonkiness from mid-winter” = Antony Milton
The Troubled Times are:
A return to the duo lineup of our earliest recordings (Antony Milton and Dave Edwards).
Limited edition physical copies of Sparkle Tube are available from Antony’s Grey Cyphers CDR label, along with other NZ artists including Rain Sleepers, Agentsss, L$D Fundraiser, CJA, Tower of Heaven, and more.
Old school cdr label out of back blocks New Zealand/Aotearoa releasing music by Agentsss and other lo-fi mystic wannabes
Antony Milton
Duo outing for The Troubled Times on this disk, ostensibly this is material Dave and Antony recorded while waiting for drummer David to show up for practice. He never showed up…
More of a weird improv noise album this one- except for the ‘musical’ bits..
Kind of dreamy.
(But you know what dreams are like, cruising one minute- terror the next.)
Continue reading “The Troubled Times: Sparkle Tube (2025)”Songs of the seasons, the forest and the sea, home and exile, mortality and immortality:
an adaptation of the book, “Poems and Lyrics (in the English and Scotch dialects)“ by John Collie, of Boyndie (1834-1893), with music by his descendants in New Zealand, between 2020-2025
“Songs from the harp and lyre – a fantastic flow back from the ancient days” – Dr Emit Snake-Beings
The album includes collaborations with my nephew Hans Landon-Lane, plus guest appearances by Antony Milton and Dr Emit Snake-Beings.
“I have been lucky enough to hear some of Dave Edwards work on this at a couple of shows – very cool concept project and worth a listen” – James Trotman
My great-great-grandfather published his book in 1856, before emigrating to New Zealand for the rest of his life.
Discovering this family outsider art precedent in 2018 cast fiffdimension in a whole new light! It sparked a seven-year project to record musical arrangements of his poems for a new century’s audience.
“And with a trembling hand I launch my tiny vessel into the troubled ocean of literature , where many a noble craft has been shattered to pieces…”
Like his better-known countryman (and influence) Robert Burns, John Collie wrote in both English and Scots. The other half of the album is Poems & Lyrics in the Scotch Dialect
Continue reading “Poems & Lyrics (in the English dialect) (1856)”
