1856 to 2026 – DIY outsider music, from Aotearoa NZ and beyond
The Troubled Times (Antony Milton, Dave Edwards, David Heath) feature on this new compilation by Kentucky-based label Humanhood Recordings.
Available on limited edition double cassette.
Other artists include KNURL, EMIL BEAULIEAU, COCK ESP, Aaron Rosenblum, Thaniel Ion Lee, Mike Shiflet, Joe Tunis and more…
Early 2024 – the first new recordings made since the 25-year-spanning 2CD compilation; the start of the fiffdimension 2nd quarter-century.
By Dave Edwards– early 2024, summertime in NZ –
Solo suite for electric guitar, bass and electric drums – one single take of each, using overdubs to create a virtual trio.
Tracks 1-3 and 12 recorded early January 2024 – the rest recorded 6th February 2024, in Featherston, Aotearoa / New Zealand
The title ‘Quietism‘ refers not so much to the sound, but to the absence of vocals – or any reference to current news or politics. Part of the fiffdimension aesthetic is a certain wilful irrelevance, and ignoring of trends.
The last track ‘Hypnopompia‘ (waking up) experiments with a possible new ambient style.
The cover art is an abstract scribble drawing – attempting to bypass conscious self-doubt and create ‘something… anything’. A theme also explored in works such as Assembling Disconsonant (2023).
Dave Edwards live solo at Solway Showgrounds, Masterton NZ
24th June + 19th August 2023
at ‘The Next Big Thing Wairarapa‘
The first physical CD by The Troubled Times (Antony Milton, Dave Edwards, David Heath),
Fizzy dreamy shambolic ramblings from the Wairarapa‘s dustiest garage.
Instant songs committed to disk for posterity.
This was the first chapter in Antony Milton’s acclaimed ‘Another Sunday‘ series of CDs:
anothersunday.bandcamp.com – different artists, each making an album with the same title.
Other discs in the series include Michael Morley, Greymouth, Seht, Teen Haters, Perpets, and Sunset Temples
released August 1, 2023
David Heath- drums
Dave Edwards– bass
Antony Milton– guitar/vocals, video, CD producer
A contrasting companion piece to the ‘Another Sunday‘ CD –
Avant jazz meets squealing rambunctious noise. A frenetic blast down to the end of the driveway and back. The set finishes with a tribute to Albert Ayler.
What more could you want? (well there’s The Troubled Times’ live debut coming up on 15 July….)
Antony Milton – electric guitar Dave Edwards – bass David Heath – drums
releases July 15, 2023
Continue reading “The Troubled Times: Elevate”The sophomore EP by The Troubled Times duo of Antony Milton and Dave Edwards.
Raw loud Improvised pluck and drone. Recorded on a windy rainy Sunday in Antony’s garage in Masterton, in 2021, between Covid lockdowns.
Guitar/Bass –Dave Edwards
Guitar/Keyboard/Vocs –Antony Milton.
released June 26, 2022
| 1. | Move Along 03:54 |
| 2. | Genes 02:17 |
| 3. | Super Lucid 13:46 |
| 4. | Woodness 04:01 |
The first full length release from this duo, which pre-dates the name ‘The Troubled Times’, was Return of the Sun (2021)
In 2022, the duo became a trio, joined by David Heath on drums, givng us a full ‘band’ sound.
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
The Digitator – midi, laptop, vocal
Dave Black – bass, electric guitar
This track was originally recorded by The Electricka Zoo (2017), and appears on the Other Islands: 2012-2018 compilation. It’s based around a (non-diatonic) Cmaj7 – Amaj7 pattern, with a bossa nova rhythm.
It’s dedicated to my great-great-grandfather Manuel Bernard.
He was born in 1847 in Ponta Delgada, Flores Island, Azores, Portugal.
The words are in (beginner) Portuguese:
Eu gosto de falar
no meus ancestrais
de as ilhas Atlânticas
Madeiras e Açores
Portugal is the westernmost country in Europe, with its back to it geographically and culturally. It was the edge of the known world for Europeans until the Age of Discovery. The Azores islands are even further west.
As a teenager, Manuel Bernard stowed away on a passing American whaling ship.
From a remote island in the Atlantic ocean, he ended up on an equally remote island in the Pacific – on the opposite side of the world, in Wellington, New Zealand.
Continue reading “ilhas Atlânticas”Palette-cleansing electric solo improvisations.
Recorded solo in Featherston, New Zealand, 2019-20.
Not specifically a ‘lockdown album’, but nonetheless recorded solo at home during the pandemic.
It marked the emergence of a new ‘late period‘ solo style.
I’m not a trained jazz musician, but nor do I fit neatly into the ‘NZ noise‘ genre.
| 1. | Abbadebdab 03:00 |
| 2. | October ring 03:37 |
| 3. | 11 through the viewer 7 (acoustic) 01:24 |
| 4. | Torrential logistics 04:05 |
| 5. | Usquebaugh 03:53 |
| 6. | Walking through an aye (in Paparoa national park) 03:53 |
| 7. | Solstice Shards 19 05:07 |
| 8. | Teenager 01:39 |
‘Articulation Incommunicate‘ includes an abrasive electric guitar, dictaphone and electric razor performance at the Bomb the Space Festival 2004. This is my earliest extant gig footage, and one of my very few music videos to have over a thousand views. Go figure!
Dave Edwards – acoustic guitar, harmonica, dictaphone, electronics, electric guitar (11-12), violin (13), vocal & lyrics
with
Perhaps the most lo-fi fiffdimension album of all. These tracks were primitively recorded on a cassette dictaphone; based on words scribbled in notebooks; unmelodic; unheard by anyone else at all (until their release in 2020); and seemed like unfinished demos at the time…
… but in hindsight may represent the culmination of my early period (a lo-fi postpunk fusion of songs, spoken word and free improv – www.fiffdimension.com/1997-2005).
Continue reading “Articulation Incommunicate (2004)”“Emptying out of yr nautical caveman comfort / programming lines in size laden torridness hill upon plains / dense foreclosure and venomous worry / salute me and line / burrow tunnel and moth / soon I taste the next pavement / I invent to cause home”
fiffdimension 